What bachata is
Bachata is two things with one name: a style of music from the Dominican Republic and the partner dance that goes with it. The music is built on guitars. A lead guitar, the requinto, plays quick, ringing lines over a second guitar and a bass, with a bongo and a güira (a metal scraper) keeping time. The songs are mostly about love, and more often about love gone wrong.
The dance follows the music in a count of eight: three steps and a tap, three steps and a tap. That simple pulse is why people fall for it. A beginner can dance a whole song after one class, and ten years later the same count still carries everything they do.
Where it comes from
Bachata grew in the Dominican Republic in the 1960s, out of bolero and the guitar music of the countryside. The first recording usually counted as bachata is José Manuel Calderón’s “Borracho de amor”, from 1962, the year after the end of Trujillo’s dictatorship. The word itself first meant a lively get-together. For decades the music was looked down on as rough bar music from poor neighbourhoods, the music of amargue (bitterness), and kept off most radio and television.
That changed in stages. In the 1980s Blas Durán and others brought in the electric guitar and a faster tempo. In 1990 Juan Luis Guerra’s album Bachata Rosa took the sound into the mainstream and won a Grammy. In the early 2000s Aventura, from the Bronx, mixed bachata with R&B and hip-hop and turned it into global pop, and Romeo Santos carried it on from there. In 2019 UNESCO inscribed the music and dance of Dominican bachata on its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The basic step
- 1
- 2
- 3
- tap
- 5
- 6
- 7
- tap
Step to the side on 1, bring the other foot in on 2, step again on 3, and tap on 4, with a small lift of the hip. Then the same back the other way on 5, 6, 7 and tap on 8. Listen for the tap: in most songs the bongo and the güira land on it with you.
Once the side basic feels easy, the same count moves forward and back, turns in place, and carries every figure you will see at a festival. Leaders and followers dance the same count, mirrored.
The styles
Bachata is danced in several styles, and most dancers mix them.
- Dominican bachata: the original, with footwork that answers the guitar. 47 upcoming festivals
- Bachata moderna: the Dominican basic plus turn patterns from salsa; what most schools teach.
- Sensual bachata: body waves and isolations, slower and rounder; the big-festival style. 109 upcoming festivals
- Bachata Influence: Melvin & Gatica’s style since 2020: breath, close connection and sharp changes of energy. 35 upcoming festivals
- Urban bachata: bachata with hip-hop and R&B in it. 54 upcoming festivals
Where to dance it
Three places, and most dancers end up using all three. Classes, usually weekly courses by level at a dance school. Socials, evening parties where people just dance, often with a short class first; most cities in Europe have one several nights a week. And festivals: three or four days of workshops with teachers you otherwise only see on stage, and social dancing until the morning.
Right now Bachat’Up lists 555 upcoming bachata festivals, congresses and weekenders in 63 countries. The busiest are Spain (87), France (72), Germany (49), United States (41), Italy (33).
Common questions
Is bachata hard to learn?
The basic takes an evening. Dancing comfortably with strangers on a social floor takes a few months of weekly classes. It is one of the friendliest partner dances to start with, because the count never changes.
Do I need a partner?
No. Most classes rotate partners, and at a social anyone can ask anyone.
What should I wear?
Clothes you can move and sweat in, and shoes that turn: smooth leather or suede soles, not rubber trainers that grip the floor. Bring a spare top to a social.
Bachata or salsa?
Salsa is faster, with more turn patterns. Bachata is slower and closer and built on the 1-2-3-tap. Plenty of dancers do both, and many festivals have a salsa room next door.
How do I find a festival near me?
The festival list covers the whole world, by country, by month and by style. Weekly socials are coming to the Bachat’Up app.