I Love Bachata

On Sat 7th and Sun 8th June 08, we decided to host a Bachata Weekender with Sagi from Salsasuave and our mission was Freedom, creative Freedom in dance!

We arrived on Friday 6th and Sagi had organised a lovely meal and told us to get ready to go out dancing to meet the local Salseros/as.

We arrived at Cuba Noche at 10pm and we were welcomed by the local DJ Orlando. We had a few dances then it was time to do a Bachata demo to get the Weekend started. After was an almost perfect with no mistakes (especially from me!). So we got a nice round of applause and we thanked everyone, got changed then dance to 2am.

Saturday morning Sagi prepared a nice breakfast and we headed off to the Bootcamp local. It was a boat… yes a boat, we looked at each other in surprise. I must add it was a rare, beautiful day we the Sun beating down, quite rare for Scotland.

We entered the bowel of the boat and I started to feel sea sick, at this point of thought how will I make the weekend with feeling nausea. The students arrived eagerly prepared to learn lots about Bachata. So we began the first 6 hours of the Bootcamp and surprisingly we had so much fun and I did not feel sick at all. Wow!

Saturday Night and Sagi yet again cooked us a lovely meal before we headed off for another fun night at Cuba Noche.

Sunday was much like Saturday with lots of fun and a brilliant bunch of students to teach and entertain and No I still did not feel sick! but I must say it was such a beautiful and hot Weekend that it was a shame we were stuck for 6hours in the bowel of a boat.

Sunday Night and Sagi to took us to a lovely club called the Merlin. It had a wonderful dancefloor, we had a great night and even though we were pretty tired, the music and the atmosphere kept us going.

The weekend was greatly organised and the people were extremely friendly and warm. I must say if you haven’t been to Edinburgh you should go and visit, we spent the Monday sightseeing and it is extremely interesting to see.

Thank you Sagi and if you didn’t know Sagi will be hosting the 1st Scottish Salsa Congress on 16th - 18th Jan 09 www.scottishsalsacongress.co.uk for details

Before I tell you about the Festival, let me tell you a wonderful story full of romance and passion.

Meet Peter Holmquist, he was crazy for a girl called Christine Dottax. He wanted to find a way to impress her. So he decided to organise a Bachata Workshop so he invites an international instructor (Jorge Elizondo). By doing this it gives him the perfect excuse to ask her if she would be his partner to practise with. His plan worked and not only did she partner him but she fell in Love with him…

… 2 years later here they are organising what is to become an important benchmark in history. The 1st Bachata Festival in Gothenburg, Sweden on the 31st May - 1st June 08!

Ok so now Peter and Christine are crazy about Bachata and after having a discussion with myself they make the decision and begin organising a Festival.

So they invite Myself and partner Daniela and Rodney ‘Rodchata’ Aquino from San Francisco who partners up with Tove from Gothenburg. Then for the evening entertainment the ‘Bachata King’ and DJ Ferrer from Stockholm come onboard.

The weekend is now set and the tickets are put on sale.

So we arrive there on Thursday to get a tour of the city, Peter takes us up on a hill with a beautiful view and for a walk along the river (what a romantic guy he is!). Then take us out for a dance on a Roof top club called ‘Henriksberg’. We had a wonderful time and the great thing that the sun didn’t set til around midnite… wow and a great opportunity for Myself, Dani and Rodney to dance with the locals!

So Friday morning and Peter has organised a surprised team building day out at the ‘GÖkboet’. So he take us to battle it with some Sumo Wrestling, Bull Riding, Bungee Running and many more physical and mental activites! What a great laugh we had and me and Rodney went head to head and lucky for me I kicked his butt! hahahaha maybe next time Rochata.

OK so we had a fun day out but we were unaware of how much we will have to suffer for it. For the next few day I bodies will remind us that we are no longer spring chickens.

So poor Rodney and Tove kicked off the weekend workshops on Saturday morning, whilst I relaxed and poor Daniela had to cook Pasta and Tiramisi for 80 people, but it was worth it and our poor knackered students needed it to take the afternoon workshops with myself and Daniela.

Saturday night and the Bachata Kings have come to rock the house we some classic Bachata and Merengues and boy did we have fun! DJ Ferrer then took the decks to keep people dancing the night away and it was great to see everyone leaving with a pleasant smile on their faces.

Sunday morning myself, Daniela, Peter and Christine had to drag ourselves out to bed. We arrive to the studio to see 100 people ready to do a day full of workshops. We had so much fun teaching them that it made my weekend. Poor Rodney takes the afternoon session but now he was suffering from lack of sleep due to Jetlag, but he pulls off a fantastic afternoon workshop to finish it all off.

Sunday Night was quieter than Saturday but I guess that is expected especially since the Sun had decided to smile on Gothenburg all week, but never the less we had a great night and as promised Rodney got to dance with a Beautiful Swedish blonde.

I had a fantastic time and would like to thank Peter, Christine and staff, also Rodney and Tove and the 100s of Bachateros who made the whole weekend a pleasure. If you didn’t make this one, dont miss it next year!

Visit: www.bachata.se

Tony