So having been to Lyon Bachata festival 2023 here is my verdict of the festival. 

 

Overall I think the festival is a good one and although there were a few minor faults here and there that could have been better it has been a very good dance experience and I had a great time attending. 

 

For those of you who haven’t been to Lyon Bachata festival before this festival is held in a function venue just on the outskirts of Lyon and there were about 250 dancers throughout the weekend so slightly smaller then your average festival which has been running for just under 10 years. There was 2 rooms of bachata workshops during the day and in the evening 100% bachata in the main room from 10pm til 4am.

 

Good points about the festival,

 

1 Showtime on Saturday and Sunday was about 20 minutes and about 4 shows each night which is about right so participants can take a break and watch the shows but not to long so dancers become bored of a long showcase

 

2 Good range of dancers traveling from across France coming to attend Lyon bachata festival and a few international travellers too. We also had a good balance of leaders to followers too so there wasn’t a huge imbalance of either to many leaders or to many followers which made both the lessons and party evening flow smoothly as it was fairly easy to find a partner to dance and you didn’t have to wait long periods.

 

3 There was a fair mix and choice of bachata workshops on offer during the day and the workshops weren’t to crowded so you could see the instructors demonstrate the moves well.

 

4 The evening party DJs generally did a good job with the bachata music. Again there was a fair mix with the majority music played kept in the middle to keep most dancers happy. I.e the djs didn’t play anything to Dominican extreme or anything to sensual either keeping it in the middle where most dancers know how to react to the music.

 

5 the evening party/social dance time seemed to be good as the evening party started from 9pm and finished at 4am Friday and Saturday and 3.30am for Sunday with a 20-30 minute break at 11pm for the shows. This gave us a decent 6.5 hours of social dance time which seemed about right. I know some festivals start shows about 11pm and by time shows finish its 12.30pm then dancing till 6am which is about 5.5 hours social dance even though it goes on later the concept of starting early and finishing early at 4am for a earlier night makes sense to give dancers a chance to get up for the morning workshops the following day. 

 

The points which could have been better/improved on.

 

1 the lessons all kept starting late and throughout the day the lessons all ran 30 mins late. If you advertise a start time for a workshop we expect it to start on time. If there were multiple workshops with lessons starting late it would be chaos especially in a a large congress. Another thing to factor in the timetable is a 15 minute break between each lesson for dancers to move between the rooms and in case any lesson overrun extra time to do the demo. 

 

2 Most lessons with the local artists were taught in French (International artists taught in English). For myself this was a big problem as I hardly understood what was being said and having to visually see the moves without any explanation on technique I felt I didn’t get as much out of the lesson as i had missed out on the explanation of the moves and felt one step behind everybody else. If it is standard to use the native language of the country to teach the lesson in then at larger festivals such as Bachaturo in Poland why aren’t the lessons in Bachaturo delivered in Polish but English? 

 

3 Bags were searched for outside drinks and the vending machines offering cheap drinks turned off with a makeshift bar in place offering somewhat reasonably priced drinks. I get the venue may want to offer a bar offering food and drinks for participants to purchase which is fine but as dancers have paid a entry fee to attend for venue hire the festival shouldn’t we be allowed to bring our own water or for water to be provided to dancers like how it is in the UK? 

 

4 probably a limitation of the venue but there was only main bachata room to dance in and the dancefloor was very crowded at times. Although this is a bachata festival it would have been good to perhaps have a separate salsa and kizomba room but this would change the event as a new venue would need to be sourced since the venue only had 1 room with partitioned walls that could be moved to make 2 rooms at times. If the festival was to grow and offer additional salsa and kizomba workshops as well as bachata a new venue would need to be sourced. 

 

5 On Saturday evening party we experience alot of technical difficulties with the music for over 20 minutes with the music having alot of static noise and took a long time to resolve which is something i have never experience so badly before at a dance festival.

 

When I arrived at the festivsl it took me a bit of time to get into the party vibe as I knew there were so many good parties i was missing in the UK on Friday 7th April. But after a while I got into the party vibe and Saturday and Sunday were the best days. I have listed the best things about the festival and some points which the organisers could improve on for next year but overall I think the festival was fairly well organised as  had a great time and is one I would return to again and would recommend this festival to friends.

 

On a personal note what I really enjoyed about  this festival was that for the 1st time in a long time it was nice to have a friend alongside you at the festival where you danced, had dinner together and travelled to and from the event which made such a big difference as traveling to a foreign city feeling isolated to the new surrounds is one of the disadvantages when traveling alone to international festivals as there are so many challenges you face alone such as finding how to get to the venue, speaking/communicating in a new foreign language etc.

 

Staying with my friend Dominika for the weekend made such a big difference and removed the isolation and it just made life so much easier not having to worry so much about managing everything yourself. To beable to travel to this festival with Dominika who I hadn’t seen in 6 months and catch up before and after the festival since we both used to live in Leeds which is what made the weekend so fun and I have decided me and Dominika would meet up at least once a year to do a international festival together as its such a good weekend spent as I have seen for the 1st time