1 Value for money

• How much was the price for a “full pass” when compared to other similar festivals and did this offer value for money? Full pass super early bird was 80 Pounds, purchasable 9 months in advance which was great value for money as this is the starting price for most dance festivals.
• Did the “full pass” offer value for money when compared to the event offering as per the program/timetable. The full pass offered value for money with access to all the workshops during the day, evening social and shows. There were 4 party rooms, Salsa, Cuban, bachata and kizomba and for day workshops there were 4 rooms again (some rooms had workshops at 3 different levels) so up to a choice of 7 workshops to chose from at any one time.
• Any extra charges for “preparty” or “afterparty” and did these extra charges represent value for money? Thursday preparty entry was £10 or £15 pounds for the Workshops or free entry for the party for ABCD full holders. This seemed like a reasonable price. No afterparty was announced to my knowledge.  

Overall score for value for money is 9

 

2 Event Venue

• How was the Room temperature/air conditioning of the event venue? A Dozen air conditioning units and fans in many of the rooms to keep the rooms cool and well ventilated. (The organisers have done a lot to keep the rooms cool and having learnt from prior years when no air conditioning was available). Due to large number of attendees the bachata room and kizomba room did get very warm at the peak of the Saturday night party.
• How was the quality of flooring at the event venue? The venue’s original room flooring was suitable to dance on therefore no makeshift floor was laid. Overall very good and no complaints.
• How was the proximity to nearby hotels / shops / restaurants etc. from the event venue? The venue (Haverstock school) was about 10 mins ride by underground from the London Euston/ Kings Cross Train station (or 40 mins walking distance) and many other facilities such as supermarkets, restaurants and other hotels were within the same traveling distance so very good location in Central London.
• Extra note 1 – Many of the rooms (salsa, Cuban and bachata) had the curtains (or makeshift curtains) at the side of the room drawn to try and create a more traditional dance hall as the venue is a school building by background.
• Extra note 2 – There was a high presence of security personnel to ensure safety of the event due to the large numbers of participants expected. There were bag searches at the door with no outside food or drink allowed in the venue.
• Extra note 3 – There were several water stations located throughout the venue which was really good so participants could keep hydrated and there was a bar serving alcohol and a food stall in the venue and a chill out area for dancers to sit and relax.  

Overall score for event venue 9.5

 

3 Music quality (during the party)

• Was a Fair mix of music played of what would be expected by an “average” dancer compared to the festival theme? The festival had a range of DJs who rotated every 60 minutes so a wide range of bachata would be played over the course of the weekend. A good bachata range of music was played in my opinion.
• Any significant technical issues which resulted in long periods of waiting? There were no major technical issues at the ABCD festival

Overall score for the music quality is 9.5

 

4 Workshop offerings

• Did the classes start and finish on time? Evening Workshops were started on time and finished on time. (as I didn’t attend the day workshops, I am not able to comment if the day workshops were on time).
• Did the workshops on offer match to what was advertised from the main festival poster? Yes, in my opinion the workshops on offer did match to what was advertised on the festival poster.
• Did the workshops on offer off a fair balance of what would have been expected from the theme of the festival? As ABCD dance festival didn’t have a particular dance theme (Salsa, Cuban, Bachata or Kizomba), there was a wide range of dance workshops at any one time with simultaneous workshops on offer all day to choose from so the offering of the event did meet the expectation of the festival.
• Were the dance instructors visible to most of the participants during the workshops? i.e. were there any raised platforms or large screens. The instructors were generally in the middle of the room, surrounded by the participants in a circle. Normally there would be 2 or 3 workshops in one room therefore there was no raised platforms, large screens or microphones. The evening workshops were very busy so you couldn’t always see the instructors at times.
• Language of the workshops delivered in. All workshops were delivered in English.

Overall score for workshop offering is 9

 

5 Balanced ratios of leaders to followers at the event

• Was there a balanced ratio of leaders to followers at the festival? As the festival itself had so many participants with so many activities to choose from at any one time in several different rooms, this was hard to review and evaluate but overall, there were no major imbalances on ratio between leaders to followers.
• Were any there any monitoring of ticket sales to enable positive action (such as restricting numbers) to try and keep leaders and follower’s ratio balanced? There doesn’t appear to be any monitoring of ticket sales for leader to follower ratio. Individual evening party only tickets were only purchasable on the door. Full passes were sold out before the event started and Friday and Saturday night individual party only passes sold out midnight through the night as venue reached capacity,

Overall score for leaders to follower’s ratio is 9

 

Note smaller size festivals are especially vulnerable to large imbalances of leader to follower ratio due to the small number of participants attending compared to larger events where imbalances are not felt as significantly as extra leaders/followers are spread and distributed more evenly through the large number of attendees. 

 

6 Event Transparency

• Was all the information such as timetable/party theme advertised in a timely manner prior to the festival? Timetable and party theme nights were announced several weeks prior to the event. There was no party theme announced.
• Was there any significant omission of event information that may have changed participant’s mind had this omission of information been know sooner prior to purchasing a festival ticket? To the best of my knowledge there wasn’t any significant omission of event information that may have changed my mind about attending should this information been available at the time of purchasing the full pass.  
• Were there any “hidden charges” an average person wouldn’t have been expected to have paid based on the information available at the time of purchasing a festival ticket. There were no hidden charges to the best of my knowledge.
• Were there any advertised party rooms or advertised workshops withdrawn and did not run in accordance with the advertised festival timetable? Everything ran as per the timetable for workshops and social to the best of my knowledge.
• Were there any additional rooms party rooms or additional workshops that ran that was not listed on the advertised festival timetable. There were no additional party rooms or additional workshops that ran that was not listed on the advertised festival timetable.
• Extra note 1 – a few days prior to the festival starting, the organisers posted on the event page with a lot of useful participant information concerning the event which was really helpful to receive in advance.

Overall score for event transparency is 9.5

 

Overall average score is 9.25 ((9+9.5+9.5+9+9+9.5)/6) meaning this event ABCD (Anybody can dance 10-year anniversary) is overall an exceptional event and anything above 7.5 I would personally recommend. This would mean it’s a good event or better!

 

My Personal feedback is having ABCD (Anybody can dance festival) for the last 9 from 2015 this event has grown from strength to strength and is improving every year. In 2015 when I first attended ABCD was on 4 times a year but was only a Saturday all dayer with 2 rooms and no air conditioning. Fast forward to 9 years later to 2024 it has gradually evolved into an annual all weekender being such a large event with 4 dance rooms which means the whole of Haverstock school is hired by the organisers.

 

ABCD dance festival is probably one of the most diverse events within the Uk I have seen, hosted in the heart of Central London which also gives participants the options to choose their own accommodation nearby as well as the various restaurants and other eateries within walking distance it’s nice to be able to have that freedom of choice. Being in the capital ABCD festival also attracts dancers from all across the Uk from all dance levels from complete beginners to advance, as well as dancers from all the 4 dance styles Salsa, bachata and Kizomba and Cuban under one roof for one fun weekend which I really enjoy.

A big hand to the organiser of ABCD dance festival as they certainly do know how to organise a festival very well on such a massive scale and I can see the commitment to improving ABCD festival every year I come back to visit.