Why do we Count in Dance?

As a Dance beginner, it is very important for all us to understand how to count in Dance.

I know many of the Dance beginners and growing dancers face this issue where they get confused to not only interpret the first count on music but also the preparation preceding the counts which 5,6,7,8.

Beginners who are still not clear with this concept of counting need to understand this first before taking the dance lessons. Counting on music in Dance is the first thing taught to a beginner in their introductory class. It becomes mandatory for every Dance teacher to teach & make their students understand the importance of counts because all the moves & steps, choreography which will be taught will be divided into counts during the training.

So, here in my blog, as a responsible Dance Teacher, let me make you all understand on its importance & how we can learn to make counts in Dance.

Why do we count in Dance?

Counting on music in Dance helps us to understand the rhythm of the music so that we can initiate our first move or step with correct timing to match with music. 

It helps us go in sync between our movements and beats or tempo of the music. It helps a teacher to breakdown their movements in counts so that they can teach it in a simplified manner to their students.

Even during our group rehearsals or when practicing in duet, counts helps us to execute the same movements at the same time. Basically, it helps a choreographer or teacher to position their dancers on each count and respective movements that needs to be executed by them during the counts.

I hope this made you all understand why counts are important in Dance. 

I hope you all are still continuing reading this because it's still not over yet.

Now, let us learn on how we can make counts in Dance.

In music, there are 4 beats per bar but in Dance, we usually combine two bars each of 4 beats together which makes it a total of 8 counts, which is we all dancers count in sets of 8.

After first set of 8 counts, the next set of 8 counts begins and this pattern continues after every 8 counts. Obviously, the count pattern changes when we try on a another level of music with unusual counting pattern, but that can also be mastered once we are experienced enough at a basic level.

Here is a basic tutorial I have come up with on the YouTube channel of IDALS through which you all can learn on how to make counts in Dance.

What is an 8-Count & How to Count it in Dance | Basics for Dance Beginners | THEIDALS.COM

In this tutorial, I have made you all understand the concept of time signature as well and how it is represented on a musical notation. Though, as a Dancer, we need not go deep into the concept but its necessary to understand it at basic level.

Make sure you all are practicing this daily to improve your counts in Dance with different kinds of music. Try practicing on drum beats more & also, learn how to initiate the preparation as well which is 5,6,7,8. Practicing on drum beats will make your learning simpler as compared to other instruments.

By now, I hope you all have understood why do we count in Dance, what is an 8 eight count and how we count it in Dance.

I will be coming up with more such kind of tutorials which will be focused more on musical interpretation and how we can learn to translate lyrics into movements with our strong musical interpretation.

Till then, stay connected with us and keep learning from IDALS.