Why teach Turn Patterns if Salsa Dance is Freestyle?

The effect of having people becoming interested in salsa, and become more focused on learning patterns (and not necessarily mastering the moves within them, or the patterns themselves) - could be said to be quite dependent on the teaching style give to these people, especially at the early stages.

Do beginners have the knowledge to know the most efficient way, or best ways to learn to dance? To focus on foundational skills, and knowledge, and build on that? Is that the normal content in a taught salsa class?

Exactly.

Turn patterns, move combinations aren't in my book, called sequences of "Salsa Dance Techniques". A turn pattern is a specific string of salsa dance moves. To call a move a technique is to cause confusion, and to abuse the meaning of the word technique.

Techniques are methods, approaches, manner and skills, actions to do a task. A move usually lasts for no more than the length of a basic - ie 8 counts.

Is a dance only a "freestyle dance form" when there's no international dance standard? Salsa can be as a name be what we say we do, that includes mambo and can also have many other styles in. Freestyle is when you choose what style.

from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-freestyle-dancing.htm -

Freestyle dancing can apply to numerous dance types and can be defined as any style of dance where the moves are not thought out ahead and where no choreography of the moves occurs before the dance begins.
Even though freestyle dancing implies freedom, most dancers are still going to keep themselves within a particular style of dancing. A hip hop dancer who freestyles uses recognizable hip hop moves, and perhaps a few he or she has made up. This can make issues confusing since many people always refer to both hip hop and funk dancing as freestyle dancing.
Hip hop or any other dancing becomes freestyle dancing in less formal settings. In ballroom dancing of all types, learning basic moves means you can do freestyle dancing to any music

So the 3 arguments for teaching a sequence of moves - turn patterns in a lesson are given as:
1) It's the only way to teach partnered dance
2) It's eye candy - pulls the punters in
3) It's very effective.

1) It's the only way

Huh? It's not the only way. There are other ways. It might be a very common way. But that doesn't mean it's the only, or the best way. Teaching turn patterns started in the 17C? Citation needed. Maybe there is some info on this - but where are the sources? The skill of demonstration, imitation, and repetition to gain a dance movement has been around prior to the 17C.

2) It pulls punters in. Yes. But it also has a lot of churn, turn over. Ever wondered why that is? If some of those who turned away form their initial source of salsa dance teaching might still be doing salsa, if that teaching had been different, better?

3) It's effective. Though the argument is that a turn pattern is effective in getting the feel of dancing to a turn pattern's length of material. It's almost tautological thinking.

Is that really the best most effective thing that we'd want? It's like teaching kids situational sentences in French. Le singe conduire l'autobus. Useful sentence, but only for a given situation. if there is a monkey driving a bus, or your French speaker has a sense of humour and has heard of Eddie Izzard.
And so a long pattern can be less well fitting musicality wise, as it has a musicality of its own that wont change too much.

Not sure where "advanced dancers in the making" comes from. How does a turn pattern help reaction time? Think faster before leading a move? Maybe preparing mentally earlier, to have the lead ready in time. It's weird - the article is saying turn patterns are the only known way to teach partnering dance (ergo salsa, a subset of that), that it's effective, and helps leaders and followers in their leading and following. Then volte face,
learning turn patterns is a means to an end, that they aren't the best.

I wonder how many people get to have that salsa lesson, where the instructor says - "Learning Salsa and Mambo Turn Patterns are means to an end and not the main objective". Maybe to call it a slap from your teacher in beginner's hell is too strong, but it's not too far from :

"By the way - you know the teaching style and content i've been teaching you, in your young, innocent naïve formative time as a beginner salsa dancer? It's not the best, I've been doing it primarily for selfish financial reasons, and because it looks flashy, and whilst you won't remember it so well, it'll feel flawy in class. Fixating on the idea that patterns are the way to go, will make your dancing inflexible. But you'll think faster."

Would you like your teacher to do that to your kids? Is it that the teacher being chicken? To not put their money where their mouth is and say - My teaching is good enough to stand on its own merits, and bring people in.

Length of turn pattern is inversely proportional aka reciprocally proportional. Agreed.

Didactic - Designed or intended to teach - intended to convey instruction and information as well as pleasure and entertainment. How, after pointing the flaws, can the article summarise to say turn patterns are:

"excellent didactical and educational means of learning Salsa and Mambo Dance"
"Instead of learning whole Dance Combinations, it is much rewarding to multiply the possibilities of the individual Dance Techniques and the dozens of ways of combining them together. "

? The article defined Dance Combinations as an alternative meaning of Turn Pattern (a string of individual moves put together e.g. Basic, CBL, Lead turn Follow Turn, CBL, Open out, OPen out, basic, dip).

So the summary, in effect says:

Turn patterns are excellent ways to instruct, teach and educate. But rather than learning turn patterns, it's much more rewarding to multiply the possibilities of individual moves and the ways of combining them. Which seems shorthand copy for saying turn patterns are great to teach, but for the learning dancer, they're not - learning about combining individual moves - focusing on possible combinations, and how to do that is better.

Who benefits from turn pattern teaching?

It's a fascinating subject - what are the best methods, styles, content for teaching salsa?

http://www.salsaforums.com/showthread.php?p=119014