The 2nd Annual Bachata Festival was off to a successful start when dancers, instructors and performers began flying in from all over the world on Thursday, January 7, 2010.

But, just when you thought you knew all there was to know about a seemingly simple dance from the mountains of the Dominican Republic, the Reno Bachata Festival goes and blasts your concept clean out of the water. The bachata community that frequents these festivals are broadening their dance-minds every year that these festivals become more popular.

Workshops in Bachazouk, Salsa and Bachata Moderna Concepts kicked off this particular weekend. An Argentine tango lesson with Camille Yanantuono of San Diego, was a hit when bachateros gave their Cuban motion a break to give subtlety a try. Dips and grinding gave way to a tanguero’s graceful walk with ochos peppered throughout. When it comes to dance, this crowd loves to experiment, so Camille threw not only traditional tango orchestra music at them, but alternative music as well and they ate it up.

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Hips on Fire? The Porno Push up?

Just a few terms I learned at the 1st reno bachata international convention....

...whether you choose to tap or bump. When I first heard of the Bachata festival in Reno I was a little bit skeptical. For two reasons. After all it is a simple dance and who wants to dance Bachata for three nights in a row.