I just looked at the video clips of American style FoxTrot. The rhythm is Slow Slow Quick Quick. OTOH, the Int'l FT rhythm is SQQ.

The dances, of course, are therefore completely different (e.g. if appears as tho all steps are heel toe for the leader, and toe heel for the follower, almost no rise and fall; compare this to the drama of the natural right turn in the bronze Intl syllabus). I've always been told that I danced American style, but I have never danced SSQQ as described in the learning center, and now I wonder what everyone really MEANS when they say American style. Perhaps I'm dancing Int'l style (I dont think so).

Does that double Slow style atrophy once one goes beyond the bronze level? Is American Silver equal to Int'l Bronze? Or are there really two different dances?

Jerry

Oh! one other thing. I just looked at the descriptions that came with the FoxTrot variations here. All of the variations were described as American style foxtrot, intermediate (including the Cuddly Lunge Thing), and none of them had any relationship to the SSQQ steps.

I guess maybe SSQQ atrophies and involutes sometime soon after Bronze turns to Silver?

When I was taught beginning FT, I learned the box step (just to make certain we are all on the same page which is what I'm beginning to doubt, that's Fwd Side together, back side together). Then I learned how to turn the box step to the left, then compression and how to reach for steps 2 and 5, then how to do rise and fall, etc. I thought that was Bronze American. And that that was why so many American style dancers have so much difficulty with the Natural turn. If the SSQQ is really bronze American, I wonder what to call the style I learned.

Jerry

One of the defining characteristics of Foxtrot is its improvisational nature, especially rhythmically. So whether you think of the basic rhythm as SQQ, SSQQ, or otherwise, it's actually somewhat out of character with the true nature of Foxtrot to keep a repetetive rhythm going throughout.

Some people think of the basic Bronze Foxtrot rhythm as SSQQ, because the first pattern one usually learns is the SSQQ basic. However, I tend to think of the basic rhythmic unit, even in Bronze American style, as SQQ. You can add an extra "slow" or an extra "quick-quick" at the beginning or end of the group, resulting in such rhythms as SSQQ, SQQS, SQQQQ, and so forth. So the best way to think of the SSQQ rhythm is a SQQ with an extra slow (It's also a better way to interpret the movement, in my opinion).

Certain people may argue that the SSQQ rhythm is the basic rhythm because it's prevalent in more patterns, particularly at the beginning bronze level. But if you look at all of bronze, there's probably equal amounts of SQQ and SSQQ. More to the point, there really shouldn't be a "basic rhythm" at all, because it's contrary to the nature of the style. That's why I think of the "fundamental rhythmic unit" as SQQ, onto which you can build other rhythms such as SQQ, SQQS, and so forth. This approach lends itself to more rhythmical variation, which is key to Foxtrot.

Now sometime in the history of the dance, the English evolved their own style and called it "Slow Foxtrot". Eventually as the style of movement continued to evolve, so did the nature of the dance. As a result, we don't think of rhythmical improvisation as being a cornerstone of this style of Foxtrot, even though you can certainly still break away from the basic SQQ pattern as desired.

The English-bred style (now, of course, known as International style) is the inspiration for more advanced American style, which has been dubbed "continuity style", as it involves the continuous passing of the feet. Most people (with the exception of Arthur Murray-trained students & teachers) consider this style of movement to be appropriate only for Silver, Gold & above levels. Because the movement is based more on Int'l style, it becomes less common in continuity Foxtrot to mix the rhythms up. And that's why Silver & above Foxtrot tends to drop the extra "slow" count, using mostly a repetitive SQQ rhythm.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com