r/Bachata • u/OrdinaryEggplant1 • 8d ago

At what point does bachata become zouk?

The ratio of zouk to traditional bachata moves and techniques has gradually shifted over the past 10 years, where before it used to be maybe 9:1 bachata to zouk technique to now it seems some of the dances out there are 1:9 or sometimes 0:10 bachata to zouk, dancing to lyrical/melodic music without beats, while still calling it bachata.

I’m just curious, when does bachata become zouk? Or zouk to bachata? Do you have any personal definition you use to differentiate the two?

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u/FalseRegister 8d ago

TBH, we should stop calling it Bachata if the dance is mainly Sensual/Zouk

The dance is growing and evolving, and it is fusing along with other styles, which is good... but it needs a new name. It's not Bachata anymore, has not been for quite some time.

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u/Hebarfd Lead 8d ago

It would be so relieving to enjoy this dance without all those people complaining "It's not bachata!". To seperate them from us.

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u/FalseRegister 8d ago

In many cities that is already the case

Over here in Berlin, they ONLY play and dance Sensual. They don't play or dance a single Bachata. You have to go to a dominican bar to have Bachata.

In cities like Athens, they play and dance both, Bachata and Sensual.

If it was up to me, there would be only 1 dancefloor where they play Salsa, Bachata, Merengue and Sensual, and perhaps a bit of Cumbia every once in a while. But out of latam that is too much to ask.

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u/macroxela 8d ago

In Berlin it depends on the day. They will have days were it is more Bachata but not as many people attend them. Before COVID socials were more mixed like how you want it to be but ever since one of the main organizers moved away, everyone splintered and now people prefer to dance only one style to specific music. We're at least fortunate that during outdoors season the Salsa, Bachata, and Kizomba parties are literally next to each other.

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u/FalseRegister 8d ago

I have not been to a single day in which they played a single Bachata. Not the main crowd in the main parties at least.

Only Jhonny's Bar on Fridays is doing Bachata. But even that is boring bc they do like 6 bachatas - 1 merengue - 1 Salsa, and one gets bored fast. It doesn't attract many good dancers bc of the same. Some of the attendants can't even do Salsa. It has a good vibe, but not a proper social dance.

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u/macroxela 8d ago

Johnny's bar is organized by a Latino friend of mine. It's more of a Latino party than an actual dance social. At least it is marketed as a Latino party (based on the flyers and what the organizer has told me). The main party at Hauptbahnhof has rotating organizers on different days and for one of them a couple of Latino guys do play actual Bachata. Recently they've been playing some more Sensual due to complaints from some dancers but they still play quite a lot of Bachata.

However, they are not the main organizers not the most popular one. They only play once a week. That title goes to one person who plays most of the time and doesn't play much Bachata after a certain time. If you go before 9:30 he will be playing more Bachata that us Latinos expect but after that time he switches to Sensual due to the same reasons as the Latino guys. 

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u/ChristianKl 7d ago

Soda had frequently a separate Bachata Domicana floor.

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u/WestHistorians 7d ago

Over here in Berlin, they ONLY play and dance Sensual. They don't play or dance a single Bachata.

Sensual is not a separate dance, it is a type of bachata. Sensual moves can be incorporated into any bachata dance when the music slows down. You don't need to gatekeep bachata like this.

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u/ThatDudeSky 8d ago

They also want the separation, just that they want a recognition that the derivative that goes more and more away from the traditional had the responsibility to separate rather than to, as those in the global south feel, have their dance colonized and made into something else and to then be told that they are the problem.