Dancing can be an empowering, healthy sport, but not for those who cannot get down with the basic rhythm. You’ll only enjoy dancing by feeling, listening to and interpreting what is going on around you. The best way to master these distinct components is to master the music behind them.

Article by Tony Rausseo:

Learning to dance?

Well, perhaps you ought to begin by learning how to listen to the music you are dancing to. After all, a famous philosopher put it best:

“And those who were seen

dancing were thought to be

insane by those who could

not hear the music”

Fredrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Philosopher

Of course, it is obvious that dancing is hardly enjoyable to those who cannot hear the music. More subtle is the fact that there are different ways of not hearing it. While you may have no problem actually picking up on the fact that music is playing the instant you walk into a party, actively listening and distinguishing what is going on is a different story altogether.

Music is made of many separate components. Genre notwithstanding, each song is a meeting, where different instruments, voices and sounds come together in rhythm. What you may not understand is that being in rhythm is not the same as being absolutely consistent. To someone who isn’t in tune with the basics, those little deviations Latin music is famous for can be confusing.

Following the timing of the piano isn’t always going to be as easy as figuring out the drum pattern, but dancing is about ensuring that your entire body is in rhythm with the music as a whole, and expressing your enjoyment of the piece through the way you react to it. In order to understand the joy of dancing and not feel overwhelmed, you simply need to understand the music better.

Learning to dance well is never only about learning what the steps are. You also have to master the build up that leads to each one. Before you can move your right foot, for instance, you need to establish your weight firmly on the left; otherwise you will lose balance and fall. Music is much the same.

Each style of music builds on a few basic elements. Like the planted foot that keeps you stable, the beat established by drums and other percussion instruments gives those horns, guitars and basses something to work around. Your job as dancer is to make sure that the things you do with your body match and paying attention to the beat will help you ensure they always do.

To train your feet, first train your ears. Make sure that you can not only hear the music, but that you can also break it apart into the pieces it is made of. Once you learn to follow different elements through ear training, you can interpret the dance any way you please and still find that you are in time with the music.

After ear training, dancing suddenly becomes a lot more fun because you are not limited to doing the same thing over and over again. Any students who begin with these methods learn foundations that they’ll use for dancing to all types of music, but for those who love complex Latin music, such training is an absolutely necessary initial step.