Raft toured with his dancing and helped popularise the tango in Paris, Vienna, Rome, London and New York. He had a great success as a dancer in London in 1926, and the Duke of Windsor was "an ardent fan and supporter." Fred Astaire, in his autobiography "Steps in Time" (1959), says Raft was a lightning-fast dancer and did "the fastest Charleston I ever saw." A September 1926 edition of "Variety" spoke of Raft's reputation as "the best Charleston dancer in New York."