In balkan music, you think, as mentioned above, in terms of long and short--

Say "QuickSlow QuickSlow quickslow quickslow--Quickslow quickslow quickslow quickslow" with the stress on the "slow" and you've got the feel--to actually play it on say, a guitar(or tamboura), you've got to strum all five counts, "down-up down-up-down"--with stress on the third beat--The stress on the third beat is so strong that you could hear it as an even beat of about 80 beats per min, with each beat broken into quintuplets(you actually play this, about 400 beats per min)--

The German dances(zweifackers, I think they are called) are just like playing a measure of 2/4 followed by a measure of 3/4--