r/Bachata

Been dancing around 4 year and since I started private classes all I've wanted to do is dance the basics and move my hips and shoulders more fluidly. I don't remember enjoy Bachata this much since the beginner buzz phase, where every class, interaction or new experience was exciting. Is this a phase ? Anyone else experienced this? Any tips ?

Hi everyone.

I haven't been in the Bachata scene for too long but usually when I dance in socials I have the most fun dancing to the songs I'm already somewhat familiar with. Since I started dancing I've put together a 9 hour long playlist with some of the more popular bachatas (purely found by digging around in Spotify), but I feel like there are still a lot of songs I don't know in socials.

I assume this is because a lot of the stuff they play are new releases. I was wondering if anyone had recommendations on where or how I can keep an any eye on the newer and more popular releases so I can listen to the new stuff a couple times before dancing to it on the dance floor.

Also, I figure the best answer here is to just go out more often. That's not really an option so I'm more so looking at something I can do on my commute to work.

Salut à tous 👋

Je suis nouveau ici et je me suis dit qu’il était temps pour moi de sortir un peu de ma zone de confort et d’essayer de nouvelles choses.
Depuis quelque temps, l’idée d’apprendre à danser me trotte dans la tête. Je n’ai absolument aucune base vraiment zéro 😅 et je ne sais même pas encore vers quel style me tourner : salsa, tango, bachata, swing… tout ça m’intrigue un peu.

Mais je trouve qu’un homme qui sait danser dégage quelque chose d’assez élégant et naturel, et j’aimerais tenter l’expérience au moins une fois sérieusement.

Du coup je lance une petite bouteille à la mer :
est-ce que vous auriez des recommandations pour un grand débutant comme moi ?
Des styles plus accessibles pour commencer, des soirées, des endroits cool et bienveillants sur Paris où on peut apprendre sans se sentir jugé ?

Je suis aussi totalement ouvert aux discussions et retours d’expérience de personnes qui ont commencé tard ou sans aucune confiance au début 🙌

A couple nights ago I danced with someone who was a great dancer and a lot of fun, but she obviously just came back from a smoke break and man did she reek. I mostly definitely kept my distance from her, something I wouldn't have done if she didn't smell bad

People, don't smoke at events if you want people to dance with you

Bachata seems to be blending with so many different styles lately — from zouk to hip hop to house. It’s fun, exciting, and creatively challenging, but I do wonder about the long-term health of our necks, particularly with the strong modern zouk influence.

I grew up training in a range of dance styles (jazz, contemporary, ballet, hip hop etc.) and now work as an exercise physiologist, so I have a good understanding of alignment and head technique. My concern isn’t necessarily poor technique, but more the repetitive nature of some movements over time. Add in the late nights and reduced recovery time from socials, and it makes me wonder what the long-term effects could be.

Does anyone else think about this? Knowing what I know about the body, I struggle to imagine there won’t be consequences years down the track, especially for people dancing multiple nights a week. Would genuinely love to hear different perspectives on it.

I’ve been dancing as a follow for about 4 years and lately I feel a bit stuck. There aren’t really any advanced groups or classes in my city, and I don’t feel like I’m getting that much anymore from intermediate classes either. I still really want to grow and improve as a dancer, I’m just trying to figure out what direction makes the most sense now. Did any of you reach a similar point? What helped you improve the most after regular classes stopped feeling enough? Did you focus more on solo movement and styling, start learning to lead too, take privates, travel more for socials and workshops, or maybe just work more deeply on fundamentals? I’d really like to hear what made the biggest difference for you.

Hey!

I've a big fan of bachata, it looks very cool and I love the music. I would like to learn it and few years ago I did take some ladystyle classes.

I went to one pair class as well but tbh I don't see myself as follower at all, I naturally like the men's role more and see myself dancing as this role or not at all.

Whenever I check websites of bachata schools around me they are always referrring to men/women, class for ladystyle or men's style etc, they all look super gender-based.

Is it common to tell teacher that I only want to learn leader part, is it normal? And are the women even ok of they are paired with another women?

Just wanted to share a hilarious dating fail. There was a guy that I was crushing on in my bachata class and I asked him to go to a social together. We had great chemistry and spent a lot of time talking and did multiple back to back dances. Things were going really well.

Only problem was that I am the kind of person who hates rejecting dances if other people ask too, especially if it’s someone I regularly dance with at socials. I have also been going regularly to the socials and I have gotten to know a lot of the other guys there, so naturally was getting interrupted every few minutes being asked to dance while mid conversation with the crush. At first I started out rejecting people saying “maybe the next one” (and I did find them later to do a dance because I felt so bad). So I literally spent like >50% of the social dancing with other dudes right in front of my crush. In the end he kind of just walked out without saying goodbye. Now I am worried that it was playing with his emotions because I really liked him, but at the same time didn’t want to be that person rejecting dances from everyone else who asked.

What do you think, should I have rejected everyone else that night to convey more interest to my crush? It was a lose lose scenario.

lesson learned, do NOT take your crush to a bachata social 🤣

I really love Madrid and I also love SBK. I’d like to come to Madrid for a weekend of dancing. However, so far, all bachata leaders I’ve danced with from Madrid (at dance festivals) seem to get really annoyed at my intermediate level.

Will I just be continuously put down if I come there and dance at the outdoor social/and or clubs or is the general dance community there more friendly and understanding?

Are there any exercises where I can improve my agility and balance?

Question for leads: what do you do when you're dancing with a follow that is so overweight that putting her into close position requires rubbing her body/breasts against you?

Do you still do it, or do you have to just dance open hold the whole song?

Follows who have this body type, what would you prefer?

They just posted on their IG account. Thought on this? How does something like this happen? Is this normal in dance. Partnerships just end like that? Do they hate each other now?

What's the gist of it?

Hello, I have recently started my bachata journey and I watched this video about hip movements with the figure 8's. I practiced them a lot last night, and now my low back muscles feel sore​ and achey. I feel it is because I am moving in a new way, and I am wondering if anyone has advice on stretches they like to do to get that region looser and warmed up for bachata. ​ In fact, I'd be curious to know any other stretches you deem helpful for bachata.

So as a beginner I keep hearing that make sure to connect with your partner. The problem for me is that is something that is very abstract and hard to put in practice. Like, you can't really practice connection on your own, can you?

Also, I hear more of this concept in Kizomba than Bachata, but over the past couple days I've seen people use that on here on this page. My instructors don't usually emphasis this. Do I have bad teachers?

What are good examples of good connection? What if the leader and follower interrupts the music differently, isn't that contrary to "connection?"

Thoughts?

First of fall Happy Mothers Day to the mothers on this subreddit.

To my post, I was wondering what are some pet peeves for followers? I know not all followers are the same, but this will give a beginner lead like me a general idea of what is not good leading habits.

Thank you.