deciding “the next pattern” for Improvised Dancing
        To make a dance interesting-and-enjoyable for their partner, a leader must know patterns AND make skillful decisions about “what pattern to do next.”  To improve my own improvised leading in 1994, I made “transition diagrams” to show options for “what can be done next,” and I used these diagram-maps (each is like a “roadmap” that shows possibilities) to do mental rehearsing before a dancing event, and occasionally between dances during the event.  For example, this diagram shows, for a Cha Cha, that from the BASIC position there are 8 options (on my diagram, although more than 8 in reality), and after doing a "SIDE" (but not before this) there are 3 new options, shown on the far right.
        improvisation vs choreography:  Sometimes two dancers decide, before a dance, exactly what they will do, by pre-deciding the entire sequence of patterns;  this is very common in competitions, is rare in social dancing.  The two kinds of dancing – improvised and choreographed – are different in some ways, but are similar in many ways.
        iou – Maybe in late 2025, I'll develop other explanations of how to use these diagrams, so other leaders (not just me) can understand them and use them.  And eventually I will make new diagrams, revised to make them better.  Or in a quicker temporary-revision, I'll do cut-and-pastes (from the “mixed” sheets that include waltz, cha cha, rumba,...) to gather all diagrams for each dance together in one place, to make one page for waltz, and another for cha cha, rumba, and so on.

Transition Diagrams show possibilities for “what to do next” in...
waltz    rumba    cha cha    8-count swing    swing    4-count    plus
transitions between dances      mixed sheets (with several dances.

Principles for Dancing
        The beginning of this page — to explain why I'm writing it in 2012 — includes basic principles of physics-and-physiology followed by some observations about typical classes and teaching techniques.  Below are additional comments about each of these, plus Movements with Rhythm and Principles for Transfer:

Try to develop skill [with frame & leading] early — for the benefit of yourself (so you can learn the principles and patterns) and for your partners (so they will have something worthwhile to “respond to” and can learn to follow skillfully). ...  Let your partner know what you want to happen next, soon enough that she can do it — i.e., soon enough that she is not already physically committed (due to her momentum and direction-of-stepping) to doing what she would need to do if there was a continuation of the previous pattern. ...  Make easily recognizable differences between the leads for one pattern and another.  [This timing-and-clarity of leading will help minimize the “backleading” that occurs when a follower anticipates a lead and begins to do a movement that wasn't led.]*   The “strength” of a lead — whether it physically moves a partner in a certain direction, or merely “suggests” what to do so she can respond (either consciously or in muscle memory) and do it independently — will depend on the pattern, and on the skill and style of yourself and your partner. ... 
    * [Skilled following is not passive, it's a very active process that requires alertly aware observation of cues, combined with quick interpretation of the cues and almost-instant responsiveness, plus coordination and physical agility.  As you can tell, I'm amazed at the skill of good followers, am truly impressed.]  [Backleading should be minimized when it's uninvited, but it can be invited by a leader who wants to learn new patterns from a follower.]
    A good frame defines and maintains a relationship between dancers, so the two of you can “move as a unit” for better technique and for instant communication of easy-to-feel cues for leading-and-following. ... How?  Be solid but relaxed. ... With relaxation, only the muscles that need to be used are being used — no more, no less.  Because muscles are not constantly fighting each other (in an internal tug of war) there is more speed, strength, grace, and endurance.  Also, there is a better message of “body language and mental attitude” communicated to your partner, thus allowing your dancing to be more mutually enjoyable.

{ terms:  My use of he & she, for a leader & follower, is explained earlier. }

        Techniques of Teaching
        I think students learn more quickly when they have take-home reminders of the principles & patterns being taught in a class.  These reminders could be verbal and/or visual:  written explanations of principles, and explanations of patterns plus (when this is useful) diagrams for the patterns.  And compared with 1994, in 2012 (due to the higher quality & lower price of video cameras and editing programs) it's much easier to make instructional videos that offer many benefits, compared with words or static diagrams.
        In classes without these memory-reminders, a limitation on learning is the problem of “mental overload” when learning new movement-patterns during class, if there is too much to mentally remember, so (due to limited class time) the new patterns are not yet solidly known in mental-and-physical memory.  If teachers pace a class very slowly, so students have enough time to thoroughly learn new patterns in their mental memory & physical memory, a learning of new patterns will occur very slowly.  But a combination of in-class practice plus after-class practice (mental & physical) with reminders (in written explanations + diagrams, or video) should help students (especially leaders) learn new patterns much more quickly.

