So I have always wanted to visit Lithuania as I have heard so many good things about the country as well as the dance scene, so I went to the Elegancia world dance congress 14th April to 17th April 2023 in Vilnius in Lithuania.

This is how well Dance Elegancia festival did based on my new festival review criteria

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? The festival pass I purchased was $130 or approx £100. This represented a good value for money price when compared to other similar 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 when compared to the event offering as per the program/timetable as all workshops available were available with some great international artists.

 

• Any extra charges for “preparty” or “afterparty” and did these extra charges represent value for money? There were no extra charges.

Overall value for moneys scores 8

 

2 Event Venue

• How was the Room temperature/air conditioning of the event venue? Air conditioned in all rooms giving good temperature for a dance event
• How was the quality of flooring at the event venue? Could be better, strips of laminated flooring used in the main room which overtime holes began to appear after dancing on the floor for long periods. Credit to the organisers for fixing/putting back the flooring after the Saturday night party to reduce the large gaps

 

• How was the proximity to nearby hotels / shops / restaurants etc. from the event venue? The event venue was the Radison Blu hotel which has fantastic facilities and is only 5 min walk to nearly shops and restaurants. Other hotels are also within walking distance of the Radison Blu making this a great location for the festival.

 

Overall value for moneys scores 7.5

 

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? Friday and Saturday party night music was very good by the international Dj’s playing a fair mix of bachata themed music. Sunday was a poor night as the the bachata played on Sunday night was to Dominican bias and didn’t represent a fair mix of the bachata themed music.

 

• Any significant technical issues which resulted in long periods of waiting? Sunday evening just before the party finished significant technical issues which resulted in long periods of waiting and dancers leaving the dancefloor.

Overall value for Music quality score 5

 

4 Workshop offerings

• Did the workshops start and finish on time? Workshops were running 30-40 minutes late regularly which had a roll on effect through the day.

 

• 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 Dance Eleganica being a slightly more bachata themed festival then salsa/kizomba, the majority of 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. Instructors were on a raised platform with microphones so we could see and hear them perfectly with the front line sitting down at times so people at the back could see the instructors.

 

• Language of the workshops delivered in? most of the workshops were delivered in English being the default international language.

 

5 Balanced ratio of leaders to followers at the event

• Was there a balanced ratio of leaders to followers at the festival? Significant number of followers without leaders during most of the workshops during the event and during the Friday and Saturday evening party. Sunday evening party had a balanced ratio of 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? No evidence of ticket Sales monitoring at any point leading to large imbalance of leaders/followers.

 

Overall score for balanced ratio of leaders to followers at the event ratio is 3

 

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? Yes, timetable information and event program and party theme nights issued in a timely manner prior to the event.
• 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? Only information omitted was the finishing times of the 3 party nights which could be classed as significant since participants may need to plan how to get home etc.

 

• 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 payable at the festival

 

• Were there any parts of the festival that didn’t take place but was advertised to take place as per the timetable/ festival program. Sunday party night was extended from 3am to 3.30am which was announced at the last minute at 2.55am.

 

• Were there any advertised party rooms or advertised workshops withdrawn and did not run in accordance with the advertised festival timetable? All festival workshops ran as per the timetable, on Sunday evening party the 100% salsa and 100% bachata rooms were withdrawn.
• Were there any additional rooms party rooms or additional workshops that ran that was not listed on the advertised festival timetable. Additional 50 50 salsa/bachata party room on Sunday night was introduced and not listed on the festival timetable. There were no additional workshops that ran, not listed on the festival timetable

 

• Were there any parts of the festival (other than workshops and evening parties) that didn’t take place but was advertised to take place as per the timetable/ festival program. No other parts of the festival ran that was not listed on the festival timetable.

 

Overall average score is 6.25 ((8+7.5+5+8+3+6)/6) meaning this event Dance Elegancia is overall a Average event based on my above score on the six different criteria I have scored it with the music quality and balance of leaders to follower ratio being significant factors and areas to improve for future years.

on a personal note, I have somewhat, very mixed thoughts of the event. The event started so well on Friday evening and was also really good on Saturday but on Sunday evening it was a disappointment and I have seen so many good things which were done well and some minor points which could have been improved on.

Good things about the event

1 Good line up of international bachata and kizomba artists teaching at the festival.

2 The event venue, at the Raddison Blu hotel was a great venue offering a comfortable environment for the event including air conditioning keeping the rooms at a good temperature for dancers to dance comftably.

