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Dance Rhythm & Timing Explained !

     This page deals with different parts and aspects of dance timing. This should be a help to you if you are just starting your dance adventure. All good dancers need to poses balance, timing, rhythm, and orientation in space and great dancers master it while poor dancers don't worry about this kinda stuff thinking it's to much thinking, so if your aspiring to be a good dancer ... read on, and if your not, close this page now.

      This page is not a complete source or does it cover every aspect that might be deemed important. It is only a guide to help try and explain the more common questions covering dance timing for 4/4 time dances online but is mainly done with West Coast Swing Dance in mind rather that of the other dances (Samba, Tango, Minuet, Waltz ... etc).

    Simple Time Signatures or Meters  

     Simple time signatures tell you how many and what kind of notes per measure are to be played. The number on the top represents 'how many' or the number of notes per measure, and the bottom number represents the 'what kind of note' is to be used.

There are the three main or 'simple time signatures' in dance:
2/4 Time: Most Smooth / Polka Dances. (2 Up Beats. -- 2 -- 4 -- 2 -- 4 ... etc.)
3/4 Time: Mainly Waltz but can be others dances. (1 Down and 2 up Beats)
4/4 Time: (aka Common Time) - Rhythm Dances (2 down 2 up beats 1-2-3-4).

2/2 Time: is 'Cut time' (alla breve) popular in marches ... see 4/4.
2/4 is 2 quarter notes (or 2 crotchets) per measure.
3/4 is 3 quarter notes per measure (or 3 crotchets).
4/4 is 4 quarter notes per measure (aka common time, also 'cut time' is 4/4).
5/2 is 5 half notes (or 5 minims) per measure.
6/8 is 6 eighth notes (or 6 quavers) per measure and so on.

      The bottom number can be 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc. There are many more time signatures in music and these are but a few of the examples given above. We often times do dance to these other signatures as well, but for now we are only looking at the basic three above and one in particular 4/4 time for swing dancing.

      NOTE: The above represents 'simple time signatures' and we are not going to get into 'compound time signatures' such as 6/8, 9/8 (12/8 = some blues) etc. or 'irregular time signatures' (5/4. 7/4, 11/4 etc) on this page. If you want to know more try Goggling in the upper right corner of this page.

  The Pulse or Heartbeat in the Music we dance to. 

     The first beat (the "downbeat") is stressed or what we call 'PULSED'; in time signatures with four beats/groups in the measure (such as 4/4 and 12/8), the third beat is also stressed, though to a lesser degree. This gives a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed or pulsed beats.

Units, Measures and Phrases

    A unit is the smallest grouping of beats we use. It consist of 'one down beat' and 'one up beat' as well as any syncopations which we will explain later.  Count is 1-2. When two Units are Joined together or combined we call it a Measure or Bar (below). The "D" indicates Down Beat and the "U" indicates an Upbeat.

     A Measure (USA) or Bar (UK) is two Units or four beats in a 4/4 time signature. Music is generally written in these four beat measures. There are basically two measures with the first one being the primary and the second one being the secondary. When combined we call these two measures a phrase (below). The Primary measure is beats 1-2-3-4 and the secondary measure is 5-6-7-8 = 8 beat minor phrase.

     As stated above when we combine two measures together they form a 'Minor Phrase' which consists of 'four Units' (4X2=8) or 'Two Measures' (2X4=8) generally. Since we are mainly talking about Swing Dancing here we will stick to this part of the phrase only and ignore other variations and time signatures.

     Obviously not all songs are done the same as the above. However this is the basic idea for most 'Rhythm Dances.' There are other 'Time Signatures' as we stated above as well and can make it confusing when trying to count various songs at first such as 2/4 (two-four), 3/4 (three-four), 4/4 (four-four), 5/4 (five-four), 6/8 (six-eight) etcetera.

     Usually the last 'Two Beat Unit' within a 'Minor 8 Beat Phrase' will have the last 'two beats' or some variation in these two beats sounding different than the previous 'six beats' (or previous three units) to mark the change. A good example of this is Will Smith's 'Men In Black' (listen to a sample). song which makes the last two beats a double clapping sound on the "and-eight" (sounds like a Clap-Clap).

  MAJOR PHRASES EXPLAINED  

     'Major Phrases' are groups of "Minor Phrases" such as 32, 48 or 64 totaled beats.
Example:
4 X 8 = 32 beats of music total ... and repeats to end of song.
6 X 8 = 48 beats of music total ... and repeats to end of song.
8 X 8 = 64 beats of music total ... and repeats to end of song.