MORE — In the future, I'll describe other ideas about techniques to improve efficiency and to achieve other educational goals.  One idea, outlined here very briefly, is that most rotation-patterns (and many other patters) are identical for leads & follows, they're just offset in time: what a leader does at one time, a follower does at another time.  Therefore, instead of wasting valuable in-class time by explaining each pattern separately, a teacher can have the entire class learning-and-practicing the same set of patterns.  Then dancers get together in couples, to practice doing these patterns as a two-person unit with leading-and-following, with the proper "offsets in time."  Later, I'll explain this dancing principle (and associated teaching strategy) more thoroughly, with examples & details, along with other techniques for teaching.

        Movements with Rhythm
        An essential skill for dancing is an ability to move in consistent rhythmic patterns, so your stepping-rhythm will match your partner's rhythm and (as explained in the next section) the music's rhythm.  The main way you improve this ability is to use it, with or without a partner.  It's easy to practice this in solo moving-with-rhythm, in free dancing without a partner;  just put on music with an appropriate tempo for a particular rhythmic pattern (the basics are described earlier) and practice keeping this rhythm pattern (in time) while (in space) you are moving in the wide variety of dance patterns (moving backward, forward, sideways to left or right, rotating left or right,... slowly & quickly, with short strides & longer strides) that might be used while you're dancing with a partner.
        This practicing is valuable for leaders and (especially) for followers.
        For leaders, it will help you avoid getting confused and mis-leading your partner by changing the dancing rhythm in ways that you had not intended, in ways that won't work with the physics-and-physiology of your confused partner.
        For a follower, you can practice moving in the many possible ways that you might be led while dancing, so you can cope with “whatever happens” without taking extra steps.  For a novice, extra steps tend to occur because they help you keep your balance while moving in a dance pattern, in ways that cooperate with your physiology and minimize any potential for injury or “falling down” embarrasment.  These extra steps are the natural way of moving that you have practiced your entire life.  To overcome these instincts, you must practice a new way of moving gracefully and confidently in new time-and-space ways, with complex dance-patterns and a consistent rhythm.  The movement-practice I recommend can help you do a wider variety of movements without extra steps, so you can maintain the rhythmic step-pattern.
        This is an important skill.  When I returned to dance-leading in 2012, one of my discoveries is that many followers simply cannot “keep the rhythm” consistently, so they have no chance of consistently following my leads, or those of most other leaders.  If you want to become a reasonably skilled follower, keeping the rhythm-pattern is a minimum requirement, a basic starting point.

        Dancing with Music
        Improving your musical skills will help you dance in ways that cooperate with the music.  When you and your partner each “feel the music” and are dancing with it, this makes it easier for you to dance with each other.
        At a basic level, you should learn how to recognize the 1-count of each musical measure, and know whether a measure has 4 counts (usually) or 3 counts (as in a waltz).
        At a level that's a little more advanced, but is easy when you become more musically aware, you can listen for the phrasing that occurs every 2 measures.  In 4-count music, 2 measures is 8 counts, so coherent phrases — these are sort of like “sentences” in talking — occur every 8 counts, which is 2 measures.  Phrasing also occurs in multiples of 2 measures (so it's 2, 4,...) to form coherent “phrasing units” (analogous to paragraphs?) that fit together well, with a clear beginning & ending.  Of course, with 3-count music the 2-measure phrases begin every 6 counts.
        This 2-measure phrasing is important for dancing.  A 6-step dancing pattern requires 2 measures of music;  usually this is 8 counts, but it's 6 counts for a waltz.  A leader should begin a 6-step pattern at the beginning of a 2-measure phrase.   /   In terms of priorities, it's most important to begin a 6-step pattern on the 1-count of a measure.  It's less important, but still is important, to begin at the beginning of a 2-measure phrase.  These two beginnings (on the 1-count of a 2-measure phrase) make it easier for your partner to follow your leads, because she can stay in-sychronization with you and also with the music.  When this threesome (music, leader, follower) are all in-synch with each other, your dancing will feel better (for both of you) and (for spectators who know music & dancing) it will look better.
        Phrasing is less important with 4-step patterns.  If you begin on any 1-count, your 4-step pattern will work with (“quick quick quick quick”).  And you alternate between starting on the 1-count & 3-count if it's done in 6 counts (like “slow slow quick quick”) because with 4 steps in 6 counts, the beginning of a 4-step pattern shifts back and forth between the 1-count and 3-count, and of course this cannot be avoided.  With 4 steps in 4 counts, almost always (unless you have a good reason for the shift) you should begin a pattern on the 1-count.
        These principles are generally accepted.  But there is a range of opinions for some principles, regarding a Matching of Styles - Music and Dancing.

