It seems to be the trend in today's' world for dancers not to count the music but to simply listen to the lyrics and go from there. I am a huge proponent of not only listening to the music but also of really paying attention to the phrasing so, the question is, should dancers count or not count the music?
I would be interested to hear what other teachers feel about this topic but I have definite views about this subject! When you are training students I think it is extremely important for dancers to understand how to count the music. They need to understand the difference in the musical signatures, whether it is an 8 or a six count, a 3 or a 5 count. It can be helpful to them, for example, to understand that there are 3 counts for a waltz tempo and 4 counts for a march. All students in my opinion benefit from understanding their counts, beginner students definitely need this structure and even advanced students need to know the time signature. What happens if there are no lyrics to the music? Are students musical enough to hear the undercurrents, the crescendos and everything else that goes into putting a piece of music together? That is an important question because I know that in my experience it is rare for any two dancers to hear the music in exactly the same way.
The problem that arises from simply going with the musical interpretation is when you have a group of dancers of whatever level and you want them to stay together and look like one. I can honestly say that I have yet to find a group of dancers who are training, that can stay together without counting together. It certainly bothers me when dancers, especially the more advanced ones pay no attention to what is happening in the music. When they stay rigidly with the beat and do not understand how to hold on to some of those movements to give the dance some light and shade but it also bothers me when dancers have no precision, when the movements don't look clean and the dancers are just not together. When I talk to my students about this counting thing I ask them how the composer structured the song in order for the musicians to be able to play the notes and then how did those musicians stay together when they recorded it? Did the composer just sit down and read the lyrics and tell them what he wanted on specific words and then let them just go for it? I would vouch to say that those musicians had sheets of music with definite notes and counts and bars. Of course once they knew the rhythm and the structure of the piece then I am sure they found the moments when they could syncopate or interpret the composer's music to make it the most interesting and exciting possible.
If a dancer is performing alone then there is obviously more leeway, however I still think on the subject of whether to count or not to count it can only be helpful to know your counts first and then work on the interpretation of the lyrics or just the music.
Do the Rockettes count their music? Do the dancers in a Ballet Company know their counts? Do the backup dancers for a recording star count their numbers? I am sure they all do both, count the music and also study it carefully so that they can become totally in tune with what the music is telling them to do or the way the singer is interpreting the lyrics. At the end of the day what is really important is, can the dancers stay together and interpret the music in the best way possible?
There are times when my students, eager to impress me with their ability to do multiple pirouettes, are unable to stay within the confines of the counts or bars of music that I have allocated for the movement. I tell them that I am certainly impressed that they have been working so hard on their technique to increase the amount of turns that they can do but that unless they are a huge star, working with live musicians and they have made great friends with the orchestra leader, it is unlikely that the musicians will hold onto the note so that they can complete their turns! If there are 4 counts available and the dancer wants to do multiple pirouettes, they need to speed them up so that they can finish on the 4 or 1! It all comes back to the discipline of dance. Dance is a discipline and it is also an art, it needs both sides to make it work successfully. Without the discipline it tends to be a mess and without the art it is just boring and uninspiring. Finding ways to teach our students the importance of both sides will help them tremendously to look fantastic.
