Learn Foxtrot in 27 Minutes! | Complete Beginners Foxtrot | Partner Dance Lesson

Learn to dance foxtrot with this carefully designed video. It covers all the key teaching points that in my experience come up during a complete beginners lesson.
Note: This is an authentic style danced by many people in social settings. It is a good starting point for learning and also a good finish point if you just want a simple and enjoyable way to dance around a dancefloor at an event or simply around a room at home to make an evening special.
00:00 Walking in Time is Fun and Easy (Step 1 of 24)
00:16 Step Naturally (Step 2 of 24)
01:14 Turning Stepping into Dancing (Step 3 of 24)
04:34 Stop-Start Practice (Step 4 of 24)
06:15 Leaders Watch Behind Your Partner (Step 5 of 24)
06:26 How to Stand With the Feet Offset (Step 6 of 24)
07:06 The Leader Dances Forwards (Step 7 of 24)
07:28 Step on the Same Side (Step 8 of 24)
08:18 How to Dance Around the Room With the Feet Offset (Step 9 of 24)
10:19 How to Place the Feet (Step 10 of 24)
10:47 Close Hold (Step 11 of 24)
11:17 Dancing Closer Means Being More Careful (Step 12 of 24)
11:41 Practice Exercise: Vary the Distance as You Dance (Step 13 of 24)
13:16 Alternative Way to Start (Step 14 of 24)
14:08 Moving the Upper Body (Step 15 of 24)
14:31 Reminder of Feet (Step 16 of 24)
14:48 Practice Time (Step 17 of 24)
16:21 Stepping Forwards is Easier (Step 18 of 24)
17:04 Dealing With an Obstacle (Step 19 of 24)
17:54 Leaders Step Smaller if Necessary (Step 20 of 24)
18:37 Practice Time Repeated (Step 21 of 24)
20:58 Leader Waits for the Follower to Step (Step 22 of 24)
21:54 Stop-Start Practice (Step 23 of 24)
23:58 A Final Practice Dance (Step 24 of 24)
I have taught thousands of people to dance in person and thousands more on KZbin. I hope you enjoy this video. If you have any questions you are welcome to leave a comment for me to reply to.
To improve your learning you might want to get my "How to Partner Dance Socially" book which has much more information including the recommended learning order for these videos, a chapter dedicated to the topic of this particular video and much more.
www.amazon.co.uk/Duncan-James... (UK)
www.amazon.com/author/drdunca... (US)
www.amazon.de/Duncan-James/e/... (Germany)
Health and safety: Obviously contact a doctor if applicable before attempting these dance lessons. You do not have to copy what you see in the video, instead it is up to you to judge what feels safe for your own body and not do a particular movement if you are in doubt. I sometimes demonstrate on a piece of paper and I do not recommend you also dance on a piece of paper in case you slip. Twisting motions can be dangerous, for example they might cause tendon damage, so be careful and some of the demonstrations in the videos are exaggerated and it is not expected that beginners will force themselves into awkward positions. Any move where you stop or suddenly change direction must be done with care on a dance floor with other dancers. In general beware of causing a collision with other dancers on a dance floor; I do not think there is a guaranteed way to prevent collisions and if you do not want to risk it the only answer I know is not to dance. If the leader is travelling backwards this is potentially very dangerous because you may not be able to see where you are going.
All the music in these dance lessons are cleared for use (including payment for a licence where applicable):
Court of the Queen, Gymnopedie No 3, Rains Will Fall, Waltz - Tschikovsky Op. 40, Waltz of the Carnies, Comparsa, Cumbia No Frills, Modern Jazz Samba, Nor Frills Salsa - Alternate, No Frills Salsa, Peppy Pepe (from Kevin Macleod, incompetech.com)
Big Band Bash, Stompin Big Band, Sentimental Swing, Ballroom Big Band (from Shockwave)
Cha Cha (from Audio Micro)
Swing Swing, Give Our Dreans Their Wings to Fly, Larger Than Life, Midnight in Tokyo, Rock That Crowd, Walk Through Life, Old Stories, Panther Jazz (from Audio Jungle)
Alice In Rhumba Land, Black Mambo, Brazilian Rain, Come Dancing, Dream State, Finding Your Love, Intimacy, Latin Connection, Limbo Dancing, Mambo For Young Lovers, Poignant Samba, Secret Samba, Sunflower, Sway a Little More, Urban Rendezvous (from Partners in Rhyme)

[@alexandergarfin422]

my partner and I re discovered our love life thanks to your video. thank you man :)

[@raylynch8419]

Great video lesson. So much detail and such a great approach to teaching. Thanks for sharing.

[@drduncanjames]

Thank you. I hope it has helped you.

[@donaldsmith4780]

Unusual is right.? But it works! !

