Bar
One complete group of beats in the music, such as the one-two-three of a waltz.
Also: measure
A bar, called a measure in American English, is one full unit of the metre. In waltz time each bar holds three beats, and in most pop music each bar holds four. Dance steps and figures are usually measured in bars. A folk dance description might say a figure takes eight bars, and tunes for social dancing are typically built in sections of eight or sixteen bars so that figures and music end together. Dancers often count two bars of four as a single count of eight.