Cha Cha Cha Dance Academy

International Ballroom > Standard

When rock and roll first emerged in the early 1950s, record companies were uncertain as to what style of dance would be most applicable to the music. Famously, Decca Records initially labelled its rock and roll releases as “Fox trots”, most notably “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and His Comets. Since that recording, by some estimates, went on to sell more than 25 million copies, “Rock Around the Clock” is technically the biggest-selling “Foxtrot” of all time.

Over time, Foxtrot split into slow (Foxtrot) and quick (Quickstep) versions. In the slow category, further distinctions exist between the International or English style of foxtrot and the continuity American style, both built around a slow-quick-quick rhythm at the slowest tempo, and the social American style using a slow-slow-quick-quick rhythm at a somewhat faster pace.

In the context of International Standard category of ballroom dances, for some time Foxtrot was called Slow Foxtrot, or Slowfox. These names are still in use, to distinguish from other types of Foxtrot.