How to start dancing bachata

Three steps to one side and a hip pop on the fourth count. Then the same thing back the other way. That is the whole bachata basic, and it is why almost everyone who dances salsa and bachata started with bachata.

The music helps. The rhythm is slow and heavily marked: where salsa makes you hunt for the one among several instruments, in a bachata the hit is right there, obvious, every four counts.

The step is not the hard part. Moving with another person is, and you do not learn that alone at home — you learn it by dancing with a lot of different people.

Classes rotate: you change partner every few minutes, so you turn up alone and dance with everybody. It is actually better that way. People who only ever practise with the same partner end up dancing well with that one person and with nobody else.

If you do come as a couple, you will still rotate. It is not an awkward social rule, it is how leading and following are actually learned.

It depends on the venue, and it is worth knowing beforehand because they are quite different. Dominican is the original: fast, full of footwork, light on figures. Modern adds turns and is what most schools teach. Sensual works body waves and a lot of contact.

In a first class all three will teach you the same basic step. The difference shows up later, and you are not choosing for life: plenty of people dance all three depending on the song and the partner.

Bachata is danced close, and sensual bachata closer still. That does not mean you have to dance closer than you want to: the distance is set by whoever wants less of it, and dancing a whole song in open position is completely normal.

If someone does not respect that, stop the dance and walk off the floor. You do not have to finish the song out of politeness, and you owe nobody an explanation.

With one class a week, a month gets you moving through the basic and a few turns without thinking too hard. Three months and you can go to a social and dance all night without having a bad time.

That is considerably faster than salsa, and it is worth saying out loud, because it explains why there are more people on the floor for bachata at almost every party.

What really speeds things up is not taking more classes. It is going to socials early, even when you only know four things. One night dancing with ten different people teaches you more than three classes.