I recently attended the New Zealand Bachata Festival 2012 last weekend. I was invited as a Bachata instructor, DJ and a performer. I knew it was going to be a great and busy weekend, and I was right! The weekend rocked and the Festival was a success!

It was the first time that New Zealand was hosting a Bachata Festival. They had Bachata weekends before (The first time I went to NZ to teach Bachata was in 2009) but this time, the organizers (Nirico Mambo and Petera Hudson with the help of Nestor Manuelian) decided to invite various artists and teams from Australia and USA to be part of this event.

I loved the energy and the vibe created by the Festival. New Zealanders or Kiwis as some people would say, are very, very friendly. A lot of my guys said that Kiwis like the very close-hold Bachata too! – So they were very happy. The quality of the workshops was excellent, and the parties were phenomenal! I can confidently say that Kiwis love Bachata and they want more!

I had the privilege to collaborate with two amazing dancers during the Festival. Elli Torres, from Brisbane Australia helped me to teach the 2 Bachata Moderna workshops; and the very popular Serena Cuevas joined me to do a Bachata demo on Saturday night. I thank them both for working with me during the weekend!

Now that the festival is over, I’m back in Sydney with great memories from the NZ Bachata Festival. I highly recommend to anyone to attend the event and I look forward on returning to the event the following years to come!

-Juan

Enjoy the footage of the workshops and the demo I did during the Festival.