Bachata

I´ve recently started dancing a dance called "Bachata" and I really fell in love with it. All my life I like dancing and I always wanted to dance. I´m glad that I started with this kind of dance because bachata is such a sexy, passionate and beautiful dance.

It often happens that when I tell someone that I dance Bachata, many people don´t know what Bachata is. Therefore, let's get some information about this beautiful dance which has won my heart.

Bachata is a Latin dance comes from the Dominican Republic. Sexy body movement, syncopated footwork and freestyle move that alternate between closed and open position. Bachata basic steps are performed by moving within a small square (side, side, forward and then tap with your toes, then side, side, back and tap). This step was inspired by the bolero basic step (two distinct genres of slow-tempo Latin music and their associated dances) but evolved over time to include a tap and syncopations (steps in between the beats - such as the "double step"), helping dancers express the more dynamic music being commonly played. The hand placement can vary according to the position of the dances, which can range from very close to open to completely open.

Bachata is still danced today in the Caribbean and all over the world and has been evolving for several decades. It is increasingly danced to faster music, adding more footwork, simple turns and rhythmic free-styling with alternation between close (romantic) and an open position.

Variants of bachata are: Western "traditional"(the 1990s, characteristics of this "early" dance is the close connection between partners, soft hip movements, tap with a small "pop" of the hip on the 4th step (1, 2, 3, tap/hip) and does not include many turns/figures), Bachatango (consists of short sequences taken from western "traditional" steps combined with different Tango steps and danced like tango. Nowadays the dance is not often seen on the social dance floors). Modern/ Moderna (2005, the basics are the same as the "western traditional" dance, but with added dance elements and styling from Salsa, tango and Ballroom ( is a set of partner dances). In this dance, couples typically move their torsos more and greatly exaggerate the hip-pop (especially the ladies). Sensual ( The Sensual dance style was created in Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain, by Korke Escalona and Judith Cordero. Korke started developing his own dance style inspired by contemporary and Brazilian zouk dances by understanding how the leader (traditionally a man) could lead the body of the follower (traditionally a lady) to interpret the music. It´s a novel, independent dance form with strict principles of leading and following, with mostly circular movements and body waves, but also body isolations and dips when the dancers feel the music calls for it. Ballroom (It is yet another dance developed in the West, primarily for dance competitions rather than social dancing, with very extreme hip movements and lots of ballroom dance styling. The basic step is based on western "traditional" dance.

There are many professional bachata teachers and dancers. My favourites are for example dance couple from Germany Janis y Zoé.

Janis y Zoé

Information source: wikipedia.org

Pictures: google.com

Videos: youtube.com