My husband (and dance partner) and I talked about how to explain rumba today. Our instructor, Mr. Albert Franz, always said what made a dance particular was foot position, rise and fall, sway, contra body (Modern or Standard Ballroom) or Cuban motion (Latin), timing and rhythm, direction/allignment, turn, footwork, and finally, precede/follows, but it is timing and rhythm that seems to give the biggest problem and cause the most confusion in dancers. In my book, IN SEARCH OF SOMATIC THERAPY (Savant 2017), after considerable research, I attempted to separate timing, tempo and rhythm in dancing.
Timing, to me, means "musical timing;" that is, the number of beats per measure. For example waltz is 3/4 timing, while foxtrot, rumba, cha-cha and most other dances are 4/4 timing.
Tempo, to me, means "the speed of the timing;" that is, how fast the beats per measure occur.
Lastly, rhythm, to me means "the number of steps per beat;" like Slow-Quick-Quick (SQQ) in rumba.
In summary, when my husband/dance partner and I teach dance, we emphasize (1) footwork, i.e. the part of the foot that comes into contact with the floor, like Ball-Flat (BF) in rumba; (2) timing; (3) rhythm; (4) action, e.g. Cuban action or merengue action; and (5) character of the dance, e.g. rumba is often characterized as tease and run. FTRAC.
And that's dance (see
http://janik.yolasite.com/dancer.php).
