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One important fact applies to every dance: 2-Beat Dance Rhythms are danced to 4/4 time music and 3-Beat Dance Rhythms are danced to 3/4 Time Music. There can never be a tight relationship with the music - if the dancer is counting in “3’s” to 4/4 Time music. MANY dancers have a built in sense of rhythm. Their bodies pulse to the Rhythm of the music no matter WHAT might be going on in their mind. Unfortunately, some of these same COUNT differently when they teach, from the way they dance. Case in point: A couple of years ago, Wendy Aspden and Richard ? ? drew each other in a Hustle Jack & Jill competition, at a Bill Cameron event in New York. These two were probably the ONLY 2 people on the East Coast who Pulsed Hustle the way GSDTA teaches it. They TOOK FIRST PLACE! Wendy called me and was more excited about the Judges comments than she was about winning. She quoted one judge as saying he was impressed with how tight their timing was. A female judge commented that she was more impressed with the fact that when she was watching Wendy & Richard, she was struck with the fact that everyone else on the floor looked OFF TIME! Wendy had heard me say that over and over again, at every Intensive: “If everyone is Counting in “3’s” nobody will notice - unless ONE couple gets completely ON TIME and dances in 2-Beat Rhythms. THEN, everyone around them will look off time.” Timing is not a matter of personal preference - or style. It is simply a matter of connecting to the Beat of the MUSIC. Musicality in DANCE is based on scientific FACT & DISCOVERY - not random decisions. You don’t have it RIGHT until the dance fits the music! Let’s discuss the SCIENCE of the Hustle. The DISCOVERY is this: All Hustle music is 4/4 Time. Basically, the dance consists of 6-Beat patterns, plus 4-Beat & 8-Beat Rhythm Breaks. (There are no 3-Beat Dance Rhythms that will fit into 4/4 Time music.) If you personally THINK in 3’s for Hustle, then at least always do it twice - in order to at least stay dancing on the Downbeat! There are TWO ways that most dancers are currently counting Hustle: Unfortunately, most are still counting in 3’s. The 2 most popular are:
1) &1 2 3 - &4 5
6 (Pulsing on 1 and 4) Notice that I did not say where the Pulse is being taught - only where I see it being DANCED. Count - OUT LOUD - either one of the Counts listed above. Where did you put the accent? Did you Accent where the Pulse is listed for each count? EACH of those Counts is really a Waltz count.
Let’s convert that count to 4/4 time music:
In either of the above forms, the process makes you accent one Downbeat
and one Upbeat in each 6-Beat pattern. That process destroys
the musical connection. Counting Real Hustle Count, pulsing the Upbeat
1) &a1 2 - 3&a 4 - &a5 6 In Hustle, no matter how you count your 2-Beat Rhythms, the pulse takes place on the Upbeats - 2, 4 and 6. What a wonderful feeling! Let’s experiment with this formula: Count Pattern #1- (above) only through 4 Beats of music (like a 4-Beat Starter Step.) Now DROP the 5-6 of that Pattern. Then proceed with Pattern #2 starting by counting “1-2” on the ladies “Right Left”. You now have the recommended sequence for GSDTA teachers. It is proving to be very understandable, particularly for those who have NOT had Hustle before. It has also been very rewarding for Hustle dancers who have taken the time to rework their own material, in 2-Beat Increments, to fit the pulse of the music. Note to GSDTA graduates: NO, we have not abandoned starting the dance on “1-2” from closed position. However, we find it easier to start with a 4-beat Starter Step so that our dancers are not defined by the way they START the dance. It is also easier to convert those who start dancing with a Check on the &-Count before Count-1 by using the 4-Beat Starter Step described above. Anyone who has ever gone through the entire Hustle process, (or the Cha-Cha process) complete with music, demonstrations and rhythmic drills, has emerged not only KNOWING the difference, but being able to FEEL that difference. MUSIC is MUSIC. DANCE is DANCE. In the social dance world, these two disciplines must MATCH! The main point here is that ALL Dance is easier to decipher if you have found the correct formula. Here are the questions one needs to ask when a new dance appears on the scene: 1) Is the Music 3/4 time or 4/4 time? The answer will tell you whether the dance is composed of 3-Beat Dance Rhythms or 4-Beat Dance Rhythms. 2) How many beats of music in a basic pattern? If the music is ¾ time, the Dance Rhythms will be 3 beats each. If the Music is 4/4 time – or 2/4 time, the Dance Rhythms will be 2 Beats each. 3) Listening to the music, and going over the basic pattern in your head – is there a particular beat that sounds like it should be accented, over and over again? Some people find it easy to discover the Pulse of a dance. Others need to be taught, but EVERYONE can learn it.
Hustle Music is written in 4/4 time. There are
6 Beats of music in a basic pattern. Listening more closely to the music, you
will probably also hear the PULSE of the dance on Counts 2 - 4 -
6 and 8 of the music. (2 - 4 - and 6 of the dance) It may take time – but
eventually I DO believe that all Hustle patterns will be broken down
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HISTORICAL NOTE
That one small maneuver puts the
Leader on the correct foot and the correct BEAT, without changing too much
of what they originally learned (see GSDTA teaching notes on Cha-Cha).
The phenomenal success of teaching Cha-Cha to REAL Count guarantees
that the Leader will break on Count-2 of each 8-Beat Mini-phrase – with
his left foot. Not just when they
start - but ALL of the time. |