Do you want to get back to dancing?  Are you thinking about easy, carefree ballroom dancing?  If that’s the case, I have a recommendation for you.  Start with Foxtrot.

Why Foxtrot, you ask?

Here are three good reasons to enjoy the #1 easy, carefree ballroom dance.

1. The music of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Michael Buble.  Not to mention the lovely voices of female vocalists like Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, Doris Day, Sarah Vaughn, and Norah Jones.
2. Foxtrot is a walking dance and, as such, it feels familiar.  However, walking to the rhythm of Foxtrot makes it look and feel different from just strolling down the street.  For example, think Gene Kelly in, “Singin’ in the Rain”.
3. Look at Foxtrot’s versatility.  This easy, carefree ballroom dance fits many different rhythms and moods.  For example, it may start out as a smoothly polished melody.  In that case, you’d be perfectly content to enjoy the fluid and effortless basics that travel around the dance floor.  But, keep in mind that at any given point of the song, there could be a hot, jazzy break.  That’s a good excuse to enjoy the Foxtrot variation known as the Swing Trot.

What’s the Swing Trot?

Basically, Swing Trot is a combination of the traveling dance Foxtrot and the spot dance Swing.

Most experienced dancers can hear a break in the music coming up. If a Foxtrot starts heating up, then that’s the time to bust out your Swing moves. But first, you’ll need to leave the line of dance to avoid blocking the flow of traffic. When the music changes back, you can make your way to the line of dance and join your fellow dancers in the Foxtrot.

This Dance Safari post, “Crowded Dance Floor? How to Navigate Around the Floor” gives some tips on floorcraft.

Swing Trot was first seen in the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie, “The Barkleys of Broadway” in 1949.

Give it a try.

Show everyone what a suave and sophisticated person you are. I defy you to be unhappy when you do the Foxtrot. No can do. That’s because it’s impossible to feel down when you’re floating on air to some of the best music ever made.