I invited an excellent stepper from Detroit Teresa Madyun to discuss some ideas for getting back on beat when we inevitably get off beat sometimes.

This topic is not something that I've learned in a class.  I imagine that there are not a lot of classes on the topic.  I could be wrong, but in any case I wanted to broach this topic.  This is the beginning of this exploration on the many ways to get back on beat.

With all of the discussion in the stepping community about old school vs new school, 6 count vs 8 count, down beat vs upbeat, one can get overwhelmed and just say, "Everyone just does whatever they want!" 

To some degree this may be true, but this is a dance form and all dance forms have some recognizable aspects to them, if not rules, so you can recognize the dance form.

Here we are discussing new school 8-count stepping.  If you dance on the upbeat then you are expected to do so throughout the dance.  We all inevitably get off sometime. The trick is to get back on beat gracefully.

As you might expect, beginners and those converting to a count system from a no-count system get off beat more often than seasoned 8 counters.  There are many ways to get off beat.  We do not discuss that here.  This is just the beginning of the discussion that I hope will be active and fruitful for the benefit of the worldwide stepping community.

The difficulty in creating a class is to first identify the many ways that people get off beat and how to avoid those, then discuss specific ways to get back on beat gracefully. Recreating a scenario where you find yourself off beat by accident is difficult to do on purpose.  This is why we use songs that switch the beats automatically putting you off beat if you don't make the adjustments.  What stepping songs do you know that switches the beat?  Let's make a list.

"Guilty" by Andy Gibb and Barbara Streisand

"People Make The World Go Round" by The Stylistics 

Do you have a particular way that you get back on beat? Can you describe it or demonstrate it on video.  Send me a link and I may feature it on the blog or website.