3 The location of the event was also chosen really well held in the heart of Vilnius offering easy public transport access to and from the town centre and only 30 minute ride on the bus to and from the Airport. There was also very good facilities nearby such as shops, restaurants in shopping mall just adjacent to the venue hotel so it was easy to buy food and drink from the supermarket dancers needed as well as a place to have lunch/tea in-between the workshops so was really convenient.

4 Friday and Saturday night 3 room party offering Bachata in the main room with Kizomba and salsa in the other 2 rooms offering a choice of 3 party rooms.

5 The Dj controlling the bachata room on Friday and Saturday night did a very, very good job with the music playing a broad range of bachata tracks that kept most of the dancers happy with no bachata tracks either Dominican extreme and at the same time not to sensual extreme either which is very good as most dancers felt comftable to this including myself.

6 The Vibe on Friday and Saturday night at the evening party was really good making it the perfect party atmosphere any dancer could ask for at a dance festival.

7 Registration/collection of wristbands was done in a timely order and effective (when i came to collect my wristband on Friday evening) and didn’t have to wait more then a few minutes.

8 There was a free cloakroom for coats and bags to use free of charge (something you don’t see in many festivals).

9 There was a raised platform for the instructors to teach from at the front of the room making it easier for participants to see the instructors given the class size was so big it wasn’t feasible to teach in the form of a traditional circles.

The points which could have been improved on are as follows

1 Better control and balance on leaders/followers. Although it was to my advantage as there were alot more followers on this occasion, the organisers should do more to monitor ticket sales and restrict as necessary should there be a large imbalance of leaders to followers. Every time I looked over my shoulder all I saw was a line of followers on all sides of the dancefloor Friday and Saturday night. (When I went to Antalya festival in January 2023 it was the exact opposite as there were to many leaders on all sides of the dancefloor, so I know the feeling).

2 Laminated flooring doesn’t really work as a dancefloor. By Saturday afternoon it became very apparent that cracks were being to form all across the entire dancefloor with the laminated flooring beginning to move to show cracks. Every so often, when I was dancing during the workshops and evening, my shoe was regularly catching the dancefloor and I was always looking for the holes to try and avoid. Credit is due to the organisers for trying fix the floor and reduce the gaps and holes in the floor after the main party and by Sunday morning with the gaps reduced. If using laminated flooring, this isn’t as good as the traditional floor plating we use in the UK and will require very regular maintenance if using laminated flooring since the edges aren’t as secure.

3 Workshops during the Saturday lasted over a long period 11am til 11.30pm with a 60 minute lunch break at 2pm and 90 minute dinner break at 8pm. I know most people think I am a machine when it comes to bachata but not even I can do workshops for such a long time in one day. Workshops should finish by 8pm in time for dinner and have a longer dinner break like 180 minutes to allow dancers to prepare for the evening party. By the time the last Saturday workshop had finished it was 11.45pm and the party started just after midnight. Wouldn’t it make sense to finish the workshops earlier say 7pm and start the party say at 10pm?

4 The 3rd room which was the kizomba room for the evening party could have been used as room 3 for day workshops to allow a better offering a choice of 3 workshops rather then two choices.

5 According to the Sunday evening timetable it was advertised as a 3 room party from 10pm til whenever. In reality it was 2 rooms, Kizomba and a mixed salsa/bachata room which was a disappointment since we had lost the 100% bachata room. On average music policy was 4 bachatas 2 salsa on rotation.

6 Lack of transparency on party finish times could be improved by publishing finish times to help dancers plan and prepare. Surely when you hire the venue you must know the timeframe you have hired the venue for to factor in a finish time. To finish the party early or to even add 30 minutes on at the end as a surprise can backfire as dancers have already planned to leave at a certain time since they weren’t provided a finish time in advance and now need to decide if its worth it to change plans to leave later.

7 If you are announcing this is going to be the last song, play a last song in a timely manner and don’t take to long and get into a debate deciding what track to play.

8 On the last song of the night, Don’t start playing a bit of every song each for 10 seconds (salsa, Dominican Bachata, reggaton etc) . This caused a constant stop /start effect with the music on the last song. As dancers we feel we are being messed about / teased like this as it feels deliberate, and the last song should be one to remember in a good way, and not the last thing how we would like to remember the festival in a bad way. Half the dancers on the dancefloor walked off as they were waiting to long for the last song to come .

Overall as there have been both positive and negatives of the festival it has still been a good experience overall dancing at my 1st festival in Lithuania and I do hope to visit again to the Vilnius bachata festival in September 2024.

It was also announced Dance Elegancia World Dance Congress”, would be renamed as “Dinastia World Dance Congress” from 2024 onwards with next years event scheduled to be on Friday 15th March 2024 to Sunday 17th March 2024.