How to Dance Bachata

Transcript Edwin: Dancing bachata, this is how to do the bachata square. So we’re going to start first by going to the left on the number one, we’re going to go one and fourth, two, three and tap. Now we’re going to go to the right. Right, back, middle and tap. Let’s do it a …

Transcript Edwin: How to bachata with a partner? We’re going to learn how to go from opened position to closd position in bachata. We’re going to start first in open position. Five, six, seven tap and one, two, three tap, five, six, seven tap. One, two, three and five, six, seven tap. One, two, three …

Transcript I’m going to demonstrate how to incorporate a body roll and a booty roll into bachata timing. We go one, two, three and booty roll and one, two, three body roll, down and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. And now to break it down, we start to the right. Only half …

Transcript Edwin: Guitar timing in bachata, so the guitar is the dominant instrument in the bachata, and it is also called the requinto. The sound of it is going to go… You’re going to notice that the steps are going to be more stacked up and a little bit faster. Let’s demonstrate that slow first. …

Transcript Understanding the music in bachata. The most important thing, other than building a connection with your partner is building a connection with the music. You have to train your ears to listen to every single detail in there. There’s gonna be a base, a bongo, a guitar and other instruments that are going to …

Transcript Daniela: So ladies, what to wear when dancing bachata? We can wear jeans. We can wear shorts. We can wear skirts and dresses. Just make sure your skirt is not too short, that if you move your hips too much it might rise up, and then people might see things that you don’t want …

Transcript Edwin: Different breaks in bachata, so in bachata we had the tap, but there’s a lot of other breaks that you can explore. We’re going to teach you a couple of them. The first one we’re going to talk about is the bachata heel break. So we’re going to put out our heels, on …

Transcript Edwin: So now we’re going to talk about beginner steps. This is a very short pattern. You are going to start to the left on one, two, three, tap, five, six, seven. Then you’re going to go outside and middle, top, outside and middle, top, outside and middle, top. Outside and forward, for one,two, …

Transcript Edwin: So this is the drunken step in the bachata, otherwise known as the grapevine. So we’re going to start by doing the basic to the left and one, two, three tap, five, six, seven step. So the first thing to notice is we didn’t tap this time, because we want to make sure …

Transcript Edwin: Bachata pattern for beginners. This pattern is going to start with the basic five, six, seven and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and one, two, three, four, in out in and one, two, three, four, in out in and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and one, two, three, four, …

Transcript So this is bachata intros and breaks. A lot of songs are going to start off with a rhythm that might not be bachata, but you know that later on it turns into bachata, so a lot of the times we don’t know what to do during this time. Sometimes we wait, sometimes we …

Transcript Edwin: Intermediate footwork in bachata. This pattern is going to be a little bit different. We’re going to go one, two, three, tap. You’re going to go kick forward, kick back, kick forward and cross. Turn all the way over and five, six, switch and twist, twist, twist, tap. Twist, twist, twist, tap. Twist, …

Transcript Daniela: So how to perform bachata? Performing is very interactive. You interact with your partner or with your teammates or you interact with the audience. It’s actually very fun. You can be flirty. You know you can express your feelings. It’s like telling a story, conveying what you have made to the audience. Edwin: …

Transcript Edwin: Advanced bachata pattern with your partner. So we’re going to start by first basic in close position, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 and 1-2-3 and hold. 6-7 and 1-2-3-4-5 and 6 and 7. Drop 1-2-3 and inside turn. Lets try it with the music. One more basic, push back-push and repose, 7 and 1, 3 and 5, …

Transcript Edwin: How to put together a bachata dance routine? The first thing is the music. You have to find music that’s meaningful to you. That has a message you want to convey. Listen to the speed of the music. Listen to every instrument in there, until you identify yourself with one that you want …

Transcript Edwin: Bass timing in the bachata. The bass timing is going to be a little bit longer than the bongo, so we’re going to take a first step to extend and then we’re going to collect with two quick steps. Let’s do it slowly first. Five, six, seven and one and three, tap, five …

Transcript Daniela: So ladies, we want to find the perfect shoe for us to dance. We want them to be comfortable, flexible. We are four hours or more, dancing per night. So the shoes that I wear are Burju shoes. You can get them through burju.com or from Maria Palmieri on joelsalsa.com. You can also …

Transcript Advanced footwork in bachata, this cara, is going to incorporate a lot of the different timings in bachata, and some of the previous timings that you saw in the series. So we’re going to start with the left basic and one and three, four, five and six and seven. And one and three, four, …

Transcript Bachata basic with the bongo. The bongo is one of the most important instruments in bachata. The sound of the bongo is going to go… so you have three hits and then the tock is the big hit with the hip, falls or the breaks. We’re going to start by going to the left. …

Transcript Bachata tips for men. So men I’m going to give you some tips for your social dancing. The first one is how to ask the ladies to dance, how to deal with rejection. So the first thing is you’re going to gracefully ask for the ladies with your palm face up, she accepts, you’re …

Transcript I’m going to demonstrate how to follow the lead of the man. First of all ladies, make sure you put your left hand on the shoulder blade of the gentleman and our arm is resting on his right arm. Basic five, six, seven and one, two, three. Five, six, seven. One, two, three. Five, …

Transcript Daniela: So I’m going to give you a little tip for women when we’re dancing. When we’re dancing with a gentleman sometimes they like to get too close, and we don’t feel comfortable dancing with them like this, because we might not know them. They just might be some random person that asked us …

Transcript Edwin: Where to dance bachata? Pretty much, nightclubs that play Latin music, you have sometimes salsa, merengue, and bachata. There are a lot of clubs here in New York that play salsa. You can look into socials, bachata festivals, congresses. There are a lot of places to go. If you’re in the city and …

