DR4
Festival is Expanding

DR4 is growing! The biggest in the world DR3rd had 9 action packed festival&excursion days. Due to the high demand and returning customers wishes DR4 FULL festival has now 11 days. The MAIN 5 DAYS January 22-26 is still the main attraction with all the workshops, fun activities and night parties. Santo Domingo PreExtension January 17-19 adds capital highlights, unique new ideas (to be released a bit later on) and leaves spare time to do the shopping and sightseeing.

We recommend the MAIN 5 DAYS! If money and time is not an obstacle choose also the optional Catamaran Excursion, Mountain Excursion and Santo Domingo PreExtension. Most of the returning customers and far away travellers will naturally take the FULL festival.

Festival program

We will publish the detailed workshop outline closer to the festival and each participant will get a minute level program on arrival to be able to choose the favourite instructors, levels and topics. The main focus is in authentic Dominican style bachata and we will teach also merengue, tipico, mambo, palo and dembow. The confirmed Dominican instructors are Rodolfo, Fanny, Pipo, Andina, Quico, Julio and the International instructors are Diana, Alecia, Cassandra, Patrick, Polita, Lee, Kat and Bachata Ambassador. Later on we'll announce more dominican and international instructors.

You can see the preliminary day by day program in this page. Dominican artists don't commit so early, which means we are extremely proud to confirm Kiko Rodriguez, Zorro Negro and Osbi Cepeda. Later on you'll see many live more to be confirmed.

Workshops for beginners and advanced

We have workshops both for beginners and advanced attendees. Many topics are meant for everyone (all levels, like foundation, musicality, closed position dancing, merengue, tipico, mambo, palo and dembow.

Workshops are in english and spanish

Workshops will be in english and spanish, because we have attendees from both sides. Double language is naturally slower than single language and therefore we try to keep the talking short. Look and copy is always the fastest way. Part of our Dominican instructors speak fluent english and the rest will be professionally translated.

DR4 Festival Hotels

Santo Domingo accommodation is January 16-20 in Hotel Europa and Juan Dolio January 20-28 in Hotel CCC (Coral Costa Caribe). We strongly recommend to reserve the rooms as soon as possible because January is high season time, festival has already sold a lot of tickets which means the hotels will certainly be sold out too early. Hotel CCC is your only choice in Juan Dolio. In Santo Domingo you can select nearby hotels also. Before improvising ask DR4 organizer whether your accommodation plan will work, jeopardize the security or confuse the moving logistics.

Hotel CCC is the starting point

Hotel Coral Costa Caribe (CCC) in Juan Dolio is our all-inclusive Ultimate Bachata Beach Party Palace.  It has a beautiful beach, swimming pools, workshop halls, beach party area, theatre and the famous BOOM discoteca. That's more then enough for our purposes. Get ready to dance on the perfect beach and pool. At night we enjoy a bonfire on the beach to light our crazy bachata dance party.

DR4 PRE-EXTENSION IN SANTO DOMINGO

We will be in the middle of ancient historical places build by Christopher Columbus, Diego Colon and Nicolas de Ovando. The Colonial City (Zona Colonial) is declared a world heritage Site by UNESCO. Of course the Santo Domingo program leaves you time to do the sightseeing and shopping by concentrating on the night life. The short excursion to Los Tres Ojos will be a nice addition. Later on we'll introduce the big secrets, the new ideas, so unique ideas that the other festivals don't have them yet.

JAN 17
FRIDAY: Exploring the capital nightlife

On Friday we'll do an extensive BachataTour to Santo Domingo clubs.

JAN 18
SATURDAY: BachataTour Bonao

The best Bachata clubs are far away. The BachataTour BONAO will offer your the diamond level party experience with a concert a amazing dancers.

JAN 19
SUNDAY: Colonial World

Sunday afternoon short excursion to "Los Tres Ojos" is a must to see natural wonder with caves, small ponds and magical views. At night we'll go decades back in time to experience the PreBachata era.

JAN 20
MONDAY: Shopping, Moving and PreParty

Hotel CCC check-in time is 3PM which leaves you time for shopping in Santo Domingo. You shouldn't loose the DR4 PreParty with the famous Osbi cepeda and Los Carineños in the discoteca BOOM @ CCC on Monday starting from 10PM (PreParty has additional RD$200 entrance fee (4 euro, US$5).

DR4 MAIN 5 DAYS AND EXCURSIONS

Tropical beaches, excursions, catamaran and a virgin island is calling. Bring suntan lotion, sunglasses and swinsuit. Be prepared for the crazy beach parties, dancing around the bonfire and pool fun. You'll dance 12 hours daily: 4 hours workshops, 2 hours fun activies and the rest in night parties, BachataTours and concerts.

