Going back to the original question for a moment, it gets even better. A lot of people count NC2S as 12& rather than 1&2, starting the dance to the side a la bolero. I think 1&2 works better the vast majority of the time, but there's some music where the beat structure really sounds more like 12&, and I try to go with the music in those cases. The dance works fine either way; the main practical difference is that if you do 12& you're pretty much forced to start with a basic step.

Johnathon, thanks for taking the time to reply. I still have questions regarding NC-2step,but I won't take up any more of your time with that. I would,however, like to address your comments about swing/jive. I don't necessarily believe everything I read and I know that anybody can be wrong at any given time, but the revised technique of latin american dancing by the Imperial society which has been revised 5 times (I think) over a 27 year period still says jive is 3/4,1/4,1. Now, something ain't right with this. They could easily have made a mistake when writing the book, but I think it should have been fixed during 27 years and 5 revisions-don't you?If you are correct, then you or someone else should straighten out those Imperial guys. Anyway, whats your take on all of this?

I'll jump in here. Jive is as you stated. However the slower swing is dance to blues or slower music which is writen in 6/8 time giving the *1 and a 2 and a* as the background beat. And as such you have 3 eight notes in each whole beat, a triplet and that is why swing and jive though related are not danced at the same time. The tempi are different which effects the competitive timing presentation. But socially get out and play with whichever rhythm the music moves you. which is how I approach NC 2step and I will change with the music played Û

joo

People count NC 2-Step differently because there is some discrepancy as to the tempo and meter. Play a passage of music, and some people hear 4 counts of music at 45 bpm while other people may hear 8 counts at 90 bpm. It's hard to say who's right because the music can theoretically be written either way, and it would still yield the same result. You can only know which is the correct version by looking at the written sheet music, and even that might vary from song to song. But quite frankly it doesn't matter anyway. To a dancer, six of one equals half a dozen of the other, so whichever method you choose will work. The only thing that matters is that you pick one method and stick to it consistently.

Therefore, nightclub 2-step can be counted QQS or 1&2. The beat values of the former would amount to 1, 1, 2, and the latter 1/2, 1/2, whole. Take your pick.

As for Swing & Jive, I disagree about the 3/4, 1/4 whole subdivision. Most swing music divides its beats into 3 parts, not into 4, so you end up with 2/3, 1/3, whole. Of course, that's still counted 1 "a" 2, because when you divide the quarter note into thirds, the typical protocol for the three sub-beats is "one-and-a-two-and-a" etc.

For the minority of swing music that is indeed played straight, an argument can be made of 3/4, 1/4 whole timing (although an argument can also be made against it). But I don't see the point of that, because after all, it is the minority. When we speak of something as being the basic rhythm of a dance, should we not be speaking about that which encompasses the majority of situations?

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com