Munich Bachata Fest 2026
Pros:
MC was great, super funny and involved everyone. Music slowly became better selected and a good mix of new and old hits (besides DJ Tagada at the Sunday social/party.). The concert was so much fun and I love how people were given the chance to dance on stage (even salsa) so well done for that!
Cons:
The worst international festival I've been to (not saying it's bad, but all the other ones are way better). Finished the social a whole 2hr before the promised time, wasn't clear why, there were no apologies on social media. The venue was in a totally different location which wasn't advertised well enough. A lot of dancers in Germany are clicky, even though not very good, but still picky. Music wasn't diverse enough initially.
The whole cup idea just added complexity and annoyance since people would have to exit the hall every time they'd like to rehydrate. Would have been much easier to let them carry water in their bags, which are allowed inside (like in virtually any other well organised festival).
If you're going to have 2 different bachata rooms at least give them both a theme instead of mixing random styles in both so then people don't know what to expect. Not to mention, you end up hearing the same songs multiple times a night as different DJs play them and for them is not easy to know what DJs from both halls have played as the theme is all generic, there's no clear separation of what kind of bachata would be played between the 2 dance floors. In the social there wasn't a single Dominican song in the social (even Bachata Sensual World Congress played some Dominican songs even though their festival specialises in sensual bachata).
Why did you mix pros and amateurs in the J&J? That's clearly unfair and biased towards the pros (all other festivals separated them). Just because some competitions are mixed within West Coast Swing and Zouk doesn't make it okay to do so in bachata, which we shouldn't forget orginates from the Dominican Republic. What was the point of rotating multiple times and changing spots? This was all a waste of time and the 2 heat had to wait too long and get cold. It finished a whole hour late, not a problem but try to anticipate this and give yourselves a buffer period. One of the judges told someone who was clearly one of the best dancers that he didn't go through to the final because they favour 'bachazouk' and 'bachata influence' moves, are they judging for bachata or for zouk, what is happening?
Main dance floor had a hole/dent in it, not sure if that was ever addressed.
Not fair for cups with names on to get thrown away instead leaving them or storing them away for people, but promising them they can get new ones and then only offering used ones wasn't particularly nice.
