Fox trot is a ballroom dance that first became popular in the United States about 1914. The dance combined slow, gliding walking steps with fast walking steps. At first, the dance was performed to ragtime. Its special quality was created by syncopation (accenting normally unaccented beats). Later, people danced the fox trot to any popular tune in 4/4 time.
The fox trot probably got its name from Harry Fox, a vaudeville performer. Fox performed a frantic trotting dance in a vaudeville show. Ballroom dancers adopted and modified the steps into a smoother, less jerky dance for couples. At first, the fox trot was danced to very fast music, but it later became much slower. The fox trot was very popular in the 1920’s.
See also Ballroom dancing .
