The foxtrot is a smooth, flowing progressive dance, which has the reputation of being the most difficult ballroom dance to execute well. The music of the foxtrot often matches the dance's character of gliding smoothly and easily across the floor (regardless of the effort actually required), bringing to mind the songs of Frank Sinatra or Nat King Cole, or the dancing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Foxtrot is traditionally played at faster tempos for American style foxtrot and slightly slower tempos for international style foxtrot. International foxtrot, the style taught at Areté Dance Center, is typically danced to a speed of 28-30 measures (112-120 beats) per minute.
Foxtrot has a 4/4 time signature, which is common among all the ballroom and Latin dances with the exception of waltz. The foxtrot would be counted as "1, 2, 3, 4", "1, 2, 3, 4", with the music alternating between down beats and up beats. When learning the foxtrot, it is common to count the music in "slows" (2 beats) and "quicks" (1 beat), which makes it easier to put the patterns of the dance to the music. You might therefore count a pattern as "Slow, Quick, Quick" instead of "1, 2, 3, 4". This adds rhythmic variation to the dance, as not all steps will take up the same amount of time.
While foxtrot is a more difficult dance to learn, it is still popular at ballroom dance socials, wedding receptions, and other events. Foxtrot may have originated with big band swing-style music, but today many genres have songs appropriate for dancing foxtrot.
When selecting a song to dance foxtrot, finding music in a 4/4 time signature shouldn't be a challenge, as this is the most common time signature for songs. However, some songs are more suited to the character of the foxtrot than others. As one example, the artist DJ Ice has remixed the popular song "Señorita" as both a foxtrot and a cha cha. First, here's the song intended to be danced as a foxtrot.
And here's the same song, but intended to be danced as a cha cha. If you play both versions of the song, you'll probably notice how different they sound from each other. If you want to learn more about what makes a song well suited for dancing the foxtrot, our professional dance instructors can best teach you in person during your private lessons or group classes.
In the meantime, we've listed 10 of our favorite songs for dancing the foxtrot below! All of these songs already have the correct time signature and speed to dance the foxtrot. We've assembled songs from different genres to show the versatility of the foxtrot. If you have any more questions about the foxtrot and what songs it can be danced to, please contact us at info@aretedancecenter.com - we're happy to help!
10 Songs You Can Foxtrot To
"Englishman in New York" - Berk and the Virtual Band
"You've Got a Friend in Me" - Ballroom Orchestra and Singers
"Soli" - Adriano Celentano
"16 Tons" - Leann Rimes
"Petite Fleur" - Henri Salvador
"Cheek to Cheek" - Doris Day
"I Want to Be Loved by You" - Sinead O'Connor
"Glow" - Brett Eldredge
"Wade in the Water" - Eva Cassidy
"Nice 'n' Easy" - Frank Sinatra
Want more foxtrot? DJ Ice Dancesport Music is known for remixing popular songs for ballroom and Latin dance. We have included his playlist for foxtrot below. All of these songs should be relatively easy to count and have consistent timing, as they were designed especially for foxtrot. (Click the icon in the top right corner of this video to open the full playlist.)
Click here to learn more about the foxtrot, and how you can learn this dance at Areté Dance Center!
If you have any questions, contact us at info@aretedancecenter.com or (408) 824-0074. Enjoy your dancing!