I was over on another message board dedicated to Lindy Hop where someone made a post stating his belief that most ballroom dancers don't understand the importance of the music and simply dance to "the beat". (This same person also does some ballroom)

What am I missing here? No matter what dance and where we learn are we not taught to move to a rhythm? Isn't this our guide?

Just don't know where this viewpoint is coming from.

"Dancing is a contact sport; football is a hitting sport" - Vince Lombardi

I agree that a lot of ballroom folks, including pros, have trouble with timing. Then there's the more subtle questions of foot placement and weight transfer, understanding when the foot strikes vs. how the body moves over the foot. Those types of issues are difficult to handle, even if one understands every nuance to a piece of music.

Some dancers do have difficulty picking up the beat in music, but usually develop the skill with practice.
If we're talking about interpretation - then this to me is the true essence of ballroom. To see the top dancers in foxtrot - they're not strictly following the standard rhythms - in fact it's hard to work out exactly what they're doing sometimes. But it makes all the difference.
I've certainly watched dancers - even in competitions - dancing exactly on the beat and it does look dull.
Music is there to be interpreted, whether it's Frank sinatra, a jazz musician or a concert violinist. Dancing is the same - but it's a great skill and hard to achieve.

I don't know the context of the conversation, so of course I could be way off base here. But could this be a reference to strict tempo music? I confess that I find most strict-tempo stuff to be rather bland and soul-less – the need to keep perfect timing negating some potential for musicians' emotional expression. I don't think swing has the same issue? I don't do east coast much, and I don't recall ever having seen a "strict tempo" swing – but then, I haven't looked for one, either.