I have a confession to make. I’ve never been crazy about bachata. As the world around me seems to be going through a bachata craze, I’ve been totally oblivious and almost cynical about the whole bachata congress concept. But last Thursday changed all of that for me.
After watching Metamorphoses at Zach theater with some outstanding actors and aerialists, including Stefania Tauro, I headed to Dallas club with the sole purpose of dancing my socks off till the very last song. The DJ happened to be Jason Lozada, who did a terrific job at delighting us with a mix of salsa, cha cha cha, merengue, and of course, bachata.
The first time a bachata song came up, a stranger asked me to dance. I said yes because, for one, I love dancing just about anything, but also because I know it’s hard for a guy to ask a woman he doesn’t know to dance a bachata song. There’s the closeness factor to take in to account. Will she be comfortable with my embrace? Or will she freak out? Some of my male friends have shared their frustrations when dancing with women who absolutely insist on keeping them at arm’s length during a bachata song. They confessed feeling totally turned off and even a bit rejected. But hey, what’s there to do? Not much, if you ask me. I, on the other hand, really enjoy the close embrace of bachata as long as it doesn’t get raunchy. But I also enjoy doing footwork at the rhythm of the music the way I saw dancers do it in Dominican Republic back in 2007. I was there to perform with Santo Rico at the Punta Cana Salsa congress and let me tell you, they don’t even get close when they dance bachata!
Some leaders here in Austin are really good at helping you syncopate through parts of the song. It can be truly, truly fun when that happens! So, if you’re a bachata lover, know that I’m definitely looking forward to more bachata dances this weekend 
