1-2-3-4, or 5-6-7-8?

Question:

1-2-3-4, or 5-6-7-8?

I was just wondering, when a lead singer sets the rhythm for his band to play music, he or she says, "1-2-3-4", but when choreographers set the pace for dance groups, it's inevetibly, "5-6-7-8" .
Why the difference?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: THAT IS A VERY GOOD QUESTION, FRED, WISH I KNEW OF AN ANSWER, THATS ALL I WANTED TO SAY, SORRY I CANNOT HELP YOU, BUT YOU DO ASK SOME INTERESTING QUESTION, THANKS 5,6,7,8 sounds funkier

1,2,3,4 sounds rockier maybe they just wanna be diffrent? idk Typically you have 4 beats per measure and it is generally counted off starting on beat 1 unless the first measure has less than 4 beats. Don't really know about dance groups, but perhaps it's the same sort of thing, their dance intervals might be 8 beats. the beats in music is mostly in sets of 4 but in dance it's in sets of 8. that's why Actually, when a band leader counts off the band, he/she generally says, "1-2-1234", with the first 1 and 2 occuring on the strong beats, and then the 2 and 4 sub-dividing the measure:

1......2......
1..2..3..4..

So, in essence, they are counting "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8"

Dancers (for what ever reason), ignore the first measure of counting, leaving just 5 6 7 8. The short-hand to counting off, I guess. A musician counts off into a song using the meter reference from the time signature (4/4, 3/4, 6/8 etc) they would not use a number larger than this because that would be inconsistant with the composers instructions.

However, when a dancer/ choreographer is counting off, they dance to longer phrases than every four beats. Often they will dance to sets of 8, 12, 20, or 32. So using 5,6,... is a more effective tool for teaching long phrases- which in turn teaches fluidity- essential to dance. It too may have evolved from the fact that not all dancers are musicians- though many trained dancers are as well versed in their listening as any trained musician, and they tend to like ALL forms of music where musicians find niches. :)
-music teacher with three kids in dance :)