My way of training female ballroom dancing followers

Instead of aiming at the figures and lines, I'll concentrate the training on the basic technique of dancing and following :
- posture
- poise
- body weight
- anchoring
- rise and fall
- cbm (contra body movement) 
- side leading
- foot work
- heel turn
- heel pull

for Latin dances, additionally:
- Latin foot work
- number 8
- hip action
- rib cage and shoulder
- body weight
- characteristics of each Latin dance

I stress on free style, characteristics of each of the dances rather than copying the standard figures and routines. I'll encourage student to dance with music rather than repeating sets of actions out of the context of the music being played.

To me, music is the soul of dancing and figures are tools helping the full enjoyment of dancing, which, among other things, is to display beautiful body lines.
Happy Dancing!