        Principles for Transfer of Learning
        Some basic principles, including principles for skillfully doing rotations (of 180°, 360°,...) and other types of movements, will help dancers (especially leaders, but also followers) transfer what they learn from one dance to another.  This is consistent with research-based principles for transfer of learning, such as using Conditional Knowledge & Organized Knowledge and much more.  Here are some useful principles:
    • Basic principles of rotation — it's easier and more “natural” to begin turning left when stepping forward on your left foot or backward on right foot, and begin turning right when stepping backward on left foot or forward on right foot — can be used in all dances.  And students can learn special techniques (pivots, step-behinds,...) for other kinds of rotations in turns or semi-turns.
    • Also, when you and your partner are facing each other, the kind of turn that is “natural” for a leader is also best for the partner.  But if you're facing the same direction, as in a cuddle or sweetheart position, you must choose who will do the easy turn, and it's courteous for you (as a leader) to make things easy for your partner, while you use a “special technique” to make it also work for you;  doing this is challenging for a leader because you must do the opposite of your habits for “doing what is natural” that you have established through practice.
    • If you are facing your partner but she is “offset” to one side, you can rotate in one direction but not the other;  if during a rotation you will face each other, the turn will work, if not it won't.  For example, if she is offset to your left, during a left-rotating turn you will face each other and it will work.  But if she is offset on the right side of you, a right turn will work.  There also are principles for moving diagonally forward in the line-of-dance, first on one diagonal and then on the other diagonal, making forward progress in a zig-zag “sideways W” pattern by using quarter-turns.
        All of these principles, and more, can be taught using a combination of logic (based on principles of physics-and-physiology) and experimenting (you try things and observe how well they work) along with letting your body-and-mind “figure out the details” as with "inner game" approaches like the one in my paragraph about analysis-and-synthesis of juggling.

I.O.U. — More could be said in each of these paragraphs, and others, but that's all for now.  Also, above you'll find Rhythms and Variety in Leading (with some surprises) and Variety in Styling and below, Matching Styles and Hybrids.

a personal history of
my Learning and Teaching
        During a two-year period in 1992 to 1994, I did a lot of ballroom/swing dancing, including lessons from many different teachers, first in Madison, then in Seattle for Summer '93, and back in Madison.  I learned from all of them, about dancing and also teaching.  Then I combined these ideas about learning-and-teaching with ideas from other contexts, and I thought about how to combine what I was learning into a course.  The main objective I wanted to achieve was helping leaders (and followers) learn many new patterns quickly and well, mainly by using transfer-of-learning, but also by developing improved techniques for teaching patterns.
        Some of these ideas are summarized in pages written for class proposals in March 1994 and August 1994.  Neither was accepted (in fact, I think the second was never even read-and-considered, in a one-person decision based on minimal knowledge) so I've never taught any formal classes, although I have done some informal “teaching” with friends.   /   From 1995 thru 2011, I danced ballroom occasionally but not often.  In mid-2012, I again began dancing a lot, and thinking about teaching, but only did a little teaching.

        AFAIK, an emphasis on “teaching for transfer” (it's my emphasis in this page) isn't common among teaches of ballroom.  One exception I know (and certainly there are others) is Victor Eijkhout – compared with me, he is “more expert” as a teacher of dancing-and-music – who independently discovered the principle of pattern-transfers, saying "There are a few implications to all these resemblances [between the QQS/SQQ rhythms of different dances]:  You can steal moves from all these dances for your two-step material. ..... You can dance two-step to other kinds of dance music that have the right tempo. ..... You can dance other dances to two-step music."

 
Ideas from 1994:

Most of my writing about dance-teaching was at two times in 1994, and below are the main results, with each link below opening the new page in its own new window, so this page remains open in this window: