What changes for dance
Dance and pom music is usually slower than a cheer mix and changes more: a hip hop section into a jazz section, a slow lyrical build, a sudden stop. Choreography also travels more, so formations change on most 8-counts rather than a few. The counting is the same; the sheet just carries more tempo anchors and more formation drawings.
Row lengths at dance tempos
| Tempo | One beat | One 8-count | Full 8-counts in 1:30 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 132 BPM | 0.455 s | 3.64 s | 24 |
| 140 BPM | 0.429 s | 3.43 s | 26 |
| 144 BPM | 0.417 s | 3.33 s | 27 |
| 150 BPM | 0.4 s | 3.2 s | 28 |
| 160 BPM | 0.375 s | 3 s | 30 |
Worked example: a tempo change
Worked example. The test track for tempo changes plays 144 then 152 BPM, speeding up after eight 8-counts. Run through the sheet's grid when this page was built, it came out as 144 BPM from 8-count 1, then 152 BPM from 8-count 9, with every beat within 1.5 ms of the true time. On a dance mix the change is often bigger and less tidy, so listen at each anchor, and move it by an 8-count if the music changes a little earlier or later than the grid thinks.
Formations on every row
For a travelling piece, draw the formation on every row where dancers move, and copy the row before as a start. Label dots with initials or line numbers rather than full names; the printed sheet shows the drawing small at the end of each row, and each dancer can find their own dot. Names and formations stay in the coach's browser.
Choosing the tempo range
The half and double tempo guard uses the range you choose. For a cheer mix it expects 120 to 170 BPM; for dance or pom, 85 to 150. A slow piece around 70 BPM will often be heard at 140 under the cheer range, which counts it twice too fast; choose the dance range or tap the tempo to tell the grid which speed you count.
Common mistakes
- Using the cheer range on a slow dance piece, which doubles the count.
- One grid through a medley. Each part of a medley needs its own tempo anchor.
- Formations only at the start of a section. Dancers need to know where they travel, not just where they begin.
- Counting a pause as silence. The count keeps going through a stop unless the choreography says otherwise; mark it on the sheet.
Set up your piece in the count sheet editor. For the basics of a sheet, start with how to write an 8-count sheet.
Sources
Checked on 27 September 2026. Count sheets have no single governing standard; what is written here is common practice in our own words, and every number in a worked example is computed by Cheersheet's own engine when the page is built. Where your gym, choreographer or ruleset does it differently, follow them.
- Cheersheet's own engine and its tests. Every worked number on these pages (tempos, 8-count lengths, how long a routine takes at a practice speed, what the detector found on the test tracks) is computed by the same code the sheet runs, when the page is built.
- MDN Web Docs, BaseAudioContext: decodeAudioData. How a browser turns an MP3, M4A or WAV file into samples in the page, with no upload. Formats depend on the browser's own decoders.
- Ellis, D. P. W., Beat Tracking by Dynamic Programming, Journal of New Music Research 36(1), 2007. The idea behind following a pulse through a mix: pick beats that sit on strong onsets while keeping the spacing close to the tempo.