I think it's real. Usually I don't have any problems, but occasionally it takes me a while to "get" the beat with some of those more unusual ones. It's very confusing while you are there, so I sympathise with your student.
I saw a YouTube with someone dancing to I Put a Spell on You (Natacha Atlas version) which I'm very familiar with and it's really "easy" beat-wise, but the audience were clapping along loudly and on an odd beat. I could hear the melody and the drum beats but they didn't form into the right pattern, it was just notes and drums and my brain wouldn't put it together as music. Very strange. When I watched it again knowing what it was, I could hear the music fine.
I do think music/dance at an early age helps - much easier to just absorb things then. When you are older it takes longer, and you can make it harder if you keep thinking oh I'll never get this.
