Learning to dance

I had my first dancing experience in San Franciso in 2018, I went with a friend to the latin night club called Space 550 where I had an intro class to salsa. I didn’t enjoy it that much because I was new to it and because you have to be a good leader (or at least a leader with enough decent moves) to start enjoying it.

Later I decided to try again in late 2021 at a dance academy in South San Jose called Dance Boulevard. They had a 90$ all you can dance package where I got to try different styles of dance (including salsa).

I went a few weeks to the salsa classes and to other classes, one of them being bachata. That’s when the journey began.

As I kept on practicing every week I realized that I enjoyed bachata way more than salsa, while the counts are similar (1 to 8) salsa is definitely faster and more fluid while bachata is more relaxed and with slow downs on steps 4 and 8. Outside classes I’d listen to bachata way more and I honestly started enjoying the music too, it’s just very very fun.

While I could keep on dancing both I decided I’d stick to bachata so that I have less things to juggle in my mind with respect to the steps.

Dancing bachata is perfect for me because:

  • First and foremost, it’s fun.
  • It’s a way to do cardio and improves my fitness.
  • It’s a great way to make friends and connections with people that like bachata as you do.
  • It’s a perfect excuse to travel. My excuse are the dance festivals happening all around the world.

My bachata journey

I’ve been dancing bachata semi-regularly since late 2021 and took some breaks because of grad school, travel and other hobbies.

How do you get better at it?

It’s pretty simple, you go to classes and learn a few moves, if there are dance socials right after the class you stay and practice the move. Then at home you practice the moves you learned on your own and with music (this is the key step to not forget them) and finally you go to the social nights every week and practice more and more.

There are good days and bad days in the dance floor. Days where all the moves click in your head with the music and days where you don’t feel the music. Days where you dance with a follower and all of the moves and their transitions seem so effortless and days where there are followers who are distracted and when you can’t make a connection.

It’s a life long hobby, so let’s just enjoy the process.

2021 - Starting my dancing journey

During this year:

  • I started dancing bachata in late 2021 at a dance academy in South San Jose called Dance Boulevard.
  • I went a couple of times to Alberto’s Night Club, a dance night club in Mountain View. I didn’t enjoy it much because I was still a beginner and because the dancing space was very small.
  • On Saturday nights I went to Space 550 in San Francisco a few times as well, this is where I met Kathy Reyes.

2022 - The year of the bachata festivals

  • On weekdays I’d go to Berkeley to dance with Katy Reyes. She’s an amazing teacher.

  • On weekdays I’d go to Studio M in San Jose to dance with Ngoc Huynh. She’s an amazing teacher as well.

  • On saturdays I’d go to the socials in Space 550 in San Francisco.

  • I started travelling all over US for multiple bachata festivals. It was the perfect way for me to travel and discover US, I’d stay in a place for the duration of the festival and in the afternoon I’d explore the new place and go dancing at night or also stay in the festival in the afternoon where I learned some moves from other teachers and then I’d stay for the social night dance.

    • Bachata Festival in LA in May.
    • Bachata Festival in Sacramento in June.
    • Bachata social nights in San Diego in July.
    • Bachata Festival in San Francisco in July.
    • Bachata Festival in Miami in September.
    • Bachata social nights in New York in Oct.

  • I danced with la alemana in San Francisco.

  • Fun souvenir: a photo with ataca y la alemana

    Yo y Ataca y la Alemana

  • I went to a bachata concert by Prince Royce in San Jose in Oct.

  • I created a tiny bachata player website to mark my love for bachata.

2023 - Slow year in bachata dance

  • I stopped dancing in ~Mar 2023 because of an upcoming move.
  • I moved to NYC in mid 2023.
  • I started dancing again in ~Sep 2024 at KS Bachata Sensual NYC with Steven Halim and Kasia Brozynska.
    • I started going whenever I could to the social night dances on Saturday.
  • Went to a bachata concert by Romeo Santos on Nov in New Jersey.

2024 - Making covers of bachata songs

After I moved to the city I focused on learning to be a better musician, as a result I started deviating a little bit from dancing but not that much, I started doing covers of the bachata songs that I like in different places in NYC and also started a Youtube channel where I upload my bachata videos.

  • Jan 2024 I did trip abroad, I didn’t go to any bachata late night events in the countries I went to.
  • Watched Aventura perform in the Madison Square Garden in May.
  • From June to Nov I kept on going to KS Bachata Sensual NYC classes on weekdays. I didn’t go to socials on Saturdays as often which is not good!
  • I did my first cover of bachata and uploaded to Youtube, I made a cover of Solo Conmigo by Romeo Santos.

My Favorites

This is a collection of my favorite steps in Bachata or the steps that I do in the dance floor. I look at these clips regularly while practicing and I try them in the dance floor.

Dancers

Combos

I learned a lot from reels from this channel https://www.instagram.com/bachataworldmasters/.

Video Why I like it
https://www.instagram.com/p/CsJi6wVNfpG/ The transition to two types of waves, the arm wave at the end.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CjsSijqjXOq/ Simple but easy to do
https://www.instagram.com/p/CqNZ_uwjX59/ Leader switch front and back
https://www.instagram.com/p/CgwROATvrSY/ Simple variation on diagonal (ataca y la alemana)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CgjHS_dA_D7/ Hip out, Chest out, Chest in, Hip in
https://www.instagram.com/p/DCRLfdyCIR8/ Titanic step
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cqk7EsoOyk5/ Contra y circulo (tutorial)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CttvRi-smnq/ Leader switch front and back + a very nice hair brush at the end
https://www.instagram.com/p/CsjZBrIvZWq/ Double turn lead, follower shadow, nice sync jump with the music
https://www.instagram.com/p/CuHh2JvgFwR/ Basic of basic turn with hug + hip,chest,chest,hip
https://www.instagram.com/p/CuMbAybAvIH/ Perfect intro to the chorus
https://www.instagram.com/p/CuMsbw1LeJX/ Onda lateral + contra
https://www.instagram.com/p/C1e224nCSVi/ Lady squat
https://www.instagram.com/p/C12LBKti8tf/ Side plank
https://www.instagram.com/p/C48DmHGiyFi/ Nice double turn + hair brush