Fred,

There is a convention, particularly among social and American style dancers, to begin a dance with the (man's) left foot. But although you may begin a dance on the left foot, it does not necessarily follow that all dance steps must begin with the left foot. Some steps begin with the right foot, and some with the left. The only step that actually needs to begin with the left foot is the very first step of the dance. After that, the foot you use next depends on which foot you have free at the end of the previous step.

And actually, you can in fact begin a dance with a figure which starts with the right foot. To do this, you will first have to take what is commonly referred to as a "prep step" with your left foot. For example, it is very common to begin an Int'l Foxtrot dance with a "Feather Step", which is a combination of 3 forward steps, RLR (SQQ). To begin a dance with a Feather Step, you will first take a forward step with your LF (typically on counts 3,4 or 7,8), and then continue with your Feather Step.

If I was a bettin' man, I'd say you were probably trained in some form of soical or American style dancing. Social dance syllabi typically include a minimum of RF-commencing figures, especially in the first 5 or 10 steps. But the international syllabus (and more advanced American style syllabus) is choc full of 'em. So if you're looking for a syllabus which will be more familiar to you, make sure you're browsing the American Style and social dance sections of our website.

When you're on the "Learn The Dances" main page (https://www.ballroomdancers.com/Dances/), note that there are actually two versions of many dances. For example, Foxtrot appears in both the "smooth" dances as well as the "ballroom" dances. If you want American style, be sure to choose the dances in the "Ballroom" and "Rhythm" lists.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com