Though this article is aimed mainly at beginners/novices, and social dancers who may wish to improve their standard of dancing, it may be of interest to all.

The Glenroy Foxtrot

This is a modern sequence dance, and is also a competition dance.
All steps quoted are for the man. It’s done in normal foxtrot timing and execution of steps, over a sequence of 16 bars of music.
Abbreviations: LF = Left Foot; RF = Right Foot; LOD = Line of Dance;
PP = Promenade Position.
Timing: S = Slow; Q = Quick.

Start in ballroom hold, feet together, with man facing diagonally to centre down LOD.
1. Left foot forward into Feather step. SSQQ
2. (into) Closed Telemark, ending with LF diagonally to wall down LOD. SQQ
3. (followed by) Curved Feather step, ending facing against LOD. SQQ
4. LF back down LOD into Closed Impetus Turn, ending facing diagonally to wall
down LOD. SQQ
5. Feather step, diagonally to centre. SQQ
6. (into) Open Telemark, ending in PP. SQQ
7. Natural Turn to wall. SQQ
8. (followed by) Outside Swivel square to centre. SS
9. (into) Side Sway to centre. S
Recover. S
10 Contra Check diagonally to wall down LOD. S
Return weight back to Right toe. Q
Take step on LF to side (toe flat), ending in PP. Q
11. Feather step from PP, diagonally to centre, returning to closed ballroom hold. SQQ
12. Steps 2,3,4 of Reverse Wave, diagonally to wall. SQQ
13. RF back diagonally to wall. S
(rising into) Hover on LF to wall. Q
Small step back on RF (toe flat). Q
14. LF back down LOD, (toe flat), (partner outside). S
RF back down LOD, (toe), (partner in line). Q
(turning to left), LF to side, (toe flat), pointing diagonally to wall, ending in PP,
ready to travel down LOD. Q
15. Chair down LOD in Promenade Position. S
16. Return weight back onto LF. Q
(1/8 turn to Left, ending facing diagonally to centre is made over next 3 steps)
Step back down LOD on RF (toe flat), turning lady back into closed ballroom hold. Q
Step LF to side and slightly back diagonally to centre (toe flat). Q
Return RF to LF, ending facing diagonally to centre down LOD. Q
16. Lady’s steps: Lady does Slip Pivot over the 1/8th turn.

Note: All moves are each one bar of music, with the exception of nos. 1 & 15, which are 1 ½ bars, and ½ bar long respectively.
The easiest way to learn the dance is to learn the dance in stages, - not all at once.

Let’s assume that you’ve gone through the script, danced all the moves a few times, and have now learned this sequence dance. But have you really learned this dance?

Imagine That You’re Doing This Dance in Competition
In downhill and slalom racing in skiing, all skiers imagine the route, and go through it in their mind before they actually race the course. Let’s do the same thing here, and imagine that you’re actually in the competition doing this dance.

It begins with a left foot walk into a feather step. (2 slows followed by 2 quicks.) Was your timing correct for every beat, and did you manage to keep contact with the floor at all times? (I.e. not do any “air” steps for the last two steps of the feather?)
If your timing was out, or if a foot lost contact with the floor, then you’ve already lost any chance of winning.

Ok. You’ve danced the closed telemark, curved feather, and stepped back into the closed impetus turn. Again, did you manage to keep your left foot on the floor stepping back into this turn?
If you didn’t, you’ve lost.

Assuming you’re still in, and have made it to the outside swivel, over sway, return, contracheck, and return weight to the right toe. These steps are done with timings of five slows and a quick. Will you keep your timing and remember that it is five slows? Will your lady decide to forget to recover from the last of the five slows and return her weight in a quick timing, so that you can return you can return your weight to your right toe? Or will she decide to “pose” in the contracheck for an extra beat, leaving you late in your return? If she did, then you’ve lost.

You’ve got just under half the sequence to go. Next comes the feather (no air steps), and the first three steps of the reverse wave. This is followed by the hover, with a small step back on your right foot – not a “plonk” onto your right foot. That would mean that you took your foot off the floor.

When you finally make it to the end of the 16 bars (and so the end of the sequence), - did you get there on time? (Perhaps you were just that tiny bit early?) It’s no use saying: “Well near enough as to make no difference.” Standing around at the end of the sequence for one or two beats doesn’t look very good at all.

If your timing is out at any point in the sequence (even at the end of it), you can be sure that at least one judge has seen it. And that’s only your timing!

Did you manage to hold yourself together, and didn’t make a single mistake? I.e. you got your timing right, all the angles right, all the heel/toe steps right, rise & falls, CBM, swings and sways in the right places, kept your posture, and didn’t drop your arms at any point? Well don’t lose your concentration and give yourself a pat on the back yet, because you have still at least two more sequences of the dance to do before the judges will have seen enough, and the music comes to an end.

Phew!

Wasn’t it a good job that you were doing that dance in your imagination! But at least you now know have an idea what sequence dancers have to do to win their competitions. They will learn every dance by picking each move apart, learning beat-by-beat, bar-by-bar. It is this relentless attention to detail that is necessary to have the dance acceptable for competition. And that goes for every modern sequence foxtrot, waltz, tango and quickstep.

Quite often, a competitive sequence dancer will have had to learn and polish up to a dozen or so different dances for a day’s competition, as some individual sequence dance competitions may involve 4 different dances. And that’s just for that day’s competition. At the next competition at a different venue, all the dances may be different from the previous competition. So considering that the previously described timing, technique, etc. applies to every dance, then you can appreciate the amount of discipline each competitive sequence dancer must have.

Improvements All Round

To help you with your timing, dance the Glenroy Foxtrot with your partner alone on the dance floor, and see if you actually finish the sequence on the last beat of the last of the 16 bars of music. Most couples new to sequence dancing finish one or two beats early. So practice each move until your timing is absolutely correct. Eventually, you will get to feel this happening. Because the 16 bar sequence of music is grouped into four lots of four bars, as you become more familiar with each dance, (its choreography etc.), you will sense if you’re out of time, by even a beat, at any stage during the sequence.

Practice this dance until you reckon that you’re good enough to dance it in competition alongside sequence dancers who will know the dance inside out. If your timing for each move is correct, then the timing for the same moves (feather, telemark, contracheck, etc.) in your ballroom foxtrot will also be correct.

Not only that, every heel step will now be a heel step, every toe a toe step, and every toe flat will be a toe flat, - not just a “Well, near enough” step. Your feet will now always be in contact with the dance floor in ballroom foxtrot competitions, because they have to be in sequence foxtrot competitions.

All the rise & falls, swings, sways, and necessary CBM will be there. And let’s not forget that whereas previously you may have known the moves (or thought that you knew) needed to carry out this dance, every time you now dance them on the ballroom floor (competitively or socially), they will now look tidy, and instantly recognizable, instead of perhaps being done in a rush and were not exactly looking what they were supposed to.

You will not lose movement and travel, but now it will be disciplined. Thoughts such as: “Oops, I did a heel step instead of a toe step” or “Hmm, that fishtail was just a little rushed”, will not enter your mind, because such things won’t (or is far less likely to) happen. As a consequence you will feel more relaxed as you dance, and look better on the dance floor.

It all goes to show that there are indeed benefits of learning modern sequence dances to improve your ballroom dancing!

See you over at DanceTalk

Courtesy of sleeping_partner

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