This is my understanding of the slow steps in dancing Fox Trot. Example in doing Feather or three steps.

I am standing on my left foot with all my weight.

On the beat 1, I would dance forward with my right heel reaching long and comfortable distance unhurriedly.

Beat 2: my right foot finally contact the floor with ball of my right foot and in the mean time collect my weight with left foot closely to the right foot continuously moving left foot forward without pause. At the end of beat 2 I would raise
my standing right foot to have my weight on right toes.

Beat 3: time my left foot at this time perfectly to land on beat 3, contact the floor with toe unhurriedly. In the mean time right foot start to go forward without pause.

Beat 4: right foot land on toe first then down to flat foot( knees relaxed ) with full weight to get ready for the next slow step.

Hope this help....

Keh Gough

It is very difficult to explain the slow step in International Fox Trot.

There are many contirbutions in the Rec.arts.dance newsgroup. Unfortunately I can't put the link directly here for some reason. If anybody can please do so for the quick reference.

As I look at many top rank IS standard dancers' perfomaces, including Luca Barrici and Loren Barry, their steps DO NOT look off timing by half a beat( not even 1/4 beat ). It is the UNHURRIED look make each step SEEMS to be just a little behind the music. Actualy some steps including SLOW steps are right on the music.

Slow steps in IS Fox Trot subject to each dancers own interpretation as Jonathan has described. As long as you present the UNHURRIED look by taking your time dancing the slow step, you are ok. In any rate, one can not take Fox Trot slow step to be compared with slow steps in any other ballroom
dances particularily Rumba.

Regards,

Keh Gough

You lost me. Which version is the "artistic" version?" Placing the foot on the 1 and following through on the 2, or moving through the one and placing the foot on the 2?

In Foxtrot, a Slow count is thought by some to take all of two beats to produce the entire movement. According to this theory, your feet would be dividing throughout count 1, the moving foot would place on the downbeat of count 2, and the feet would be collecting (coming together) for the duration of count 2.

However, you should know that not everybody subscribes to this theory. Many people beleive this interpretation of the Slow count to be too radical, claiming that it looks off-time. They contend that the only interpretation of a slow should be of placing the moving foot exactly on the downbeat of count 1, using the duration of two beats to follow-through the step and prepare the next. According to this theory, you would need to be dividing your legs prior to count 1.

Those who do subscribe to the more "artistic" interpretation only use it in Slow Foxtrot, and to a limited degree in Tango. It doesn't apply to Quickstep or any of the Latin dances.

In Tango, it is used on any Slow count which requires development, or on any slow "snaky" or "slithery" movement. The most common applications are: Step 1 of Closed or Open Promenade, steps 1 and 4 of Open Reverse Turn lady outside, the last step of any Open Finish, and sometimes even on the basic Tango Forward Walks. It is never used in the following movements: The last step of a Closed Promenade or Closed Finish, the Slow count of a Back Rock, step 1 of Back Corte (or anything that includes Back Corte, such as Rock Turn or Prog Side Step Rev Turn).

Clear as mud?

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson