Where do you keep the beat

[Cornish Pixie]

I know that i keep the beat primarily with my feet, but iv been observing a lot of smooth dancers recently who don't which allows them to play around more with what they do with ther feet.

However im afraid that if i keep the beat with my hands il get "bouncy hand syndrome"

Just a general wondering as to what people use to kepp the beat with and if they can be successfully smooth in doing so with their feet.

May need to reiterate if its not too clear!

[CJ]

in my pocket. :wink:

[Dreadful Scathe]

In a folder along with the rest of my mp3 collection. I do like "Mirror in the Bathroom" . :)

[Feelingpink]

in my pocket. :wink:

Close. In my wiggles.

[Lindsay]

pants?

[David Bailey]

pants?
Clearly, with me, it's in my spatially-relative trousers.

On a (semi-)more serious note, any way you keep the beat by physically marking time to it is going to look a bit bouncy, I think - so you can have bouncy arms or legs... Wiggling does indeed help, and I'd rather wiggle than bounce.

But I think when you get used to the beat, you may be better off just, I dunno, feeling it - that way you can smooth moves out over several beats, or compress them as required. Like all these things, though, you've got to learn the rules before you can bend them.

Hope that helps a little more than, ahem, certain posts...

[Gadget]

I know that i keep the beat primarily with my feet, but iv been observing a lot of smooth dancers recently who don't which allows them to play around more with what they do with ther feet.

However im afraid that if i keep the beat with my hands il get "bouncy hand syndrome"

Just a general wondering as to what people use to kepp the beat with and if they can be successfully smooth in doing so with their feet.

May need to reiterate if its not too clear!
:D I puzzled this before and thought I had it sussed: the better the dancer, the higher the beat is in the body...the coolest can just stand and give a slight nod of the head, however once you get passed the hips, everything comes into play.

Generally, good dancers (ladies in particular) will mark it in their hips, so that their foot has fallen, heel hit the ground and started to rise again to be on the toes when the actual beat hits - but their hips will mark it. But then if they are stepping with or synchronising, it all seems to fall back in place and they mark with the feet to match the lead. :confused: As I said: I thought I had it sused. :confused:

[DavidB]

I think a lot of people still use their feet (not me obviously :wink: ). They just don't mark every beat, but instead only the ones they are interested in.

In the interests of laziness, I use my partner to keep the beat.

[DavidY]

I think the other Davids beat me to it with better replies, but I was going to say you don't need to move any part of the body to keep a beat, as you can just keep the beats in your head.

I also have a bad habit of singing along to the music :blush: :blush: ... but it is a way of keeping the beat and you can do it without bouncing :) .

Using your partner sounds more fun though...

[Lynn]

However im afraid that if i keep the beat with my hands il get "bouncy hand syndrome" I only figured out recently that guys with bouncy hands were doing it to keep the beat, and that if they stopped, they might lose the beat. Would that be true? If so, then if I'm dancing with a 'bouncy lead' perhaps I would be better not to 'play' too much in ways that might make them lose the beat? I don't think about the beat consciously - its just there. But I know that others might have to work at a bit more (and I have plenty of other things I need to work at!!) so I wouldn't want to do anything to put them off.

[El Salsero Gringo]

If anyone wants a video clip of James Cronin teaching a first move and (I think) a basket - with arms bouncier than the bounciest you could possibly imagine - drop me a PM.

[MartinHarper]

I'm afraid that if i keep the beat with my hands il get "bouncy hand syndrome"

You could try keeping the beat with your "spare hand", as nobody will whine if you bounce that.
Long-term, I guess it's best to keep the beat in your soul, and mark the beat with your body.

[FirstMove]

Martin, congratulations on 1000 posts!

I would have thought listening to the music was strongly related to keeping the beat. If you're thinking of what to do in the breaks ... panic.

[philsmove]

............you don't need to move any part of the body to keep a beat, as you can just keep the beats in your head.
....


Wurlitzer, I think you should try and come to Bristol and go to one of Eduardo’s :worthy: Tango Argentina lessons
You will learn to Dance with Heart, DANCE WITH YOUT HEART

To get some ideal of what I’m talking about, rent the DVD “the Tango lesson “

[David Bailey]

You will learn to Dance with Heart, DANCE WITH YOUT HEART
What was that again, didn't quite catch it the first time? :whistle:
Also, I'm not sure if I can get my heat rate up to the required BPM and keep it there :)


:D I puzzled this before and thought I had it sussed: the better the dancer, the higher the beat is in the body...the coolest can just stand and give a slight nod of the head, however once you get passed the hips, everything comes into play.

I don't think there's really such a rule, or there would be a lot of bobbing heads around...

I'd say that a natural dancer, almost by definition, doesn't need to "keep the beat", they move to it naturally, and they simply acknowledge beats when required by the aesthetics of move, by the dance, or by their partner. The part of their bodies they use for beat acknowledgement again varies depending on the move / dance / partner.

For the rest of us mortals, I do occasionally tap my left index finger on the follower's hand as a beat signal...

[Whitebeard]

If anyone wants a video clip of James Cronin teaching a first move and (I think) a basket - with arms bouncier than the bounciest you could possibly imagine - drop me a PM.
Thanks ESG that clip is very, er, educational. I made it a first move followed by an American spin but, as you say, that was very bouncy handed.

I really do not want to look like that.

[Magic Hans]

Personally, I figure that I keep beat, with feet, however, not always to an even rhythm. Sometimes with little movement at all!

A(n african) drummer was told me that whilst drumming with a group, he could go solo, and drum a completely different beat (and/or timing) for a while, so long as it returned to the timing of the standard beat that everyone else continued to maintain.

He reckoned this was a bit like Jazz style playing.

[Cornish Pixie]

Wurlitzer, I think you should try and come to Bristol and go to one of Eduardo’s :worthy: Tango Argentina lessons
You will learn to Dance with Heart, DANCE WITH YOUT HEART

To get some ideal of what I’m talking about, rent the DVD “the Tango lesson “

Will have to do that sometime, but im not saying that i can't feel the beat, i suppose i'm saying when you "mark" the beat, forgive me for being so shallow - what looks the best. You say that you can keep the beat in your head but isn't that just, dare i say it - boring?

[MartinHarper]

When you "mark" the beat - what looks the best.

I tend to mark beats with my feet, but that's just a Lindy hangover, rather than a stylistic choice. The other common option seems to be hips, for a Latin flavour, which I find awkward. Good MJ dancers should be comfortable doing either, depending on music and partner.

The best dancers to watch are those who dance to the music, rather than just the beat.

[David Bailey]

The best dancers to watch are those who dance to the music, rather than just the beat.
:confused: What, music doesn't have beats? :whistle:

Oh OK, yep, I agree - I guess this must be what clever people call musicality...


A(n african) drummer was told me that whilst drumming with a group, he could go solo, and drum a completely different beat (and/or timing) for a while, so long as it returned to the timing of the standard beat that everyone else continued to maintain.
Lots of salsa moves seem to be like this - seriously extended women shines, for example. But as they tend to be the ones which throw me completely, I'm not keen on this "doing your own thing" lark. Hence my preference for passive follows I guess.

[RogerR]

When you start to dance you dance to the beat one beat after another almost regardless of the rest of the music, as you progress you look for the bar structure in the beats, then you look for the phrasing in the music, then you play with the notes the orchestration and the breaks.

Some people progress more than others some people are satisfied sooner. After a while esp if you listen to tango you will realise that the beat is always constant but only exists virtually the tune and accompanyment are weaving around using the beat as a frame. The beat is that sometimes real sometimes virtual frame that underpins the dancing.

[Little Monkey]

I keep the beat in my BODY. It's in every fibre, in every body part - in my head, my chest, my shoulders, my hips, my hands, my legs, my feet. If it's a tune that really 'does it' for me, I don't listen to the beat as much as feel it. When It's a track I detest, the beat is more like a bloody annoying fly buzzing around inside my head, which is impossible to get rid of. Grrrrr. It causes annoying side effects like tapping my feet, nodding my head or drumming my fingers on the table in beat with the music.

I also keep quite a lot of beat on my pc....... :D

And at the end of a fab dance night, there always seems to be an excessively large amount of beat stored in my feet, which prevents me from falling asleep! :rofl:

Monkey

[JoC]

I keep the beat in my BODY. It's in every fibre, in every body part - in my head, my chest, my shoulders, my hips, my hands, my legs, my feet. If it's a tune that really 'does it' for me, I don't listen to the beat as much as feel it.


Beautifully put!

I sometimes almost forget that I need to take steps to move around if a tune is really doing it for me because the beat is everywhere else. Could do with a pair of roller skates at those moments!

I would like to add weight transfer to all the above as somewhere the beat may reside, possibly involving a step, and possibly not.