      A minor phrase would be similar to a 'sentence' in a book. Major Phrases would be similar to a 'paragraph' in that same book. To try to give a visual idea ...

1) --1--2--3--4--5--6--7--8--  (hypothetical sentence or Phrase #1)
2) --1--2--3--4--5--6--7--8--  (hypothetical sentence or Phrase #2)
3) --1--2--3--4--5--6--7--8--  (hypothetical sentence or Phrase #3)
4) --1--2--3--4--5--6--7--8--  (hypothetical sentence or Phrase #4)
The above four sentences (or 8 beat minor phrases) would make a Paragraph. If we think of these four sentences as four measures we get a Major Phrase (4X8=32 beats).

     These 'Major Phrases' can mix with each other as well and often times do. Example: 32, 32, 32, 48, 32, 32, 32, 48, 48, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32 ... to end of song.

  SLOWS AND QUICKS EXPLAINED 

     Sometimes there is confusion with the terms 'Slows and Quick's'. These terms are often times used to describe a rhythmic change of the feet (or body) when applied to music. These calls should not be used to count the dance, and used only to obtain a sense of comparative rhythmic movement. Smooth and Rhythm dances are different.
                                                    Smooth Dances
Smooth dances such as Tango, Fox-trot, Texas Two Step, etc. or walking dances.
A Slow call would be the average length of time it would take to do one walking step per two beats of music.
A Quick call would be the average length of time it would take to do one walking step per one beat of music.
[ie: Slow(2) Slow(2) Quick(1) Quick(1) = 6 beats of music] 

                                                    Rhythm Dances
Rhythmic dances such as Swing, Hustle, Cha-Cha etc. or Running Dances)
A Slow call would be the average length of time it would take to do one walking step per one beat of music.
A Quick call would be the average length of time it would take to do one walking step (run) per half beat of music.
[ie: Slow(1) Slow(1) Quick(½) Quick(½) = 3 beats of music]

  BREAKS Explained 

      A break will usually but not always happen on the 1st or 5th beat of the minor Phrase (8 beats.)      

      Breaks are a break, stop or change in the music's repeating rhythm pattern. One example is the music is playing and all the sudden stops for three (or seven beats) of music. Usually the singer is still talking/singing but the music has completely stopped or some form of background sound like finger snapping every other beat may still slightly be happening. There are partial breaks where the music doesn't stop but becomes a low key background of a completely different rhythm than what the song has been repeating in its phrasing.

      The break will usually have a build up to a crescendo up to the last 4 beat measure of the major phrase then: - 'BAM' - on the first beat and rest on the remaining three beats which is called a short break - bam-5, rest-6,7,8) of the last measure or the long break of seven beats if breaking to the complete 8 beat phrase rather than the 4 beat measure would be as follows: ('BAM-1', rest-2,3,4,5,6,7,8) of the major phrase. The song 'Wade In The Water' is a good song to learn breaks to.

     Multiple breaks do and can happen within a song and are different than described above but with the same Rhythm breaking idea such as the music 'Bamming' on beats one and resting on beats 2,3,4, then again on count five and resting on beats 6,7,8. An example of repeating 'hits' in a song that are treated as breaks would be the song Uhh! by Joe Louis Walker or 'Willing and Able' by Prince that uses breaks on almost every other 8 beat phrase. (note: You can listen to 30 seconds of the songs or you can buy the albums).

A) an example below of the 4 beat (short) break in a (32 BEAT) major phrase.
1) da, dah, dah, da, dah, dah, da, duh (8 beat phrase #1)
2) da, dah, dah, da, dah, dah, da, duh (8 beat phrase #2)
3) da, dah, dah, da, dah, dah, Da, Duh (8 beat phrase #3 song starts it's crescendo)
4) Da, DAh, DAH, DAA, BAM!, ...  ...  ...  (8 beat phrase #4, Crescendo & Break)
1) da, dah, dah, da, dah, dah, da, duh (phrasing restarts .... Song continues.)

B) an example below of the 8 beat (Long) break in a (32 BEAT) major phrase.
1) da, dah, dah, da, dah, dah, da, duh (8 beat phrase #1)
2) da, dah, dah, da, dah, dah, da, duh (8 beat phrase #2)
3) da, dah, dah, da, dah, dah, Da, Duh (8 beat phrase #3 song starts it's crescendo)
4) BAM!, ..., ..., ..., ..., ..., ..., ... (8 beat phrase #4)
... (phrasing restarts .... Song continues.)

