Selecting practice dance music can be a challenge for beginning dancers. Music companies often release products which claim to be one thing, but are actually something very different. Good dance music will indicate both the type of dance and the tempo at which it is danced.
The table below lists some of the more common types of sequence dances and the tempo of the dance. Tempo is represented in pm or musical "bars per minute". The actual tempo of a specific tune may vary by a few bars per minute.
The best dance music conforms to these tempos and maintains a steady tempo throughout the tune. This type of music is called "Strict Tempo" dance music. Good dance DJs will have a selection of these types of dance music.
| Name of Dance | Tempo Range/Time Signature |
|---|---|
| Modern/Standard | |
| Slow Waltz | 29 - 31 @ 3/4 |
| Slow Foxtrot | 28 - 31 @ 4/4 |
| Quickstep | 45 - 50 @ 4/4 |
| Tango | 30 - 34 @ 2/4 |
| Viennese Waltz | 56 - 64 @ 3/4 |
| Latin American | |
| Rumba | 26 - 32 @ 4/4 or 2/4 |
| Cha Cha | 31 - 33 @ 4/4 or 2/4 |
| Samba | 48 - 54 @ 2/4 or 4/4 |
| Jive | 35 - 46 @ 4/4 |
| Paso Doble | 58 - 62 @ 2/4 or 6/8 |
| Classic/Old Time Dances | |
| O/T Waltz | 40 - 44 @ 3/4 |
| Two Step | 44 - 56 @ 6/8 |
| Saunter | 27 - 29 @ 4/4 |
| Blues | 29 - 31 @ 4/4 |
| Slow Waltz | 29 - 31 @ 4/4 |
| Swing | 45 - 50 @ 4/4 |
| O/T Tango | 30 - 33 @ 2/4 |
| Other | |
| Mambo/Salsa | 40 - 50+ @ 4/4 |
| Huggies | less than 26BPM@any time |
Normally, strict tempo dance band music is used for Modern Sequence Dancing.
Slow jive speeds are good for older dancers, whereas competition jives are
performed at the higher speeds. Disco music is well suited for Cha Cha dances and many Country and Western tunes provide good tempos for foxtrot or quickstep dances.
However, Modern Blues (Jazz) music is fine for ballroom routines, but is not
suited for sequence dancing because the sequences repeat after only 12 bars of
music.
If one is dancing a modern waltz at 31 bars per minute, then a 16 bar sequence will take 16/31 x 60 = 31 seconds to complete, or approximately two sequences per minute. Thus, if the waltz tune has a duration of 2 minutes thirty-five seconds, the sequence will be repeated five times during the dance.
Information shown in the table above is provided courtesy of T.A Whitworth.
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