bachata classes in medellin

Bachata has been growing in popularity in Medellin, Colombia.

Before 2012, Bachata was one of many genres that would be heard at a Medellin discoteca, bar, viejoteca or social gathering. If you wanted to dance bachata, you would need to wait for a bachata song to play. Bachata was popular as music, but there were few, if any, group bachata classes and bachata socials. Professional dance couples were beginning to participate in a bachata category at competitions, but there weren't yet groups, competitions, festivals or congresses dedicated to bachata. There were dance schools in Medellin that offered bachata classes, but they hadn't created a social dancing scene in the city. They offered private classes, occasional group classes, and student-teacher dance performances in a traditional way. And, the term sensual bachata was used little, if at all.

In 2012, DANCEFREE began offering free group salsa and bachata dance classes, followed by social dancing. For its first 2 years, DANCEFREE offered free dance classes only. Then, DANCEFREE began offering paid private classes, group classes and socials, too. For private classes, DANCEFREE offered many rhythms, including salsa, bachata, tango, porro, merengue, kizomba, hip hop, bolero, fox and more. For group classes, DANCEFREE focused primarily on salsa and bachata, with less frequent classes for tango, porro, kizomba and other rhythms. DANCEFREE's first salsa and bachata social was every Thursday. This became the first and most popular social for salsa and bachata in Medellin. Then, DANCEFREE began offering group salsa and bachata classes 6 nights a week, salsa and bachata practices 3 nights a week, and salsa and bachata socials 3 nights a week, until as late as 4:00am. DANCEFREE became the place to be for students, teachers, and anyone else who wanted to learn, teach and dance salsa and bachata, and the social dancing scene, and number of students and instructors in Medellin grew exponentially.

Here is some basic information about bachata, to get you started:

  • Bachata music is composed of phrases, and each phrase is divided into 8 beats.

  • Some bachata dancing basics include 4 steps in one direction, followed by 4 steps in the other direction. You begin to move in each direction on the beats 1 and 5. On the fourth step, you only apply half of your weight, because you will use the same foot to begin stepping in the other direction.

  • On the beats 4 and 8, there is a slight rise of the hips.

  • The leader generally begins with the left foot and the follower generally begins with the right foot.

  • Some of the most common bachata basics include side to side, front and back, half turn, in place and amague.

  • Bachata is usually danced with a touch of sensuality.

  • Once you have more experience, you can begin to learn about new concepts, such as how to better understand your own weight on the floor, how to better understand the rhythm/music, waves or body rolls (using our chest, abdomen, pelvis and buttocks), dips, how to turn you and your partner, body isolations (pelvis, hips, abdomen, chest, buttocks, rib cage, shoulders, etc.), syncopation, counterbeats (half-beats or “contratiempos” in Spanish), figure eights (a hip movement done within the bachata basic), shines, dissociation, sustained movement (“sostenido” in Spanish), launching of an arm (“lanzada” in Spanish), head movement, and how to give subtle, clear indications to your dance partner (if you are the leader) and how to feel and follow (if you are the follower).

  • Bachata dancing styles include Dominican bachata (from the Dominican Republic), traditional bachata, modern bachata, sensual bachata,, and bachata fusion (the combination of different styles of bachata and/or bachata with other dance styles, such as tango, zouk, etc.).

  • Two influential dance couples for modern and sensual bachata are Daniel and Desiree and Ataca and La Alemana.

  • Bachata began in the Dominican Republic.

  • José Manuel Calderón was one of the first recorded bachata artists in the early 1960's.

  • Recent and well-known bachata artists include Juan Luis Guerra, Romeo Santos and Prince Royce.

  • The word bachata is of African origin and refers to a festive social gathering or party.

  • Bachata instruments include the güira, bongo, guitar and bass.

DANCEFREE offers private bachata classes, in person in Medellin, Colombia, and online via Zoom and Google Meet. Our in-person classes are 7 days a week and our online classes are on weekdays only, subject to availability. We have more than 25 bachata instructors and teach students of all levels, from new (no experience) to expert. If you would like to take private bachata classes, click here to view the steps for beginning private classes. If you would like to view our calendar for bachata socials and more, click here.