I think Val is the best overall teacher for Tamar. She has a lot of things on her plate and Val uses the time that she has wisely. The week that she had rumba, she was also promoting her CD. Even with the travel, Tamar did well. I don't hold Val completely accountable for his partner's performance value - you can't really teach that. Danica was a good dancer, but even as an actress, she didn't have performance value in the Latin dances. Janel had performance value, but she didn't have good techinique no matter how Val pushed. The partnership with Elizabeth Berkley should have worked, but she was in her own head.
As someone who plays the piano, muscle memory/memorization and performance are not separate. You really learn the them together - musicality.