I think that it would be more accurate to say that dance reflects music; the relationship is not correlative (i.e. the influence is in one direction).

jj

well you would think and hope it would work that way -ie the dance reflect the music - question is, did it ?

YES

Social Dancer. I'm not trying to be awkward but how can you count 1234&
and still break on 2. Unless you mean that at the start of a Basic you have your foot to the side and roll onto it on beat one and dance 2 3 4 and 1. The dance should be started by taking a step on the 1st beat of the bar. Most of our top dancers start with the RF behind the LF in a nice pose.
Also I am not aware of any recording of a Cha Cha where the beats are placed differently. The emphasized beat is beat one always.
The Rumba has the predominant percussive accents associated with the 4th beat of each bar..Ask that question in a class and you will get the wrong answer every time.

I'm not suggesting any change in the timing, the 'break' is still on 2 and the chasse is on 4&1. It is the way the count and rhythm is expressed that affects the style of the dance, particularly for beginners.

The figures are taught starting with the break step and ending with the chasse. The teacher may count 234&1 but they are just numbers to the beginner who cannot yet relate them to the music. They practice the figures and their brains develop a mechanical memory of step-step-chachacha. When the music is added there is a natural tendency to align that mechanical pattern to a bar of music and dance 123&4. So the teacher then introduces a way of starting with an extra step or weight change to move the break onto 2 and also, in many cases I have observed, applies a very heavy emphasis on the 2 count. I cannot show the rhythmic emphasis I hear easily in the text of this post so I shall try to explain:

2 - Very heavy, to the extent of shouting.
3 - normal.
4&1 - falls away as happens at the end of a sentence in normal (English at least) speech.

I'm not saying all teachers do this but I have heard several who do to some extent. The clips in the learning centre on this site do not have the heavy emphasis but there is still a tendency to throw away the chasse at the end of the sentence.

All I am suggesting is to restore some weight to the first beat of the bar and make it more obvious that the figure is danced across the bar boundary, thus;

2 - normal
3 - normal
4& - normal
1 - heavy

or I actually prefer 2 3 chacha 1

Students can listen for the split beats in the rhythm and can then start dancing with - chacha 1.

This can put the life back into the chasse and make it look a bit more like Karina's

SocialDancer. If you can Google Core Rhythm joekdv Choose the third down.
YOUTUBE JOEKDV'S CHANNEL.
Ballroom Latin dance excercise.
If you need to teach the timing do what the four dancers do but use the count of 2 3 4 1. instead of 1 2 3 4. to your own music.
It is a great thing to start a class with. And wouldn't do any of us any harm if we did it at home. Could also be used as a warm down.
Behind the dancers there is a hugh screen with a ladies midriff showing the hip movement that can be added. Then look at the Samba Core Rhythm. If anybody doesn't know what a body tick is they will after watching it. Good Luck.

latia7. Go to Learn the Dances on this site to your left on the home page. Then International Style Latin and choose Cha Cha. Pick the very first one and listen and copy. The first step you will see is, for the man forward on the LF which would be beat two if music was being played.
The answer to your question is in the International Style the count with the music is not 123&4 but 234&1. In the demonstration the counting starts with the word two which is forward LF.
Having said that Sequence Dancers who dance things like The Sally Ann Cha Cha where everybody dances exactly the same steps would break on one with the count of 123&4.

Yes.. and as i stated, with Guajira.. it still does.

Visit a true latino club, and ask the DJ to play Cha.. most will say we dont play b/room music.
when they do play Guajira ( which is very rarely ) one will see the B/room types breaking on 2, and the latinos on 1 with a totally different style and structure .

Again, a lack of understanding about latin rhythms.

The " break " beat is TWO,in Rumba and B/room Cha defined by bass , clave and even piano.

Where the syncop is placed, if it is part of the musical structure, defines its " accent ".

You are confusing DOWN beat with dominance from a dance standpoint.

Prepping any dance with a step is not uncommon, and has little to do with the directional start ( other than its correctness )

NO,
Your choice of " break ", should be determined BY the music being played.

Chances are, that if you are in a b/room setting, 2 will be the correct action.
heres the difference.
The american style Cha commences (man ) side left on 1 back R on 2..on the FIRST bar NB>>.. this is the ...CORRECT direction for ALL latin .
it falls under the call and response theory ( to lengthy).

One might ask.. Well, if I start fwd on 2 on the 2nd bar , then that must be correct, no ?... rhythmically yes, culturally no .

And before it gets raised... the Amer. Rumba is Square and the Bolero breaks on 3.... add mambo on 2 and Salsa on 1 ,2, or 3 dependant on style