Barcelona Esencia Paradise Dance Congress 4^th May to 7^th May 2023

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? 50 Euros for a full pass with the Esencia discount code or 100 Euros normal price.
• Did the “full pass” offer value for money when compared to the event offering as per the program/timetable? Yes 50 Euros represented great value for money for the full pass with international artists like Marco y Sara and Pablo and Raquel teaching workshops during the weekend
• Any extra charges for “preparty” or “afterparty” and did these extra charges represent value for money? Thursday preparty was included in the full pass but the Sunday afterparty at Esencia was an extra 20 Euros (with discount code) including Worksop with Marco and Sara, Live music concert and entry to party or it was 10 Euros for party only after 11.30pm.

 

Overall score for value for money is 9.5

 

2 Event Venue

• How was the Room temperature/air conditioning of the event venue? The big main party room had air conditioning keeping the room at a nice cool temperature through the day and during the evening. The outdoor makeshift room was constructed very well but no air conditioning but had open air breeze to keep cool during the day.
• How was the quality of flooring at the event venue? Venue flooring was very good being the original laminated flooring the venue hosts, great for dancing in the event and for workshops. The outside makeshift room was very good flooring for the afternoon workshops as well.
• How was the proximity to nearby hotels / shops / restaurants etc. from the event venue? The main venue Gran Casino Costa Brava was 8-minute walking distance to the Sun village which was the other venue for the pre-party, pool party and master classes and accommodation. Overall there were other hotels, restaurants and shops all within a 5-minute walking distance so very well located.

Overall score for event venue 9

 

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? A fair mix of bachata music was played at the party nights with 1 salsa track at 5am every night and would have been in line with your average bachata dancer
• Were there any mixed rooms that was not in according with the advertised festival timetable? There was were no mixed or additional rooms which differed with the advertised festival timetable.
• Any significant technical issues which resulted in long periods of waiting? There were no significant technical issues which resulted in long periods of waiting

Overall score for the music quality is 9.5

 

4 Workshop offerings

• Did the classes start and finish on time? Workshops started and finished on time plus or minus a few minutes either side on occasions.
• Did the workshops on offer match to what was advertised from the main festival poster? Yes, the workshops on offer matched to what was advertised from the main festival poster.
• Did the workshops on offer off a fair balance of what would have been expected from the theme of the festival? With Esencia paradise being a bachata themed festival the workshops on offer was bachata and is what would have been expected by an average customer.
• Were the dance instructors visible to most of the participants during the workshops? i.e. were there any raised platforms or large screens. There were large screens but these were not in use to view instructions but used as advertisement of the festival. Instructors were on a raised platform with microphones so we could see and hear them perfectly.
• What language of the workshops delivered in? most workshops delivered in Spanish with occasional translation into English for those that didn’t understand Spanish. Few workshops taught in English as most people understood Spanish.
• Did dancers often rotate partners during the workshops? Yes, dancers rotated frequently in the lines they were in all workshops. Couples who chose not to rotate were on the outer sides of the dancefloor.

 

Overall score for workshop offering is 9.5

 

5 leaders to follower’s ratio

• How well were the leaders to follower’s ratio ticket sales managed prior to the festival? Ticket sales between leader to follower ratio managed well as workshop and party numbers hardly had any imbalance in extra leaders or followers
• Were any interventions (such as limiting numbers) to try and keep leaders and follower’s ratio even? No interventions were needed that I was aware of.

 

Overall score for leaders to follower’s ratio is 9.5

6 Event Transparency

• Did the reality of the festival match exactly to what was described as per the timetable? Nearly, all advertised workshops and parties ran as scheduled except the Sunday afternoon pool party from 12pm to 5pm which didn’t happen for unknown reasons. Saturday’s pool party started at 4pm rather than the 2pm advertised time.
• Was all the information such as timetable/party theme advertised in a timely manner prior to the festival? This was not done well as individual day timetable was advertised on Instagram page only 3 days prior to event. Individual theme nights was only advertised on arrival at the venue so most dancers were unprepared to dress for the theme nights. The overall event timetable timings contradict to the timings of the individual workshop timings on individual days.
• 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? On the individual day workshop timetable there was no mention of the workshop level being taught nor was there any mention of the type of bachata being taught which is omission of information. There was no information on the additional venue at Sun hotels for the preparty on Thursday night meaning a lot of dancers including me wrongly went to the main venue due to a lack of information on the timetable stating the correct venue not being distribution in a timely manner prior to the event.
• 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. The only extra charges were for the master classes which is expected and the Sunday evening after party at Esencia which isn’t very clear that there is an additional entrance fee for this
• Were there any parts of the festival that didn’t take place but was advertised to take place as per the timetable/ festival program. Everything ran as per the timetable except the Sunday afternoon pool party from 12pm to 5pm which didn’t happen for unknown reasons
• Overall score for event transparency is 4

 

Overall average score is 8.5 ((9.5+9+9.5+9.5+9.5+4)/6) meaning this event Barcelona Esencia Paradise Dance Congress is overall a very good/exceptional event and anything above 7.5 I would recommend that this would means it’s a good event or better!

 

My Personal feedback is this is a fantastic event and I would recommend dancers to this festival and the only thing that let the festival down was the lack of providing crucial information such as timetable of the event weekend, more information on the workshops with the level and type of workshop, as well as the different venues locations for the weekend and party theme of the nights, 1 week prior to the event son dancers have sufficient time to prepare for the weekend.