Hello all!
I am going to summarize three ways of counting musical beats per step.
Note:  For each example below, we will be using the standard Foxtrot count, which has a single two- beated step, followed by two single-beated steps, for three steps in total.
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Method
 #1:  This method is probably the most widely used out of all three.  We
 say one word for every step.  We use either "Slow" meaning the step is 
two beats or "Quick" meaning the step is one beat.
Example:  "Slow, Quick, Quick"
Method
 #2:  In this method, we are still using one word for every step, but we
 are using numbers instead of "Slow" and "Quick."  So the first step 
would correspond with "One" the second with "Two" the third with "Three"
 and so on.  The quicker the step, the faster we say the number to 
emphasize how many beats the step has.
Example:  "One(Prolonged), Two, Three"
Method #3:  This 
method is efficient, but I would consider it the hardest to follow for a
 beginning student.  In this method, we just count beats, and then we 
simply dance to the timing we have formed.  So for a slow we would count
 "One, two" and then the next quick would be "Three" and the next quick 
would be "Four."
Example:  "(One, Two), Three, Four" 
Method #4:  A method I actually formed
 myself.  I find it to be the best way for conveying beats per step to a student.  It is similar to method #3 above, but instead of continuing 
with rising numbers, we reset our count at the beginning of every step. 
 So every two-beated step gets a count of "One, two" and every 
one-beated step gets a count of "One"
Example:  "(One, Two), One, One"
I am certain there are other methods which I have not stumbled upon yet.  If I missed any, please bring them to my attention! 
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Thanks for reading!  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!
-Aaron Mullen
 
 
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