How hard can it be? Move to the rhythm with bachata

Over twenty students, ranging from beginners to intermediate level, joined the session. It was quite nerve-wracking for some of the students, especially for our reporter Adinda Khairunnisa, as it was her first dance class. How hard can bachata be?

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‘You need to feel the music to dance bachata’

I was terrified before entering the dance floor, since I never had a dance class before in my life and probably am the most non-flexible person that ever existed. Bachata is a dance style that originated in the Dominican Republic, Armando Tellerias, the dance instructor, explained to me. The dance itself became popular during the sixties. Bachata is actually a music genre and people created a dance based on it, he said. “It started off with illegal parties and it spread across the country. Now it is known globally.” Armando said that the idea behind dancing bachata is to feel and move with the music itself.

Dancing with partners

Nona Beesemer, a Psychology student, described how the session usually starts. “We usually warm up with a bit of solo dancing of simple Bachata stuff before we start partnering up.”

We started with learning a hip roll and switching positions. Adrian Fleckenstein, a Clinical Psychology student, is enjoying the practice session. “I love bachata so much and I’m happy that we learn something new every week.”

At first, since there was no leading partner available, I had to dance on my own, but then Jan-Willem van Soest helped me out. “Overall, bachata requires a lot of hip movement so it was a bit difficult in the beginning”, he explains.

So, how hard can it be? Overall, it was a solid 8.5 for me. I’m terrible at dancing but would definitely love to step out of my comfort zone and maybe join another session.