     Breaks can take a little while to start to hear and react to. When trying to learn how to break, in the beginning you just need to stop moving no matter where you are in a pattern when the music stops (break), you stop, when it starts up again you continue. Later when you get better at hearing them coming you can set up better patterns to "Hit" the break on. Usually the followers will stop for you at first whether you asked them to or not to make you aware that they exist and where and that you can't just ignore them cause you don't know how to break ... you'll learn 'em eventually as a leader.

     Most newer dancers think you have to be familiar with the song (aka: "Know it by heart" kinda thing,) but that is so not true. These newer dancers are not sure where they are in the music (they don't really listen to the song anyway,) so can only conceive of memorizing the song or being really familiar that it has breaks. THIS IS NOT TRUE.!!!

Syncopation in Dance

as an example on the lower far left circle above that count would be 1 (whole beat step) and three short quick steps on count two (O---N---E &-ah-Two). See if you can figure the others out, then read on and try it again. (remember to start on bottom of circle (downbeat) and read to right, then go to top (upbeat) of same circle and read to the right).

     Syncopation within dance is similar but different than what a musician may think. In basic dance syncopation we would have each beat broken up into 4th's making 8th's within the two beat unit in using the eight beat minor phrase above ... Confusing you say ... well lets take a better look.

                         - Syncopated Units making up the minor phrase -
      Below is a single 'two beat unit' making up eight parts within that unit:
Unit #1 (e-and-ah-one -- e-and-ah-two)  Unit #2 (e-and-ah-three -- e-and-ah-four) Unit #3 (e-and-ah-five -- e-and-ah-six)  Unit #4 (e-and-ah-seven -- e-and-ah-eight) ... So using #1 as an example 'e-and-ah-one'= 4 words and 'e-and-ah-two'=4 words, so in total they make eight words or 8 'syncopations' in one unit structure or 8th's.

      It's easier to think of this at first as a measurement like an ordinary 9" inch ruler in your desk (each inch represents a beat of music with 8 Inch/beats being a phrase ... count 9 being count 1 again). Each inch on a ruler is broken down into halves, thirds, quarters, eighths, and sixteenth's.

....... In the example ruler below:
1) The first quarter inch has been called an "E" ......... or (1/4 BEAT)
2) The second Quarter inch has been called "AND"..... or (1/2 BEAT)
3) The third Quarter inch has been called the "AH"..... or (3/4 BEAT)
4) The final Quarter inch has been called the "One".... or (Full BEAT)

     So instead of measuring distance or "Inches" we are now measuring "lengths of Time" along a musical timeline. This tells us how long, short, slow or fast and when exactly we need to step or kick, stop, hold/wait, dip/drop, rise/fall or whatever may be done in your movement. Think of your dance rulers being 8" inches (8 beats) rather than 9.
Example count: e-(and)-ah-ONE/e-(and)-ah-TWO/e-(and)-ah-THREE/e-(and)-ah-FOUR.

     Generally a beginner only uses the "And" count such as in a 'triple step' unit pattern: One--(and)--Two, Three--(and)--Four ... etcetera.  ...

... But as you gain more experience you will become much more aware of the "AH" count through instruction and start doing your triples above as:
One--()-Ah-Two, Three--()-Ah-Four. Instead of the above way which will give you that "Soul" in your dancing. The () is where the 'and' your now not counting resides. The easiest way to count these is to combine the word 'And' plus the 'Number' and make it one word, such as: Oneand, Twoand, Threand, Fourand, etc. (or Oneand-Ah-Two or Oneand-Ah-Twoand etc)

      Whether we count the syncopations in the count or not they still exist.
Count: "One -- -- -- Two" is the same as: "One E AND AH Two" as it is the same length of time whether we count the syncopations or not. (The time here being relative to the speed of the song of course.)
(Q: is a empty glass empty or full? ...................... A: Full ... It's full of air. The container stays the same whether it is visibly (or audibly) being used or not.... its a container.

  Backside versus Frontside  

      On a Piano we have the Keys: A,B,C,D,E,F,G.
One of the basic elements in the Blues structure is one hand plays one rhythm and the other hand plays another. It is here we can clearly get into the 8th's as described in our ruler above for our rhythm movement. Using a very basic Piano Blues structure on a Piano using the keys "cG cG cA cA" (C key gets played along with every G and A at same time thus: cG-cG or cA-cA or simply GGAA) gives us:

cG = + (1)
cG = 1 (2)
cA = + (3)
cA = 2 (4) which equals 4 SYNCOPATED counts of Two beats of music we will call rhythmically count as 1234 (this is not four beats but only two counted 1234).