Transcript Edwin: This is an intermediate pattern in bachata. We’re going to start by first getting into the back-to-back walk. We’re going to go one, two, three push, five, six, seven and walk behind each other, so you’re interacting with each other. One, two, three and we open up on this side. For the ladies …

Transcript Daniela: Hi, my name is Daniela Grosso and my number one passion is bachata. I have been dancing bachata for about two years now and I enjoy every moment of it. I teach in congresses and festivals with Edwin my partner, who I love teaching with. It’s so much fun. The feedback that we …

Transcript Edwin: So this is the bachata basic turn for the gentlemen. And one, two, three tap, five, six, seven tap; one, two, three tap, five, six, seven tap. So gentlemen, what you want to make sure is on the one-two-three, you’re going to the left; one, two, three. You’re going to tap and spot …

Transcript Styling for men in bachata. Let’s start with just the basic and one, two, three tap. Five, six, seven. So men I want you to make sure you’re moving your shoulders. You feel relaxed and your steps are really coming up off the ground. Try not to smooth out your steps too much. Six, …

Transcript Ladies styling for bachata. Basically, we take different arm movements from other genres, such as salsa. We can go basic bachata to the side and one, two, three. Five, six, seven. Arm goes up, and arm can go down. Play with your hair. We can bring the arms across and down, tracing your body. …

Transcript Edwin: Modern bachata dancing or as most of you know it club style. This pattern we’re going to start with one, two, three tap, on the five we’re going to slide open, five, six, seven, prep for the ladies. The ladies are going to turn on one, two, three tap, gentlemen you’re going to …

Transcript How to incorporate merengue into a bachata. Merengue is a very, very interactive and playful genre. What we’re going to do is have as much fun as we can with this next move. We’re going to start with the basic and one, two, three forward. Going to let go and swing back. One, five …

Transcript Edwin: Cha-cha timing in bachata. We’re going to start in open position. Gentlemen, you’re going to lead the ladies back. That’s forward for us. One, two, step and middle. Let’s try that again. And one, two, step and middle. One more time, and one, two, step and middle. Now we’re going to go back …

Transcript Edwin:This is your bachata basic forward and back. We’re going to start with the left foot for the gentlemen and for the ladies. Five, six, seven, tap. One, two, three, tap, five, six, seven, tap. One, two, three, tap, and five, six, seven, tap. Now let’s try it from the back side. Five, six, …

Transcript Daniela: This is the bachata turn for the ladies. We start going to the right, five, six, seven and step one, two, three tap. Basic one more time; and right left, right tap, five, six, seven a little faster. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Now from the back, five, six, seven …

Transcript Edwin: How to incorporate salsa into bachata. This pattern is going to start with the basic in place and one, two, three tap, five, six prep. And one, two, three, hand toss and catch. Open up and wrap the ladies in. Unwrap the ladies out. Free spin into a simple dip. Now let’s break …

Transcript Edwin: Fusing hip hop and raggaeton into your bachata. We’re going to start by going to the basic, five, six, seven, and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven prep and swivel, swivel, swivel, break. Swivel, swivel, swivel. Swivel, swivel, swivel, back to the basic on one, two, three and left hand only, cross …

Transcript Edwin:Now we’re going to demonstrate how to do the kick shuffle. We’re starting with the left foot on the number one for ladies and gentlemen. Five, six, seven, eight. And one, and two, and three, tap. And five, and six, and seven, tap. What we’re doing is, in between every step, we’re adding a …

Transcript Edwin:Five, six, seven, tap. And one, two, three, tap. Five, six, seven, tap. One, two, three, tap. Five, six, seven, tap. So that was our bachata basic in place. Now let’s break down the steps. We’re going to start with our left foot on the down beat. Five, six, seven. And one, two, three, …

Transcript Daniela: We’re going to demonstrate a tango step into bachata. Five, six, seven, basic one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and last time. We’re going to break it down. We’re going to go basic one, two, three, four. We …

Transcript Edwin: Traditional bachata dancing. Let’s start with our partners in closed position. Five, six, seven and one, two, three tap, five, six, seven tap, one, two, three tap. Now forward and back. We go one, two, three tap, five, six, seven tap, one, two, three tap. Hold it in the center. Tap one, two, …

Transcript Edwin:What is bachata? Well, a beautiful dance from the Dominican Republic. Bachata is dated back to the early 20th century. It derived from the bolero, which is from Cuba, imported into the Dominican Republic. Very similar instrumentation, but the only difference then is instead of maracas, they have the güira. The music is very …

Transcript Edwin:So now we’re going to do our basic step with corner to corner. We’re going to start with the left foot, but we’re going to angle our body on the one. Five, six, seven and one, two, three, tap. Five, six, seven, tap. So the first step and the fifth step go into the …

Transcript Edwin: Guajira into bachata. We’re going to start by holding the ladies in closed position. We’re going to go one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and push back, three and wait. One more time. Nice and slow. Five, six, seven and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, we prep and back, tap …

Transcript Batata for men, this pattern is going to cover a couple of key concepts, like the body roll, power stomp and a couple of other cool little things for you guys. So we’re going to start with just doing the basic step. We’re going to go one, two, three tap, five, six, seven tap. …

Transcript Edwin: Leading for men in bachata. Gentlemen, when we’re leading the ladies in bachata, first off if you’re dancing in open position, make sure that your arms are nice and relaxed, your palms are facing up and you’re not gripping the ladies with your thumb. Very important, her hands are resting on your hands, …

Transcript Edwin: How to do a bachata slide. So we’re going to start with the basic step, five, six, seven tap; one, two, three tap and slide, six, seven tap; one, two, three tap and slide, six, seven tap. So what you want to make sure is you take three steps, one, two, three. You …