This one is for my dancers, who (some more than others) hate me for never counting when I choreograph…
Well, it is true, I don’t put counts to the music. That doesn’t mean I don’t follow it with the movement, I do, I just follow the melody and get some cues from it rather than using the counts for the beats.
I’d say some things to defend myself for this ofense… Firstly, Alberto García’s amazing music is not always easy to count, but it is always very clear to follow!
Second, I don’t like music and movement so closely linked that it doesn’t give space for the dancers to breath, but I do like them to relate to each other and hit some points together (I do give counts in some complicated group parts).
Then there are the most important reasons: I hate counting when I dance, especially when it all becomes about the counts. And I hate counting beatiful music (same reason why I don’t like the movement to stop between steps, you see the technicalities behind).
Now, I went to do a summer school at PARTS, and when learning repertoire of Rosas the teacher told us that they never use counts! So I’m not alone! They follow the music closely (and obviously in a much more precise and intrincate way than I do!), but they don’t count it.
I’m not comparing myself with de Keersmaker of course, but I could barely wait to tell the dancers at DDG!

PS: Ok, I’m also pretty bad at counting anyway… 😉