I originally wrote my notes below when I was still playing in a drum ensemble with a group of learners.

In general, I pick up a rhythms pretty fast - I'll understand it intellectually very quickly, and usually can piece it together physically quite fast too.  But to have it locked in - in other words, not be knocked off by other players making mistakes; being able to come in and out of the pattern in the right place every time; and to not lose it or drop it if my focus shifts - takes considerably longer.  I forget that some of the rhtyhms that I've got totally locked I have played for hours and hours and hours, years and years and years.  I'm used to switching up hands to scratch my leg; talking while playing; even grabbing a beer (during band rehearsals...). 

So there's an expectation of comfort when playing rhythms that I think I've absorbed - only to find that I lose them or drop them easily.  The physical practice to get a rhtyhm locked in - it takes hours of actual playing.  Playing.  Hands on activity (pardon the pun).  It's not something I expected to be so fragile with new rhtyhms, and a fair amount of competance.....

I've just noticed a very different exerience when playing in a fast-paced dance class, where all the drummers have a lot of experienc.  I still pick up the rhythms fairly fast (although to be honest, the Brazilians have a swing that's been wreaking havoc on my drumming - more on that later), but in a loud class when we're all playing really fast, I'm not nearly as "fragile" on the drums.

This, to me, is all about my own sensitivity to making mistakes.  In a quiter class (read:  where all the students are somewhat beginners) I'm much more self-conscious of any small slips and changes.  In a dance class where 3-5 of us are playing - loud! - I will make mistakes all the time, and have to keep charging through.  Since the drumming tends to be the same rhythm for extending periods of time, it helps lock in the rhythms more so than the 15-20 minute segments of slower-paced drumming in beginner-level ensemble classes.

What I miss out on, however, is the attention to detail.   I'm sure if you recorded my drumming in a dance class, and stripped out everyone else, you'd hear me all over the place, basically keeping it together enough to not ruin it, but not being very precise either.  Drumming for dance class is about learning stamina and focus outside of your drumming (i.e. on the dancers) - it's not about technique... except, maybe, learning to relax your muscles as they tighten up after an hour of intense, fast drumming...