As I have worked in Flamenco and moved through the discipline (trying to improve my Paso from the roots) I have come to a little bit of a different understanding of musical counts in at least as it applies to that dance form. Music is not only counted but the dancer must emphasize certain beats within the music with stronger or softer movement, footwork, etc. Depending on the dance style the beat emphasis is different.
Is there, should there be something similar in ballroom and latin? Im not speaking of hold on oneand the one-a-two. Everyone knows they are there. Im speaking as to whether or not certain notes within a genre should always be danced more powerfully than other notes.

Without doubt !

Different songs within the same genre, often ,to my "ear ". require different musical interpretations within a dance . And, Im refering to " Standard " . Subtle tho it may be, its still there to be expressed in its own unique form ( which each of us may find different ) .

Musicality is a subject which is frequently discused in the Salsa world, and oddly enough, infrequently in the B/room world ? .

I find musicality discussed a lot in ballroom dance, but I think it is something picked up over time. Some dancers have it and others do not. Although I do agree that there are certain beats in the music which require the dancer to move in a more powerful fashion than others which require a lighter touch. I suppose it is a case of you either have musicality or you do not.

Dance is movement of the body through space TO MUSIC. Dancers learn steps and (more important) technique. But don't forget the music. Each dance has its own character, which is (at least in part) determined by the music. This finds expression in technique (which I will leave to the experts), but what the music "tells" your body is important. One instructor I know starts by having his students simply listen to the music. He wants them to be able to find the 1 beat, but it's also a beginning of learning to understand the relationship between the music and the dance.

I think I am agreeing with you, in part, Belle. I would submit that there are certain notes that are traditionally emphasized in the ballroom genres that beckon the dancer to explore with more power in their movement during that time. However, I don't feel that all songs within a genre lend themselves to such for the dancer. I love waltzes with powerful first beats from the instrumentation, and I love foxtrots with vocalizations that stretch a phrase out over the first two beats, but for me, that might be just my appreciation of certain musical aspects of some songs within genres. And I hate those tangos wherein you can barely hear the first beat in a phrase.
At the same time, I have to admire those excellent dancers who make subtle sounds come to life through movements I'm incapable of.

Yes Silver,

I agree with you about the phrasing and that kind of emphasis. I love foxtrots...and the standards. I love to dance to Ella or Frank. I was just trying to figure out where if anywhere it wasn't interpretation but ballroom LAW.

Even the waltz standard emphasis on the one with the lighter count on the two three can be dropped to a two count with a long emphasis on what would have been the two three...for artistic purposes.

Belleoball. In the Modern Waltz I have been instructed to think of drawing the knees together rather than the feet. This greates a look of the foot coming in late on beat three where we are at our highest and our lowest, if we count it as 3 and. On the and we are down as low as we are going to be. From here on its commencing to rise at the end of step one. For the lady NFR.

Belle,
I wouldn't know where we might find the answer to your question written down as "the black letter of ballroom law," but I think there would be corroborating evidence from "case studies" to support your thoughts. I recently had the pleasure of spending a bit of time with a great coach in Kansas City, and he touched on the notion that the movements in the smooth dances, as written out in a syllabus and judged by adjudicators, such as himself, are based upon the cumulative knowledge that there is only so much that can and must be done given the musical timing and stresses of the various genres.
This isn't definitive, but it supports your assertion.

I know very little about the American Style which I beleive is called Smooth.My question is. In a Foxtrot. Is any effort made to dance in phrase with the music, which is eight bar phrased. I've noticed a couple of groups taking twelve bars of music. Unless another four bars are added, are we dancing to the music as it is written as we would in the Internation Style Foxtrot .Or is it of no concern

Much like any dance , it depends upon whom is doing it.. Of course they phrase .

Theres much more poetic license at the prof.level .