--- John Howell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Actually messed up musicians; some of those chopins
> on their feet 
> were wooden, and would HURT if an incensed dancer
> threw them at you!!!

I don't think there's any need to worry: when the
musicians don’t keep time, the dancers simply ignore
them. My wife has been active for the last couple of
years in the Dresdner Hoftanz historical dance group,
and she frequently comments on this. 

The one time I played for them, the marital
relationship plus Cecile’s bilingualism as musician
and dancer were seen as an occasion to attempt
communication. In particular it was conveyed to me
that under no circumstances might there be the
slightest ritardando, except maybe at the end of a
sequence of dances, and then so little that I should
better not think about it but just play straight
through to the end, and then stop. 

Just as John describes.

Generally, it seems to me that dancers perceive the
music as having a role much like that of the room they
dance in: it has to be there, and if it’s not quite as
it should be, you ignore it and keep going.