March News from Iacono Ballroom Center

Finding the Beat !

How do we identify the beat in the music that we are dancing to? How does the pattern relate to what we are hearing in the music? Most people often find this a bit confusing when learning to dance. They often ask: Where in the music does it tell us where to dance the patterns we are learning? These are all very good questions. Rest assured that everyone learns to hear the beat and dance to it!

I know that beginning dancers do not have the confidence that they will achieve this goal, but in all the years I have been teaching, I know that we can teach you to hear the beat, identify the music and dance! When you see our dancers at the studio having a great time and kicking up their heals remember that they all started just like everyone else; they just stuck with it and it all came together!

Music is mathematical. We will start with a common time signature: 4/4 timing. This means that there are four beats to the measure, 1-2-3-4. The 1 and the 3 are "downbeats" and the 2 and the 4 are "upbeats". In Swing and Foxtrot the upbeats are usually more stressed or louder. This creates a very easy pulse to hear for the beginning dancer. 1,2, 1, 2...At our Open Houses I always ask the group to tap their foot to a Foxtrot that we play for them. Invariably everyone has always been able to tap their foot to these two beats!

So if you are learning social Foxtrot, how does the box step relate to these beats we are hearing and where are the 'slows' and 'quicks'? The music does not tell us where to dance the box step, promenade etc.. , and, most importantly, neither does the singer! You have to identify the beats or 'pulse' in the music. At first I like to tell a student who does not have any musical background that all the patterns in Foxtrot are combinations of Slows (two beats) and Quicks (one beat); therefore, we can simply count the ones and twos only and dance the pattern. The understanding of the measures can come later.

So let's look at some examples in Foxtrot and Single Swing:

Box Step (Foxtrot):

Slow 12 Two beat step.

Quick 1 One beat step.

Quick 2 One beat step.

Slow 12

Quick 1

Quick 2

Promenade Walk (Foxtrot):

Slow 12

Quick 1

Quick 2

Basic Single Rhythm Swing Pattern:

Slow: Side 12

Quick: Back 1

Quick: Replace Forward 2

The timing correlates with how long I am on one foot or the other. The speed or tempo of the music will dictate how fast or slow these beats are coming together.

These are some basic examples for starting to understand timing and dancing. Later we will cover other dances such as Cha Cha, Salsa, Rumba and more - the examples above are the easiest to start with. As always ask your instructor to explain this further for you. So start having some fun with this; tap your foot to music on a regular basis so you start training your ear and you will find that you too will learn to "feel the beat" and find a new found freedom on your dancing!

Coming later this year: Video Dance Tips!