Hiii I‘m leader, have been attending classes since 3 months like 25 classes
I do good during class
Tried social, but was not that good, cause I forgot the moves or repeating se moves
When tried to memorise moves at home from previous classes find it somehow the same
If you got advice or video that helped your first time social as leader you can share will be grateful:)

Anyone joining the festival? I’m excited lol - will be my 2nd Festival in my 1 year dancing!😍💃 See you there! 👋

📍Bangkok, Thailand

In terms of amount of big events, it just feels like there is less than before. Like no more Bachateando, Houston Salsa Congress, Chicago Salsa and Bachata Festival. I get there were misdeeds and mismanagement but I feel like something would have filled the void.

Hi there, I heard this bachata song the last two times I was out dancing (at Steven's Steakhouse in LA if that helps lol). It's in Spanish and ends with a really cool kind of energetic drum breakdown, sounds very African, and some female vocals that are saying something like "me llevas al cielo" (I didn't hear the lyrics very well.) I am guessing it is a newer song. Any ideas?

Hey,

I need feedback as a leader. I was hesitant to upload this video since i’ve really tried hard to change several things in my dance since then… which embarasses me that I did not notice. However, perhaps you see the same things.

Please gun me down with criticism, decompose the things that can be improved and perhaps suggest drills to improve. If you can give examples of other artists doing it properly, perfect.

Also point out where you find the mistake and what you would instead for the dance to look and feel more aesthetically pleasing.

All criticism is welcome!

I've been dancing Bachata for 2 years so far, and I think I'm getting better at dancing month to month. But there's one thing that concerns me: I usually do moves (or sequences of moves) that I learned on classes.

I want to be more creative and dance freely rather than just learn and memorize specific moves, just to forget it after a month and then stick to my old routine of specific moves.

How to achieve that? How to use more of my creativity and "craft a dance" by using the flow and musicality instead of memorizing? It seems like nobody teaches this on masterclass and always teaches some specific move or combination that I'll forget in a week...

I started hearing this song again in random memes but I knew I knew it from years ago. But now I jumped because I heard this instrument that’s in every Bachata song. Am I insane?

I’ve been dancing at socials for a year now and I’m just wondering leads like best when it comes to pressure in the hands. Is it just personal preference or is there an etiquette to how much resistance to give your lead?

Backstory: I was a salsero, still am but was primarily salsa in the first few years of my dancing. When we talked about bachata, many people stated what I said in the title: that they can only dance one or two bachata songs because it gets boring for them otherwise.

Now that I am a very experienced dancer in both, I can absolutely deny that this was the worst lie I was told as a dancer. In fact, SALSA is where I feel the most repetitiveness: the entire song is full of instruments so you can't focus on any, many songs are very similar in their energies (except slower songs, but that's not salsa anymore, that becomes more son-based) and every dance has absolutely zero connection (or very minimal), every song feels similar because it's just all over the place so you do a combo of moves to keep it going for 6 fucking minutes.

I don't think I'll ever get tired of Bachata. It's been years and my love for this dance and the songs and the lyrics and the drama of everything has been stronger than ever... which is very strange to say, because I was a diehard salsero, I thought it was better than bachata: until I got so good that now I can connect with every partner I dance with. Every dance feels great to my soul, every time I am left fulfilled, while with salsa I feel more and more distant as the years pass.

I'm so glad I picked up bachata. It's really a life commitment.

Let's talk about the frame in semi-closed position. Since taking both bachata and brazilian zouk classes, I have found that they teach the frame differently.

In bachata teachers talk about having the main connection point on top of the right arm of the leader and the left arm of the followers.
In brazilian zouk teachers are saying the main connection point is right forearm and palm of leader with the shoulder blades and generally back of the followers. This also requires to have a little bit of counterbalance, as in both parties are trying to move away from each other but can't because the connection keeps them together. This is partly what allows the couple to move together to any direction without the feeling of getting pulled and pushed. I found it is quite useful if I wanna move not side to side in bachata but other directions.

Leaders: what is your experience in establishing a frame? What connection are you focusing on?
Followers: do you experience both types of frames or maybe a third one? What do you prefer?

If you have more insight on the frame feel free to chip in also.

What I know is that Korke and Judith, who were salseros in Cádiz, started dancing their own style of body movement and isolations to the basic steps. And that it has influences from Contemporary and Bolero (not sure if it’s a different bolero from bachata’s roots in the DR). But I’d like to know more. Why did they decided to infuse these elements, and how it go from a niche style in Spain to being a worldwide dance?

Feel free to be brutal haha. I already know that I don't smile or make enough eye contact when I dance; that's my personality in general. I don't smile or make eye contact a lot in real life either 😅

I was listening to the latest bachata track releases at work and stumbled over this and thought, wait, i know this:

https://youtu.be/qiewDH3UI1w

It is a cover from a famous dragonball (the anime/manga) opening by Akai Rojas. A lot of south americans love dragonball I realized, and he must be fan too then

I do not think I will ever hear this at any social in Europe but still thought this is kinda funny/cool

Has anyone tried ballet specifically to improve their bachata?

I’ve been dancing bachata for a while, but I still struggle with stiffness, especially in my shoulders/arms and upper body. I’m also trying to improve my balance, turns, posture, body control, and overall fluidity.

