Ten-Fox

A bronze-level foxtrot-tempo set pattern dance mixing Foxtrot and Tenstep ideas, with several hold changes and an offset closed hold across each end.

Also called Tenfox. Other names.

dance

Not checked yet. The mechanics on this page are a first draft by a non-expert, and no coach has seen them yet. Read them as a starting point and check them with a coach. Corrections are very welcome.

The dance

Foxtrot in 4/4, 100 beats a minute. The hold is waltz, foxtrot from step 5, waltz from step 8, offset closed from step 13. The partners skate different steps. 21 steps and 32 beats to one pattern.

Steps for the lead the follow

One sequence on a 60 x 30 metre rink, drawn upright as the rulebooks draw it, starting at the dot and travelling anticlockwise. The two partners skate side by side on one track; the switch shows where each one's steps fall and on which edge. The faint half is the same steps skated again. Rinks vary, and on a smaller one the pattern shrinks to fit. Measured from the diagram in U.S. Figure Skating 2026-27 Rulebook, page Dance-22.

Step	Hold	Lead	Follow	Beats
1	Waltz	LFO	RBO	1
2		RFI-Pr	LBI-Pr	1
3		LFO	RBO	2
4a		RFOI-SwR	LBO-SwR	4
4b			RFI	2
5	Foxtrot	LFO	LFO	1
6		RFI-Pr	RFI-Pr	1
7		LFO	LFO	2
8a	Waltz	RFO3	RFO	1 + 1
8b		LBO		2
9		RBO	LFO3	2
10		LFO	RBO	1
11		RFI-Pr	LBI-Pr	1
12		LFO	RBO	2
13	Offset closed	RFI opCSt	LFO	1
14		LBI	RFI-Pr	1
15		RBO	LFO	1
16		LBI-Pr	RFI-Pr	1
17		RBO	LFO opCSt	1
18		XF-LBI	RBO	1
19		RFI	LBI	2

The steps are in the rulebook's own notation: foot, direction and edge, with Pr for a progressive, Ch for a chassé, SwR for a swing roll, XB and XF for a cross step behind or in front, 3 for a three turn, CSt and SSt for C and S steps, Op for open and Cl for closed. From the step chart in US Figure Skating's 2026-27 rulebook.

The Ten-Fox borrows from the Foxtrot and from the Tenstep, the social dance that grew into the 14 Step, and it changes hold several times: waltz hold to start, foxtrot hold for Steps 5 to 7, waltz hold again, then an offset closed hold across the ends with shoulders flat to the tracings.

The rulebook singles out Step 4, where the lead partner’s two-beat change of edge has to coincide with the follow partner stepping forward, knees bending together. At Step 8 the follow partner rises and bends in time with the lead partner’s three-turn, and after the open choctaw the lead partner checks rotation. US Figure Skating wants the glide to look effortless.

The Ten-Fox is not on the British Ice Skating national pattern dance list. It is on the KiwiSkate Dance 6 badge in New Zealand, and US Figure Skating tests it at Bronze.

Appears in

In the USA's grades

None of the American level lists in this guide name it.