The end of 2010 is here. This is the time to look back, reflect and plan for the future. Just like in 2009, I find myself with a big smile and feeling lucky that I’ve been able to live so many wonderful experiences and memories with Bachateros.

Teaching and performing Bachata has taken me and the Bachateros team all over Australia, taking part in the numerous Australian Latin festivals (Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Darwin) and/or the Bachata dedicated events (Christchurch (NZ), Sydney). Bachateros, for the second year in a row, was part of the Reno Bachata Festival in the USA, and we were part of the first Malaysia Bachata Festival. During our International tour, we taught and performed in Hong Kong, Paris, Taichung and Tainang (Taiwan) and Singapore. Towards the end of the year, we headlined the Noumea Latino Summer Party, in sunny New Caledonia, for a week full of workshops and shows.

Mid-year, we released an updated version of the Bachateros Online Magazine to cater for the large amount of content (more than 250+ articles!) and the increasing traffic it was generating (hundreds of visits per day). With the new design, the traffic grew 100%, doubling up from last year. The Bachateros Online Magazine is definitely the most popular Bachata website in Australia, and one of the most popular Bachata websites in Turkey, USA, Italy and more. The Music Download section is a place to share the latest Bachata music, currently with 23 songs for download (for free!) with major Bachata artists contributing to this list, such as Domenic Marte, Toby Love and 4Ever, just to name a few.

Our online community has also grown strong. The Bachata Moderna page (released in June, 2010) already has more than 1000+ fans. The Bachata Moderna YouTube channel is constantly receiving awards from YouTube for the traffic generated as lots of our videos have more than 100,000+ views!! We are on Twitter, and we have close to 500 followers already!

The Bachata Moderna style is a style now recognized worldwide (there is even a description of Bachata Moderna in Wikipedia!).  Its syllabus and terminology is being used by top Bachata instructors all over the world, and now we are working together with more Bachata Moderna instructors to improve and standardize a Bachata syllabus.  3 Bachata Moderna DVDs have been released since 2009, and the demand was so strong that they have sold out many times!

So, what’s next for 2011?

  • Growing the Bachateros team
    For 2011, Bachateros is going to have 2 teams; an advanced team and a student team! We are already scheduling events and congresses for the team to perform.
  • Organising more Bachata related events in Sydney (and interstate), such as Bachata Barrio.
  • Bachata Moderna DVD Volume 4?
    Here, I’m thinking about how to use technology in a clever way…

As I said it in the 2009 review, the winner of all this hard work is BACHATA! I’m happy to see more instructors and dance schools promoting Bachata classes and organising Bachata related events. Instructors are teaching the different Bachata styles and incorporating their own interpretation of the dance as well. Bachata is definitely a recognized dance and it is here to stay.

On behalf of the team, I would like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone helping to grow Bachata in Australia, Asia and the world. A very special thank you to our students for believing in us and helping us share the passion of Bachata.

2011 is here, and it will definitely be a year to remember.