| Chris & Franck have already explained some of the causes for dancing off-time. All I can add is an explanation of what exactly off-time and on-time mean.
(This might be way too technical - apologies in advance.)
When most people count music, they would count '1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8'. They count every beat of the music.
In Modern Jive teachers and dancers count the movements, not the beats. Each movement takes 2 beats.
eg A first move (step back on 1, step in on 2, twist the lady out on 3, twist her back on 4, rutn the lady on 5, step back on 6,return her on 7, step back on 8) actually takes 16 counts of music.
So if a movement takes 2 beats, you have to choose which beat you start (or finish) on. One of the beats is correct (on-time) and the other is wrong (off-time).
It is easier to think about the beat you finish a movement on - ie if you step back, then the beat you have finished your step back on. The correct musical beats to finish movements on in Modern Jive are the odd beats (ie the 1, 3, 5 and 7)
So how do you know which are the odd beats and which are the even beats? In most modern music, the beat is usually played on the drums. The odd beats are usually on the bass drum, which gives it a deeper and longer sound. The even beats are usually played on a snare, or cymbal, which gives it a higher pitched and sharper sound.
You can also count the music from the beginning of a verse or chorus. The music we dance to is always phrased with 4 or 6 sets of 8 counts per verse/chorus. There is usually some emphasis throughout the music (the percussion, the instruments and the vocals) when a new verse and particularly a chorus starts. If I think I'm dancing off-time, then this is the way I check.
David |