With the growing popularity of Bachata, I have seen, and also been involved in a lot of discussions within the dancing community regarding the different styles of Bachata currently being danced and taught around the world, and which style is considered to be the “correct” style to dance.
The evolution of Bachata begun with a change in the music itself, let’s look the past few decades… In the early 90’s, Luis Vargas and Antony Santos, both from the Dominican Republic, started to popularize Bachata to the Caribbean market. These guys decided to include the use of electric guitars, something that was not done before. In 1992, Dominican born singer Juan Luis Guerra won a Grammy for his album “Bachata Rosa”, his Bachatas blended the traditional romantic Bachata sounds with Bolero. The popularity of his music helped raise the profile of Bachata music throughout the world. When Aventura was formed in New York in 1994, they started blending rnb, hip hop and reggaeton tunes to the Bachata rhythm. This new rnb/hip hop infused Bachata was, and still is, a major factor in what makes Bachata music what it is today.
Notice here how the music evolved!
Similar to the music, the dance itself has evolved from its origins As the music is from the Dominican Republic, of course this is where Bachata dancing was born. As the music spread across the globe, so did the dance. Different cultures around the world have embraced Bachata and they have created their own interpretation of the dance, creating a beautiful fusion of different styles into the Bachata steps. There is no written evidence of this ‘evolution’ to date however, we can all witness the evidence ourselves when we attend dance events and even the vast amount of material on community sites such as YouTube (Keyword “Bachata dance”).
Without this evolution and the various creative interpretations from the various talented dancers and performers, Bachata would not be experiencing the growth and popularity it is today. Nowdays, there are 3 major styles of Bachata danced around the world: Dominican Style, Standard/Traditional Style (being the most popular) and the Moderna Style. I’m sure this is only the beginning, as we will see more instructors and dancers create new dance forms and new dance steps based on the basics of the Bachata steps (lately, Bachatango being a famous style in Europe).
If it is changing, it is because it’s growing and it is because it’s alive! If it’s not growing, then it’s dying. Bachata is changing, Bachata is growing, and therefore Bachata is alive!
Let’s embrace this evolution! Let’s collaborate and support all performers, dancers, instructors and promoters that want to share their love of Bachata to the world regardless of which style they teach or dance. I encourage you to try and learn all different styles of Bachata, and then, make it your own.
Bachateros from all over the world respect and are thankful to the Dominicans for creating such a beautiful dance and rhythm. I don’t think Dominicans imagined how popular Bachata was going to become. So, THANK YOU for giving Bachata to the world!
PS. If you know of more variations of Bachata, I invite you to share it with the community! The more we work together on this, the bigger Bachata will become!
Written by – Juan Ruiz. Juan is the director of Bachateros Online Magazine and a bachata instructor, pioneer of the Bachata Moderna style
Generally speaking, Bachata, as I understand it, has three types; original, traditional and modern – that’s it. No more, no less. If and when there’s new style that comes up, we call this “modern”
I have been to DR too many times and I can tell you that the original isn’t danced as much anymore. The Dominican style you see in youtube nowadays are mostly traditional, and to note, that style is now actually evolved. For example, you’d see stylist such a Troy and Jorjet and others applying turns and spins. Yes, it is evolved from the very traditional side of it, yet, it has maintained its movements and fundamentals.
I do like the “modern” in that it’s actually different from the original or traditional – bachatango, modern Australian style and others
Hi Kris, yes, Original (Dominican), Traditional and Moderna are the most common styles of Bachata, and they are very unique from each other as you can spot easily each style of dance.
I do agree that even the Dominican Bachata has evolved from what it was, now it has a blend of traditional on it as well.
That’s the beauty of the dance evolution!
But there is one thing that worries me, it is that in order to be a “style”, there has to be a set of fundamentals and techniques that can be broken down into minor details, and fundamentals that can be used and re-used through out the dance.
Some instructors call their bachata a “style” only because they add shoulder shimmies, bum shaking, etc. This is a flavour of bachata, not a style in itself.
Thanks Juan. A very well written piece.
I, for one, can eat, drink, sleep, breathe, dance bachata all day long. Love the music, ADDICTED to the dance. I’m soooo glad i discovered it, and primarily because of your videos on YouTube 🙂 I prefer the Standard/Traditional style, but also incorporate some amount of the Modern style.
So, thank you to the Dominicans, and thank you to you and the Bachateros 🙂
JAI BACHATA !!! (long live Bachata)
btw, did you know Bachata can also be danced to popular (Indian) Bollywood / Punjabi songs/remixes, as we follow the same 4beat that Bachata music has, with a slight stress on the 4th beat.
Will try to mail you a few examples soon.
We enjoyed reading your article about the evolution of bachata. We are older members of this community, and owe a debt of gratitude to this website which has allowed us to improve our knowledge of bachata.
Even when we dance in Sydney, due to the predominance of salsa and cumbia music, we do not have a great deal of opportunity to dance to genuine bachata music. So we have learned to adapt the dance to beautiful love songs in other genres.
Therefore, like Shalini, we are not rigid about the type of music to which we dance. We have danced bachata in parks and cafes in Bali, and to Indian, Malay and Chinese music, both here and in Malaysia.
In addition, as we spend a lot of time in country NSW, we have recognised many beautiful songs from the 50s, 60s, country music and standard, which flow beautifully to the bachata dance. And the comments from those who watch us dance bachata to these genres are always positive and complimentary… “What is that beautiful dance?”
Hi Irene and Colin, thanks for the link you send us, very nice indeed we are blessed to know you both, and love seeing you guys dance, you are very inspiring.
See you soon, Charles & Helen
to kris:
“Yes, it is evolved from the very traditional side of it, yet, it has maintained its movements and fundamentals”
Where is the movements and the fundamental in the bachata that Juan dances there is none, bachata moderna is just some steps that looks like bachata, there is no essence to his dancing.
Actually this it is incorrect to say that there are 3 styles, there are really 4 distinctive styles which have form the basis for all the evolutions that are happening today!
– Dominican, which is the Godfather of Bachata and has it distinctive footwork and bodymovement style yet also has many variations and interpretation within itself.
– Italian Style which combined romantic moves with Salsa turn patterns and is the most popular only because it appealed to Salseros and was danced more to the New Bachata music from Aventura, Toke de Keda, Juan Luis Guerra etc etc
– Spanish/Madrid (which is what Juan is choosing to call moderna but really should be called Madrid Style) which combined different crossover steps, footwork and turn patterns.
– Bachatango, which combined tango moves, style and crossover steps also the music has developed to give this style a solid foundation for it to exist.
After these people are just making up names due to the fact that they are using influences from Hip Hop, Zouk, Ballet, Contemporary but in reality they are all being applied to the 4 foundations above.
Once again people let Bachata grow and keep growing but don’t try to erase it’s history, it is the reason why it is popular today, let go of your egos and marketing and be humble enough to show respect to what made it where it is today!