Bachata and Flamenco are fabulous dances, and you can’t get wrong learning to dance any of them, or even better, both. However, many people confuse these two dances, so I will explain the most important differences between Bachata and Flamenco.
What is the difference between Bachata and Flamenco? The Flamenco is a solo dance characterized by percussive footwork, hand clapping, and complex hand, arm, and body movements. A guitar player and a singer usually accompany the dance. On the other hand, Bachata is a partner dance, very romantic, focusing on the hip movements and not the upper body.
Flamenco is a much older dance style than Bachata. Flamenco dates back to the 17th century, whereas, Bachata was created in the 19th century.
All types of dance reflect culture and society; as you can imagine, Bachata and Flamenco are no exception.
The art of flamenco dance is complicated to master and requires years of practice. Apart from learning complex steps and movements, the most challenging thing to understand is communicating with the singer or guitar player through gestures and looks. You must show in the possible expressive way your innermost emotions while dancing Flamenco.
On the other hand, Bachata dance is very easy to learn, and you can start dancing socially quickly after only a few dance lessons.
Bachata is more popular than Flamenco at most social events. It is tough to find Flamenco social events, whereas, Bachata social events are prevalent in most larger cities.
Further in this article, I will discuss the main differences between Flamenco and Bachata in more detail.
What Is Flamenco?
Flamenco consists of three parts:
- Song or “cante”
- dance or “baile”
- guitar playing or “guitarra”
Flamenco originates from Southern Spain but is greatly influenced by other cultures such as Cuban, Latin American, and Jewish.
Flamenco dance is known for the expressive use of arms, intensity, and rhythmic stamping of the feet. Many different Flamenco dance styles have developed over time.
The most authentic Flamenco dance style was developed in the 20th century and is danced during Gitano celebrations in Spain. The music and steps are the same as with classical Flamengo, but the arms are noticeably different, curving around the head and body rather than extending, often with a bent elbow.
Another form of Flamenco is called Flamenco “puro,” which is performance style Flamenco. In Flamenco “puro,” dancers dance solo and are based on structural improvisation signals rather than choreographed calls.
Spanish dance companies most often perform classical Flamengo, and women’s back is often held in a marked backbend. Unlike the more gitano-influenced styles, the hips have little movement, the body is tightly held, and the arms are long, like ballet dancers.
Modern Flamenco is a very technical dance style and may take years to learn correctly. Dancers must dance using prompts such as canes, shawls, fans, and castanets. The highlight of this dance style is in the hast footwork with remarkable precision.
Finally, Flamenco “nuevo” is a modernized Flamenco style mainly danced by foreigners.
Learning Flamenco requires motor skills entailing technique and separated movements (head, arms, hands, torso, waist, hips, legs, and feet), which work simultaneously with a mime language that requires artistic expression and rhythm. To better profit from Flamenco and understand it, it is essential to clarify Flamenco’s main gestures and movements.
Flamenco is also characterized by the dancer’s unique posture, flirtatious movements, sensitivity and profoundness of the actions, and rich body expressions.
There are five Flamenco dance styles:
- Tango
- Sevillanas
- Bulería
- Alegría
- Fandango
What Is Bachata?
Bachata is a beautiful and romantic dance from the Dominican Republic that originated in the early 20 century. The music is very similar to Bolero. The Bachata songs are sorrowful and all about heartbreaks, but the dance shows how we cope with heartbreaks and everything sad that love brings.
Bachata is danced with 4 step timing. You go 1,2,3, and tap, and then 5,6,7, and tap. So, dancers always tap on 4 and 8. The hips are slightly bent so the dancer can sway hips easier. The beauty of the Bachata dance is in the hip movements. In Bachata dancing, the focus is on the hip movements and not very much on the upper body.
During Bachata dance, a lead decides whether to perform an open or closed position. Bachata’s performance depends significantly on the music being played, mood, atmosphere, and interpretation.
Bachata Dance Style
- Original Dominican Bachata. The original Dominican Bachata came from the Dominican Republic in the early ’50s. Back then, Bachata was danced in a closed position only like Balero. The original Bachata is now most prevalent in Carribeans, with much faster turns and rhythm while alternating between closed and open positions.
- Traditional Bachata. The traditional style is a fundamental bachata dance style that originated in the early 90s. Traditional Bachata is danced in a closed position between partners while making soft hip movements and tap on the fourth step (1,2,3, move your hips slightly and tap).
- Modern Bachata. Modern Bachata originated in Spain in 2005. In the modern Bachata style, partners move their upper body more while emphasizing hip movements, especially female dancers. The inspiration for the modern Bachata style comes from adopting salsa turn patterns.
- Bachata Sensual. As the name of this style says, it is a very sensual dance style. As with Modern Bachata, Bachata Sensual also originates from Spain. This dance style emphasizes the music and the beat while doing circular movements and sensual body waves.
- Bachata Tango. Bachata Tango is a combination of Bachata and Tango dance styles. The hip “pop” (4th step) is used to increase sensuality, taken from Tango. It contains the traditional basic steps, but it is danced like Tango.
Final Words
Bachata and Flamenco are lovely and unique dances on their own, and they differ significantly in pace, beats, intimacy, closeness between partners, and step positions. However, these differences shouldn’t stop you from learning both dances. Once you figure out one dance, there is no reason why you shouldn’t master the second one.
Happy Dancing!
