Foxtrot

Foxtrot - in ‘Provider’ Sleep Token raid vocabulary… from dancing. Because why not. The name comes from the American actor Harry Fox, who (according to one telling of this story) in 1914 brought onto the stage of the American theatre his peculiar steps, which were called ‘Fox’s Trot’. Apparently it resembles a fox’s trot. Norn is more reminiscent of a languid return from a party at three in the morning, when your legs lose to gravity and you glide more than walk. According to the basic definition, it is ‘a smooth, progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor’ (vide Wikipedia).

What characterises said dance? Oof. Where to begin? If Norn spoke with the tongues of memes and had not love, she would answer: YES. Because, you see - it depends. It has a quadruple metre, 4/4. A fast tempo, but sometimes a slow one too, depending on the style. There are also, of course, styles, American and International (also called English, so we’ve got colonialism in dance too, teehee not teehee). In both styles the partners can adopt various positions, and of course we have a whole range of figures to choose from.

So we have different rhythms, techniques and branches of the foxtrot. Unfortunately Vessel wasn’t precise in the song, so the details are now mere supposition; therefore Norn will stick to the basic definition.

You can imagine how those fingers from the song whizz about. Fast. rhythmic. Long.

As for the dance itself, at first it had no set rules, but as always there turned up a group of killjoys who declared ‘Hey, let’s take the fun away from people and set rigid rules’, as a result of which a guild of dance teachers in 1914 (according to some sources, the origin story can be traced to the early 1910s and is thanks to Black dancers, not Mr Fox) laid down the first rules for dancing the foxtrot, introducing a division into slow and quick steps, danced in a straight line or in turns to the right. Later it was developed further, new teachers added new rules, and what had at first been a pleasure was suddenly crowned the most difficult dance in the world.

Brilliant.

And now let’s imagine some young man who is the swain of a certain lady. And along she comes and tells him that her favourite song is ‘Provider’ and she dreams of that kind of finger foxtrot. Easy, right?

NOTHING COULD BE MORE WRONG.

Our boy opens a browser, types in foxtrot and starts reading. Each successive word makes him realise what a breakneck task stands before him. Metre. Four-count units. Turns to the right. Straight line.

Fast? Slow? How do I count in my head whether I’ve got 120 BPM?

Mother of Sleep!

And it would have been enough for Vessel to think a little about those poor suitors of Sleep Token fans and simply write ‘Your fingers tickle me’. You can’t get it wrong when you tickle.

If you ever find yourselves in a similar situation, your heart’s chosen one starts on about this foxtrot, do what Norn does - with a cheeky smirk, answer: ‘Kitten, what do you need a foxtrot for when you can have capoeira?’ So far Norn has achieved 100% effectiveness using this method. Nobody asked for a foxtrot again. They all somehow evaporated. Probably went back to Eden.