The Importance of Timing in Salsa

"Just have fun!"

This is one of the most oft-heard responses when someone talks about timing while dancing salsa. It's generally said to indicate that timing is of little importance, and that the count on which you move your feet is irrelevant to the amount of fun you will have dancing.

Oh, but I think these just-have-funners are missing something. For many dancers, timing and fun are intricately linked.

What do I mean by timing? Dancing on the same beat during each measure of the song. Forward on the first beat with your left foot, and backward on your right foot on the fifth beat, or vice-versa (known as dancing On 1). Good timing means remaining consistent with this movement/count .

The most important rule here? FIRST LEARN THE RULES, THEN BREAK THEM. Do I HAVE to move my left foot on the first or second beat? No. Do I HAVE to fill an eight-count measure with symmetrical movements? No. BUT - I DO have to know WHY I am not following the rules. In fact, I can stand ABSOLUTELY STILL during an entire eight-count beat. But I must do it purposefully, to punctuate the music, to tell the story the way my body wants it told.

The importance of timing increases when you dance with a partner. Let's first examine WHY you dance with a partner .

to be challenged by the lead-follow relationship, unknown movements, call-and-response
to learn new steps
to experience the unity of two people
to have someone to tell your story to (silently, with your body)
to listen to someone else's story
to make friends

So if that is why you dance with a partner, how does that relate to how important timing is with a partner? Say I'm reading a story to you from a book. Then you turn the page before I get to the bottom. And I have to start at the top of the next page without having finished the last, and I'm hurrying to get finished before you haphazardly turn the page again. You: "just having fun" with the pages. Me: frustrated with the give and take. (Did I read that page too slowly? Did I add in too many words? I didn't get to annunciate that exclamation point at the end!) This analogy translates to salsa. When my partner speeds up, slows down, skips beats, pauses randomly, I spend the song playing catch-up. I'm newly challenged by the figure-out-when-to-step phenomenon, but no longer challenged by the enmeshing of two stories flowing through each other. Unity - gone. Story - incomplete. Not to mention that when leader and follower are on two different beats, someone inevitably gets stepped on - so much for making new friends!

Dance On 1 or On 2? I don't care! Heck, dance on 3 or 4! But please try to stay on that same beat throughout the whole song so that we may be involved in telling the same story. (Exceptions: sometimes the music changes its beat on you, and then the couple has to make amends to adapt to the new beat. Of course, you're always welcome to blame the music when you lose your step!)

I would rather dance an entire song doing the basic step with correct timing, than spend 3.27 minutes whirling and spinning without any regard to the beat of the music. Timing is the FOUNDATION of dance. Once you have that solid, THEN you can begin to turn, spin, and dip.

How do you improve your timing? That's a whole 'nother article. Check back in June for more details.

And now, JUST IN TIME, I conclude.