To me all good internatial foxtrots has this lyrical musical tone. Unfortunatly most foxtrot played today are what I call swing foxtrots,you could just as easy dance a slow jive or a social quickstep to them. In the lyrical fox you can hear the rise and fall of the body,some good example of these foxtrots are:Wrong by Billy Tenent,Rimini by night"Pradi Sound", Change Partners,You will never know,What a little moonlight can do,Beyond the sea,Time on my hands,are just a few, I can list more. Cheers

Yes there are different kinds of foxtrot songs, and I know to what you are referring. The ones you refer to as swinging foxtrots, I also call swinging foxtrots, songs like Tuxedo Junction, Sweet Georgia Brown, and Standing On the Corner. (Note: With very small changes some bands can make these sound either like swing or foxtrot.) Some people do swing to these, especially the West Coast people who are always looking for another opportunity to do West Coast. I like both kinds, but I do change the kinds of steps I do for each. I do American style foxtrot which makes this possible, International is not so flexible. For the smoother flowing foxtrots, most of the steps I do are in closed position. For the swinging foxtrots, I add many of the open position steps more characteristic of the stuff Fred and Ginger did. Both are fun to do.

It will be obviouse by my question that i know nothing about American Smooth. My question is. Is the music eight bar phrased. Or rather is it danced to music that is eight bar phrased.

All the foxtrot music I can think of, is eight bar phrased. Some of it also has phrasing that you can hear occurring at 16 bar intervals. Any foxtrot song that is suitable for International foxtrot is also suitable for American foxtrot, although I'm not sure the converse of that is totally true, which is the point being made by Doug.

I arrange all my long foxtrot amalgamations to use multiples of 8 beats of music and end with the left foot free. That way whatever comes next, starts with the left foot on a slow. This also maintains the phrasing. American style is a little more flexible in the ability to arrange your own amalgamations. I even steal some International steps and include them into my American style. Of course the converse of that won't work.

Note: Please don't confuse American silver foxtrot with American bronze foxtrot. They are two completely separate styles. In my opinion, they shouldn't both be called foxtrot.

SmoothGeezer. As I said i know very little about American Smooth. Are you who are on the floor dancing different patterns or are you all dancing the same groups at the same time. It seems as if you can put your own groups together. Regarding the phrasing there is a song sung by Neil Diamomd Song Sung Blue. It would be perfect for a style we do to Foxtrot melodies but it isn't phrased in eight bars.A V. Waltz tempo Billy Joel's Piano Man is another but it also has altered phrasing and isn' t consistently eight bars which is a pity. Best wishes.