There are altogether 143 figures in the 5 Latin American Dances; however a lot of them are repeated, and a number of them are just slightly varied from the basics. If we group the similar figures together, we can see that there are a couple of high frequency actions. AND, if you are doing this with the Standard Syllabus (which has 116 figures in total), you can have the similar result. Furthermore, if you do it across the two syllabus lists, you can find that figures are used both in Standard and Latin, a very good example is Chasse, it is in different Standard dances and in different Latin dances too. Another one is Natural Turn and Reverse Turn, surprisingly, the Samba roll's footwork is the Turn. Of course, the count may not be the same, and the shape or frame look quite differently, however, they do really share the same steps. (check out the full syllabus learning notes here)
Now we can see how each of our dances is formed, and this syllabus, I mean the whole syllabus, from the basic Inplace to the fellow figures, is just the basis of the dance. If you want to be a good dancer, first thing first, you need to manage the basic actions which form the basic figures. When you advance, what you learn is to seek for variations (breaking down and re-forming figures) using the actions. Then, in order to give a good dance, you cannot only seek for variations without proper technique.
But where is the technique? The syllabus is the technique.
The syllabus first shows you how the actions should look, and then further shows you how to combine several actions to make another figure. This re-forming of moves give you the example how you can make your move. More importantly, it shows you how to lead and follow to and from different positions.
If you are good at the syllabus with your feet, you should try it with your whole body, and then perfect it with your partnering skills.
*you may like to read all learning notes here.
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