No dance has proven more difficult for me to manage the timing of than the foxtrot. As an amateur, I feel as if the moves I know from the different categories in Bronze and Silver are meaningless because the moment I start to glide through the floor I lose the timing and, consequently, the dance.

The question, simple: Any clues how to tame, manage, and improve my deficiency in this area- that is, the timing of the foxtrot?

Thanks

Welcome to the long, long line of people who have tackled this problem !

Thats why its called the " Pros " dance .
the ability to blend, and yet not obscure the individual parts , is something that will seem to take a lifetime to achieve ( it does in some cases )
There are no shortcuts-- just practice and understanding the concept .

Although this is not the exact timing it is close. When dancing the basics think of moving the body at one speed and the legs also swinging at one speed,the size of the steps will be different but let them fall where they may. If you dance on the second beat think of two as a forward action and the three four as an upward swing arriving just in time to lower on one. Hope this helps .Cheers

When doing the SQQ (silver level), it is supposed that S is 2 beats and each Q is 1 beat.

But in reality, it is hard to keep that exact. In most situations, S is less than 2 beats, and Q is longer than 1 beat. The S is still longer than the Q.

Is it alright doing is that way?

There has been a lot of misinformation about the details of foxtrot timing posted here in other threads the past, but that probably isn't what you really need to know.

The challenge is that even when you know what timing you want to do, it is still often quite hard to do it.

The answer is to be careful not to rise too high and get stuck. If you rise too high, you will lower too fast, and you will land a step before you intended to. Then, because you are moving too fast, you will rise too early for the next measure, and continue on up until you are too high again.

Dancing a good foxtrot is a combination of building strong feet that can carry your body through slow, sustained movements. But even more importantly, learning to aim your movements within the scope of what your feet can carry - and what your partner's can carry, which may be more of a limiting factor. It is supposed to look like an effortless floating dance - don't let it become bombastic.