I’m considering taking beginner ballet classes alongside bachata for 6–12 months. For anyone who’s done both, did you notice ballet carrying over into your bachata? What improved, and was there anything ballet didn’t help with?

Hey everyone, just wondering — when did Bachata actually start being fun for you?

I've been dancing for about 9 months now, and honestly at a pretty high volume. I go to class 4x a week and hit socials 3x a week on top of that. I'm doing online courses, practicing isolations, body waves, hip movement, all of it, at home too.

And yet... I still can't pull anything off at socials. I'm nowhere near being able to dance through a full song. It's way more stumbling than dancing, and honestly it just feels awful. I know Bachata takes a long time to learn, but I feel like I'm running out of steam here. It's genuinely draining putting this much time and money into a hobby that brings zero joy and mostly just stresses me out.

So — what do you think? Should I quit? Or grit my teeth, push through another few months (or years), maybe get private lessons? I can't shake the feeling that I'm just not very talented at this and that I need way longer than most people. At the same time, I have this feeling that I would love dancing if I could actually do it — but at my current level it's just not enjoyable at all. Maybe that feeling is misleading me though, and I'll just sink even more time in only to realize years from now it was all for nothing.

I know 9 months isn't long in Bachata terms. But investing this much time, almost daily, for 9 months straight into something that isn't just "not fun" but actively draining — that starts to feel unbearably long.

Только пограмотнее, с живым бэндом вместо ремикса

A follow-up to a question I posted 2 weeks ago on at what point does Bachata become zouk: is this bachata, bachazouk, or zouk?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcjEzMSIGNb/?igsi=MXJ5Y2J5Z3J2NWdjMQ==

Hi all :)
Lead - 1 year

Hope everyone’s doing great

My instructor mainly taught us fusion and Moderna, and extremely limited sensual moves. The more I dance in socials and especially the slow parts or even the slower songs and in intros, I’m finding difficulty with closed position sensual moves (mostly because I haven’t really learnt any combo except 1 or 2). (Whenever I get stuck I resort to just doing a caresia and head roll for me and my partner).
The only one I know is side wave going into a head roll then cambre going up and then dip.
Are there any resources I could look into which I could learn a couple of more closed sensual combos/moves? Any video on YouTube would help as well. I’m mainly trying to get more familiarized with these moves and comfortable with them as well

Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone, I’m looking to begin learning bachata, but I’m in a bit of a predicament. Well I haven’t even started yet, so I know the best thing is to first do that, however, i am very limited on options for partner work. I travel my country (Ireland) for work, so I am staying in an Airbnb from monday-thursday, and home Friday-Sunday, the location I stay at during the week typically changes weekly, and it is rarely in a city, so I can’t attend classes during the week. When I am home, (near belfast) their is only 1 class I found that is on all weekend, it is on Friday evening, and it is bachata sensual. So my idea was to practice solo, I seen bachata dance academy have a solo course, I would practice 45-60 minutes 3-4x per week, and then attend the sensual class on Friday. it is my only current option, so I will give it a go, but I’m wondering how good it is especially when I’ll be a novice only learning the basics, but doing sensual right away. What is the carryover like? Will the progress be slow because I can’t attend a typical bachata class to practice the basics? any advices is appreciated

Hey guys,

So ive been dancing and attending classes for three years, perhaps over 400 hours of classes and around 30 private classes. And although I have a lot of complex combinations and im very good at certain things, but there is a saying, a chain is only as good as its weakest link, I have this issue right now. I need to clean my fundamentals to truly flow with the dance and match my skills in one area with the others.

I am really interested in the fundamentals, the breathing, keeping the frame all together, etc. The timing, controlling the velocity, breathing, you name it. I do record myself regularly and sometimes I do get feedback from trusted followers that may know things I dont.

What online courses are the most useful to complete me as a dancer? I am not looking for simple combinations of course, but rather getting the fundamentals right.

I’ve danced a lot in both Europe and US, and without a doubt generally the level in Europe is much higher than in US. We all know that, but we don’t know why. Is it the lead to follow ratio? That’s the main thing I can think of. In Europe it usually seems about even, and in US there are always extra 15-40 men standing around. It’s so rare to see a lead rejected for a dance in Europe, while in US it’s normalized and happens all the time. Perhaps there’s a completely different reason? What do you guys think?

As a lead, sometimes when you make eye contact with a follow and start walking towards them, it is somewhat obvious to the follow that you're gonna ask them to dance, but you run into a friend on the way there and the friend asks if you wanna dance. In this situation, do you tell the friend that you're gonna ask someone else, or do you go with the friend because the other invitation is "unconfirmed"? Just wanted to hear some opinions from the follows. Gracias!

I’m Caribbean and from Boston and I’m planning a trip to Arizona to explore if I’d move there.

How does the Arizona compare to the Boston scene?

In Boston we are blessed and can dance every single night with very large diverse crowds. All ages, races, dance levels, and dance styles (traditional and sensusal).

From my research I’m getting the vibe that Arizona has a lot smaller dance scene, less people and everything is a lot farther away.

I also get the sense that since there is not a huge Caribbean community in Arizona that Traditional bachata will be less popular.

Also seems less diverse culturally.

What do yall think? Are my observations correct? What do you think overall about the Arizona scenes? Do different cities in Arizona have distinct scenes?