Bachata

Bachata is a style of dance that originated in the Dominican Republic where the music also was born. It is danced widely all over the world but not identically. The early slow style in the fifties from where everything started was danced only closed, like the Bolero. The Bachata basic steps moving within a small square (side, side, forward and side, side, back) are also inspired from the Bolero but danced slightly different. The Original Dominican Bachata is today danced all over the Caribbean, now also faster in accordance to faster music, adding more footwork, turns/figures and rhythmic free style moves and alternating between closed and open positions. Dancers in the Western World later began developing a more simple pattern, also in a full 8 count, but with a side-to-side motion. Both styles consist of 3 steps and then a tap step. The tap is often accompanied by a “pop” of the hips, and is sometimes substituted with syncopations.