Dear Coach,

I have been taking dance classes for about 2 years and am having trouble keeping on time to the music.  Sometimes when I am dancing, the ladies tell me I am not dancing on time.   Sometimes I realize it myself.  In dance class many times the instructor says, “You have to keep on time,” but I have never been told or been able to figure how to “keep on time.”  I think many times that I am trying to remember the steps and patterns and am distracted from keeping time to the music.  How do I correct this problem?

Signed, Sometimes Off Time.

Dear Sometimes Off Time:

This is a common problem for a lot of dancers…even for some dancers that many people consider accomplished dancers.  One of the reasons that this problem occurs for dancers is because instructors teach steps and patterns but spend very little time on timing and listening skills for the student.  These basic necessities of dance are skipped over because the teacher is anxious teach you something, or doesn’t understand the music himself or herself, and the student is anxious to get up on the floor dancing, most of the time before he or she is ready. 

Many times a teacher dances with the student and assumes the student can hear the beat and understands the timing, but in reality it is the teacher who is dancing on time and not the student.  This is especially true for men because many male students are used to dancing with a lady instructor who back leads, without the students knowledge.  Now, when a man goes out dancing he finds he cannot stay on time because there is no one there to keep him on time.  How do we correct this?

The first exercise is to learn to listen to the music but do not dance it.  Sit down, either close your eyes or put on a blindfold so you are not distracted by cob webs on the ceiling or dirty dishes, or the shenanigans of your dog or cat.  People have lost the ability to listen with their ears and their mind because they are used to listening with their eyes.  Listen to the background of the music being played and pick out the base or the drum beat.  There will be the heavy resonant sound that is the background beat that other instruments are following and are synchronized with.  That heavy sound is the heart of the music, followed by light sharp sounds that are the quick beats of the music.  Once you find these sounds, you will start to learn how to keep your steps in time to these beats.  Once you recognize a Waltz beat in one piece of music you will be able to pick it out in other Waltz pieces.  The same process can be used for all dances, either rhythm or smooth dances.

Pick out 2 or 3 basic steps in whatever dance you are trying to learn and learn them well and practice them until you can do them automatically without thinking about them.  Now dance to the rhythm of the music until your subconscious mind keeps you on rhythm.  After you have learned to recognize the rhythm and can hear the beat and can dance the basic steps to the rhythm of the music, then and only then are you ready to go on to more difficult steps and patterns. 

I feel instructors should spend more time on music appreciation and the understanding of timing and beat values and less time on trying to teach students complicated steps and intricate maneuvers that make many students lethal on the dance floor.  Many times when I am out dancing I see numerous dancers dancing off-time trying to do spins and turns with no regard for the beat or even music or their partner.

Over the years the biggest complaint I hear from the ladies is that men cannot keep time.  I have news for you ladies, there are a lot of ladies who cannot keep time to the music either. 

If you ask me, the one most important thing you can do to improve your dancing is to learn to keep time to the music.  Without this skill you will never be a dancer.  Regardless of how many steps, turns or patterns you know, without the ability to keep time to the music you are wasting your time.  However, anyone can learn to keep time to the music if they will make the effort.  I have taught many hearing impaired individuals to keep time to the music and even taken them to competitions where they won first places.