Have you ever danced with someone who was not on time with the music?
We’ve all been there. But what can you do in that situation? In the video I talk about something you can try to do to help your partner get on “time”.
[Transcription]
Hello. My name is Leon and welcome to today’s video podcast brought to you from Passion4Dancing.com.
Today we are going to be talking about what do you do when your partner is off time? Yes? Now this can happen to both men dancing with women who are dancing off time and also for the ladies dancing with men who are off time.
So in both cases, really there isn’t that much you can do in terms of – you know, you don’t want to be rude to your partner and say something like, “Hey, you’re off time.”
Most of the time, if they’re not on time, it’s not on purpose. OK? So please remember that if you’re dancing with someone. Especially in the beginning, if they’re just starting out, they probably are not even aware that they’re off time but there is one thing you can do to help get you on time and to help your partner get on time and that is slowing yourself down.
So if you can – if you are dancing with a partner and you feel that he or she is going a bit too fast or a bit too slow, what you can do yourself is start slowing down and start matching the music exactly and it can be either faster or slower and really make yourself be clear to the timing of the music and hopefully that will encourage your partner to slow down or speed up wherever it is because he will feel that you are on time with the music. They will kind of start sensing it or they will want to match you hopefully. Yes?
I don’t guarantee this will work every single time. OK? But it can certainly help to encourage your partner to get on the right timing. Yes?
So just by doing the right timing yourself as well as you can, you can get your partner to be more aware of the music and to match the music better as well.
So I hope this tip helps you. What do you think? Leave a comment below.
[End of transcript]Related:
3 tips to help you find the beat in music
Learn 1 dance or multiple dances at the same time
How to get instant feedback on your dancing
How to dance with a beginner
Thank you Leon for the tip regarding partners not dancing in time to the music. This is a problem where I dance every week. I was originally informed that you have to dance to the partner’s timing even if they are obviously not dancing in time to the beat of the music. This is almost impossible to do. I will definitely try your tip next time I meet up with a dancer who misses the beat. Thanks so much.
Hi Leon, if I am dancing with someone offtime (usually a beginner) I would count them in to the music (5, 6, 7, 8) so that they could hear it next time. We have a male dancer who is always faster than the beat of the music, but he is having fun, so there is no point in trying to get him to hear the music properly, after all you have to have fun when you dance!