   Basically our legs move only one way. We lift the foot, We swing the leg in a direction and we finally step on the foot. Try walking slowly and say the following:
(Left foot):   Lift -- Swing---Step (One) ...
(Right foot): Lift---Swing---Step (Two).... (repeat left and right)
So to make this easy at first think of Lift and Swing as being done together ie:
Lift-Step. (combine lift and swing together and call it simply "Lift").

... So to "Walk Walk" or Rock Step this would be:
c G = + (1*) Lift Leg (wait),
c G = 1 (2*) Step or walk, (can be Forward or Backward or Sideways etc).
c A = + (3*) Lift Leg (wait),
c A = 2 (4*) Step or Walk. (can be Forward or Backward or Sideways etc).

... So to do a "Triple Step" this would be:
c G = + (1*) Lift Leg (wait),
c G = 1 (2*) Step,
c A = + (3*) Step,
c A = 2 (4*) Step.

  So every step you take should have at the least four movements (there can be more). These 4 movements will be marked with an " * " below which we will refer to later as "1234" rhythmically. This rhythm count of "1234" is 'GGAA' and is not referring to units or measures but syncopation only within each unit. When you rush the beat you are not using your full four movements. A basic six count West Coast Swing Sugar-Push would look like this:                  

GGAA (1234) Example

cGcG-cAcA - cGcG-cAcA - cGcG-cAcA. Or +1+2+3+4+5+6

1234

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

4

* Piano

cG

cG

cA

cA

cG

cG

cA

cA

cG

cG

cA

cA

Count

+

1

+

2

+

3

+

4

+

5

+

6

Beats

BEAT 1

BEAT 2

BEAT 3

BEAT 4

BEAT 5

BEAT 6

So using our four count structure above. A sugar push would have you doing: 2-4-234-234 (your rhythmic count) which is: 1-2-3&4-5&6 (your dance count)

    ... So to wrap this up dancing on the more rhythmically correct 'Backside of the Unit' is preferred *(1 lift)234 (not stepping on the 'first cG') of the units. This allows you to take your last step in the unit on *4 of *1234 (the GGAA). Being off rhythmically is 123(4 lift or hold) ... see below

  Basic Swing Dance 'Timing'  

       With everything already explained above we can see that Timing and Rhythm go Hand and Hand but are not the same thing, however most people call it the same.

... Timing is simple in swing dancing (latin dances are an exception). It is aligning your first odd numbered step (say step 1) inline with an odd numbered beat with odd music beats 1,3,5 or 7).

example: omitting the 'and/ah' syncopations for simplicity (you know where they go).

Below is Dancing "On Time"   (WCS 6 Count)
BEAT 1	BEAT 2	BEAT 3	BEAT 4	BEAT 5	BEAT 6	BEAT 7	BEAT 8
STEP 1	STEP 2	STEP 3	STEP 4	STEP 5	STEP 6	STEP 1	STEP 2
------------------------------------------------------------------
Below is Dancing "Off Time"   (WCS 6 count)
BEAT 1	BEAT 2	BEAT 3	BEAT 4	BEAT 5	BEAT 6	BEAT 7	BEAT 8
-	STEP 1	STEP 2	STEP 3	STEP 4	STEP 5	STEP 6	STEP 1
If you notice 'Step 1' is odd but is being stepped on 'Beat 2' which is even. The result is "OFF TIME" in swing dancing. ... Now, there are other dances (non American) that start 'Step Count One' on 'Beat Count Two' and others such as some latin dances that start on beat two, that is not incorrect but we are not discussing those dances here.

How do we dance to 8 beats of music when the pattern is only 6 beats in length.

Phrase: 1 2 3 4 Beat: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Step: 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 Basically its simple you can start any pattern on beats 1,3,5 or 7. However you should start your very first initial step of that dance on beat one or restart your dance even.

... Well I think that's about it. There is alot here and it seems much more complicated to me here than it really is mainly because it is in the written word trying to explain movement / interpretation (rather than music writing/reading) and is better and easier to explain in person. Iv 'e read it ten times and seems clear to me but, then again, I know it so probably have missed alot in writing it. However, I do hope this helps enlighten and clarify a few things I am constantly asked.