Fun Facts About How the Swing and Foxtrot Began...

Social ballroom dancing has quite an interesting history with a variety of dances that include salsa, swing, Argentine tango and Country two step. It seems like more and more these days, people are discovering what a joy and how beneficial dancing can be for everyone. Let’s take a look at a few more really fun and exciting dances to see how they originated (see our previous blogs for more on the history of other exciting social dances).

The foxtrot was first revealed in the summer of 1914 by Vaudeville actor Harry Fox in his various appearances in vaudeville shows in the New York area. As part of his act, Harry Fox was doing trotting steps to ragtime music, and people began referring to his dance as "Fox's Trot." The foxtrot was eventually re-named but it officially originated at the Jardin de Danse on the roof of the New York Theatre.

A beautiful, romantic and fluid dance, the foxtrot is composed of fairly simple walking and side steps. It is often associated with the smooth dancing style of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It is a standard ballroom dance, and serves as a good foundation for social dances.

The foxtrot was the most significant occurrence in all of ballroom dancing. The combination of quick and slow steps allowed for more flexibility and provided much greater dancing pleasure than the one-step and two-step that it replaced.  Variations of the foxtrot include the Peabody, the Quickstep and Roseland foxtrot. Even swing dances such as the lindy and the hustle are derived to some extent from the foxtrot.

Many people mistakenly think that foxtrot is a difficult dance to learn, but this is usually because they are thinking of more complicated styles of the dance that are used mainly in performances and competitions. Basic social foxtrot is fun and simple to learn, and an excellent dance for beginners.

So, if you would like to learn to be the next Fred and Ginger, the foxtrot is a great place to start! What a great way to get closer to and have a great time your significant other, while also looking graceful and smooth on the dance floor.

Swing dancing is another popular social dance and can compel even non-dancers to tap their feet and snap their fingers. It makes you just want to get out there and dance!

The swing is a combination of several American dances (lindy, ragtime, jazz and blues). The history of swing dates back to the 1920's, where the black community, while dancing to contemporary Jazz music, discovered the Charleston and the Lindy Hop.

In 1926, the Savoy Ballroom opened its doors in New York. Nightly dancing attracted most of the best dancers in the New York area. Stimulated by the presence of great dancers and the best black bands, music at the Savoy was largely swinging jazz. One evening in 1927, following Lindbergh's flight to Paris, a local dance enthusiast was watching some of the dancing couples. A reporter asked him what dance they were doing, and it just so happened that there was a newspaper with an article titled, "Lindy Hops the Atlantic," which he noticed and responded with "Lindy Hop" and the name stuck.

In 1934, band leader Cab Calloway introduced a variation of the swing with a song called "Jitterbug". With the discovery of the lindy hop and the jitterbug, many people began dancing to the contemporary jazz and swing music as it was evolving at the time, with Benny Goodman leading the action.

In the late 1930's and through the 1940's, the terms lindy hop, jitterbug, lindy, and swing were used interchangeably by the news media to describe the same style of dancing taking place on the streets, in the night clubs, in contests, and in the movies.

Dance schools did not formally begin documenting or teaching the Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy, and Swing until the early 1940's. At the time, the ballroom dance community was more interested in teaching Latin-type dances such as the Argentine tango, merengue, and cha cha.

From the mid 1940's to today, the lindy hop, jitterbug, lindy, and swing, were shortened and refined by ballroom dance studio teachers in order to adapt their teaching methods to less experienced students taking dance lessons. As a result, the social dance studios developed the East coast and West coast swing.

Learning how to swing dance can be a great way to connect with your dance partner, have a great time, and learn something new that can be used at any event from a Rock and Roll concert to a wedding.

To learn more about the foxtrot and swing dancing, check out Dance FX Studios in Mesa, Arizona for private dance lessons. In addition to these dances, we also offer Country, salsa, and Argentine tango dance lesson-just to mention a few. Private lessons are the most effective way to learn to dance, with your lessons being tailored just for you. They provide you with the tools and skills to be able to connect with any dance partner.

Dance FX Studios is located at 1859 W Guadalupe Rd, Mesa, AZ. We are available for lessons Monday-Friday, from 12:00-8:00 pm and Saturdays, from 11:00-4:00. So, if you want to learn to be able to dance at your next event or a night out on the town give us a call 480.968.6177 and begin your journey into becoming a confident social dancer.  You can be the one out there on the dance floor dancing the night away, instead of sitting on the sidelines thinking, “I wish I could do that.”