In 1910, everyone was doing dance steps such as the Cake Walk and the One Step. People were dancing with fast and vibrant dance steps as couples moved on the dance floor. Then another style of dancing erupted, making its debut in 1913. This new danced emerged when a Vaudeville entertainer by the name of Harry Fox introduced a slow moving step that took the realm of dancing into a whole new stage. The new fad became the Fox Trot, named after its creator. This style of dance is even more popular today, showing that it has not lost any of its importance or that it has become obsolete because it was a dance of the past.
When the Fox Trot emerged, what made it so different is the fact that this dance was a slow moving dance as couples glided across the floor, unlike the dances that had more swing to them. It used to be that couple dancing meant partners were dancing with quite a bit of space in between them. However, with the Fox Trot, couples began dancing cheek to cheek in a sophisticated manner. The Fox Trot involves movements such as sways, rises and falls as well as leg and body swings as the male leads and the female follows his moves. It is rhythm timed to perfection and performed with elegance.
The Fox Trot originated in New York on the rooftop of a theater called Jardin de Danse. It was there that Harry Fox began making the noted trotting steps as he danced to Ragtime music. Though it was Harry's Fox Trot idea, it was G.K. Anderson and his dance partner Josephine Bradley who perfected the dance for ballroom dancing. This dance style is popular today in competition dance routines. You cannot have a dance off now without the Fox Trot being part of the competition.
There are two forms of Fox Trot dancing. One is the American version, which is sometimes referred to as the smooth dance, and the European version. In Europe, this dance is called the modern dance. There are three different levels of performance in the American version, and all three levels are different in their own way. The levels are: bronze, silver and gold. The bronze is the original steps created by Harry Fox. The silver adds a touch of the "European" appeal into acts, while the gold level refers to dancing like that of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
The Fox Trot can be performed to country music as well as to the smooth sounds of jazz. You can do the Fox Trot to the rhythm of the Tango or dance to vocalists like Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra and Dinah Shore. The Fox Trot is timeless as well as ageless. It is a dance that stays in step from yesterday, and it will still be performed tomorrow.