[@Concerned63Citizen]

Thank you for this helpful video tutorial! It gives people who are beginning to learn to dance a place to start. Your video was the only one, that was perfect for (my husband), who was hesitant to attempt ballroom dancing. The other videos of classically trained dancers are much more hard to follow. We had fun and I hope to follow your other tutorials. I've subscribed to your channel!

[@drduncanjames]

Thank you so much for your comment. I believe that there cannot be a single dance instruction video to suit everyone and I'm so pleased that mine has worked for you. It sounds like you are exactly my kind of target audience. I'm happy that it has helped bring someone else new into the hobby of partner dancing. And just to say that I often say to a partner at a social dance "shall we just do simple moves and enjoy the music more for this dance" so remember that it doesn't have to keep being about learning new moves... and with a special partner to dance with it can also be about feeling the connection.

[@rowancox9234]

I'm an absolutely daft, do you only dance the foxtrot to jazz? Or could it be any genre of music as long as it has a slow three beat rhythm?

[@drduncanjames]

This is debatable... I would say almost any song with a reasonably slow rhythm of any kind would work. But that's just me.

[@rowancox9234]

@@drduncanjames Sweet! thank you!

[@mauricevallaro]

So....I'm puzzled...where was the foxtrot??? There was no element of any foxtrot in this video.

[@drduncanjames]

I have seen four types of foxtrot and I am sure there are more: (1) Modern competition foxtrot. (2) Classic foxtrot from years ago. (3) The repeated "slow-slow-quick-quick" basic foxtrot. (4) The social version of foxtrot danced by many elderly couples as I have taught here. ... I think there is a problem in ballroom dancing that the various styles are getting lost as the "modern competition foxtrot" gains pre-eminence due to TV show and dance associations focussing on it. If you strongly believe there is a "correct" way to dance foxtrot perhaps you could start a KZbin channel or a blog or similar to share those thoughts. My next priority (if this pandemic ever ends) is to do a series of videos showcasing various social versions of normal people dancing (for posterity as I'm not seeing this being done by many other people)... I believe this would also help put my tuition videos into a better context. (Also please note that I teach this lesson in a very specific way so that it can be a "basic skills trainer" that then does not interfere learning other styles of foxtrot later; I usually find this fact puts most people's concerns to rest when they are saying things like you are.)

[@brandongoldsmith4633]

@@drduncanjames I would love to see a video on that. I like your teaching style--nice and slow. Very easy for a non-dancer like me, but I would like to see the classic slow-slow-quick-quick slow version of the dance too. Thanks.

[@Jumpmaster337]

Agreed... this was walking to the beat not a foxtrot.

[@drduncanjames]

@@Jumpmaster337 If that is your definition of foxtrot then agreed, the video is not teaching foxtrot. For those reading these comments without knowledge of "ballroom dance politics" be aware that a lot of people in England (for example) feel there is a "correct way to dance ballroom" ... this video teaches what I have legitimately seen a lot of people in the age bracket of approximately 70 through 100 dance at social dances during the early 21st century ... additionally based on talking to many of these people I understand that what I am teaching is the way many people used to dance foxtrot socially in clubs, dance halls, and so in England during the 20th century (and continue to do so now as mentioned above) ... therefore this is "foxtrot" by that definition ... but clearly there are other styles of foxtrot (and if another style is defined in an "exclusive way", ie claims to be the only valid way, then what I have taught here would then be considered wrong ... but in that case I would estimate that at a minimum tens of thousands of people are dancing it wrong which seems like an odd conclusion).

[@BelleHealingMusic]

This is the slowest dance class I think. 4 min in I had to quit skipped to the end to see just 1st 7 steps

[@drduncanjames]

Fair enough ... hope you found something to suit your needs ... the beauty of the internet is there is plenty of variety for everyone!

[@ozeromusic6549]

Learn To Walk? Is it joke?

[@drduncanjames]

The learning aims include: move in time with the music ... be able to dance close (romantically so if you are with a real-life partner too) whilst not crashing knees and feet together ... navigate a crowded social dancefloor safely (an important skill for those who want to go out) ... build a base to learn more from if you want ...

[@hardstock07]

All you’d done mostly is walk -walk around the floor and with your partner!👎

[@drduncanjames]

Questions like this keep cropping up but I'll answer again. This is a free 27 minute video on KZbin. Foxtrot is a combination of: the ability to navigate a dance floor safely, the ability to dance with you partner and not step on their toes, the ability to stay in time with the music, the ability to stop and restart in time, styling, moves, improvisation, etc... I've chosen a set of the simplest skills that I think best allow a pair of complete beginners who have literally never danced before to dance to a whole song (and the 27 minutes includes this first dance). I had to draw the line somewhere or the video would be hours long and unusable. My ambition with this video was to allow a pair of new dancers to "dip their toes into this arguably very complex dance". Perhaps after this gentle introduction they will then be inspired to then do more... but 7 billion people live in the world and some simply want a one-off simplified experience so they don't have to... I am trying to provide with this video a nice introduction to a hobby I have spent on average hours enjoying every week of my adult life.