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The Foxtrot's History - Page 2
Foxtrot
Rumba
Waltz
Swing
Tango
Salsa
Cha Cha
Hustle
Compared with today's standards, the original Foxtrot was moderately fast, simple and unrefined. It was the rise to fame of
Vernon and Irene Castle's
exhibition dances that led the elite of the dance world to try to capture the fox-trot's unusual style of movement, and it wasn't until the early 30's that Foxtrot began to take on the smoother and more flowing quality we recognize in today's dance.
It was also necessary to evolve a form of the dance that could express the slow syncopated 4/4 rhythm yet remain "on the spot." This did not mean that the "traveling" fox-trot was dropped, but the "on the spot" dance could by done in both small spaces and larger ones where throngs of dancers crowd the dance floor. Various bands and individual musicians were experimenting with, and perfecting, the new sounds and beats and the "on the spot" dancing became known (appropriately) as "Crush," then as "rhythm dancing."
The Foxtrot is now one of the most common of the social dances and is easily the most significant development in all of ballroom dancing.
The first combination of Ballroom's now familiar Quick and Slow steps permits more flexibility, and gives greater dancing pleasure, than the one-step and two-step dances it replaced.
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