Daily timetable

Workshop hours: 10AM-12AM and 1PM-3PM
Fun activities: 4PM-6PM

JAN 21
TUESDAY: Catamaran Excursion

Dance Oriented Catamaran Excursion to Saona Island has been the favourite of all the previous attendees. The excursion starts on Tuesday at 7:30AM from the Hotel Coral Costa Caribe (CCC) in Juan Dolio. The bus takes to Bayahibe, a Catamaran to Isla Saona, dancing on Catamaran, relaxing on the beautiful beach and having lunch in Saona. Our return is by fast boat, swimming in the natural ocean pool and bus back to Hotel CCC about 6-7PM. In 2012 this excursion spontaneously transformed into the ultimate Dembow competition and AquaBachata. Catamaran Excursion is Highly Recommended. The prive US$85 includes the bus transport, catamaran, partying, food and drinks.

JAN 22
WEDNESDAY: BachataTour San Pedro

Wednesday night parties will be in several clubs of San Pedro de Macorix. We'll see Malecon, colmadon, night club and a huge dance restaurant.

JAN 23
THURSDAY: CCC, Theatre, Beach, Bonfire

Thursday night will start with presentations in the CCC theatre, dancing on the beach (Fiesta Playera), Bonfire madness and after-party in discoteca BOOM.

JAN 24
FRIDAY: BachataTour Sto Domingo

Friday night is for Kiko Rodriguez concert at the famous Home Run Sport Bar in Santo Domingo.

JAN 25
SATURDAY: BachataTour Sto Domingo

Saturday night parties will be in several clubs of Santo Domingo Barrios. The possible bachata band will be released later on.

JAN 26
SUNDAY: BachataTour to Guerra

On Sunday we go to rural Guerra village to do the legendary party with Zorro Negro live.

JAN 27
MONDAY: Mountain Excursion

Dance oriented mountain excursion to Jarabacoa jungle waterfall will be something totally new. We'll see amazing views, nature, rivers, mountains and waterfalls. We'll have many types of activities in the jungle but the most important is to have a big dance party with music, food and drinks deep in the jungle. The excursion starts on Monday at 7:30AM from the Hotel Coral Costa Caribe (CCC) in Juan Dolio and return very late at night. The price US$85 includes the transport, food and drinks.

The Concept of BachataTour™

Bachata Ambassador proudly presents the concept of BachataTour™ (BachaTour™). It's designed and trademarked by Bachata Ambassador and Ambiori Mercedes during the years 2007-2013.  BachataTour is an adventure to the best  places to dance bachata in the Dominican Republic. We know virtually all the best places, which are worth while visiting and dancing. It's extremely difficult to find excellent bachata places in Santo Domingo and tourists are systematically misdirected to wrong and even dangerous places. We will guide and secure your way to the most interesting Dominican bachata dance clubs.

We did huge amount of BachataTours in DR2nd and DR3rd. We have been in San Pedro, La Romana, Guerra, Limon and several barrios of Santo Domingo. DR4 will add some new places and different clubs in Sto Domingo. Each participant will see part of the 50 clubs we have in our list. We will never reveal the entire list, because it's our biggest business secret.

Look carefully the BachataTour videos, because they include a lot of autentic Dominican style bachata.

 

 

DR4 is a
Festival with Vacation

Party with the world's most exciting and fun instructors in a tropical bachata paradise. The DR4 combines a serious learning experiencel with an exceptional vacation. We have the best possible professional instructors to teach daily four hours workshops of authentic Dominican style bachata and the basics of the other Dominican dances Merengue, Tipico, Mambo, Palo and Dembow. In addition we have the most charming, but yet the most professional animators to lead the daily beach and pool activities. You'll laugh, learn and enjoy dancing the ParadiseBachata, OceanBachata, PoolBachata, BikiniBachata, RanchoBachata, JungleBachata, WaterfallBachata, CatamaranChata, BusChata, AirportChata, ShopChata and you name it..we are crazy enough to do it.

You'll see 12 parties within 7 days. It's possible, because BachataTour™ brings you to many party clubs in one night. We will see small, medium and large sized clubs, discotecas, night clubs, colmadon and car wash in different cities and Santo Domingo suburbs. We will see thousands of Dominicans in their dance places, which automatically means the most authentic and exotic bachata festival in the world.

AUTENTIC DOMINICAN STYLE BACHATA

DR4 is focused on authentic Dominican style bachata (=the way Dominicans dance bachata). DR4 is the only festival teaching guaranteed 100% authentic Dominican style. Naturally Dominican instructors have the best knowledge on how they themselves dance. We are not just lucky to have the best Dominican instructors, because we are actually the ones who did the hard work in creating the theories, practices and workshops of how Dominicans dance bachata.

Some people suggest that we should take international bachata, kizomba and all genres to DR festival (typically suggested by instructors who don't know authentic bachata). We are not interested in doing it, because teaching dance genres that Dominicans don't dance or hate will result unhappy parties in Dominican clubs. In addition you can certainly buy international bachata, salsa and kizomba workshops extremely cheap compared the need to buy the expensive flight. We prefer teaching the genres that culturally belong to Dominican Republic. In addition to authentic bachata we will teach merengue, tipico, mambo, palo and dembow to survive the Dominican parties.

DR4 fun activies don't have genre limits. We'll certainly dance kizomba and all the genres you want. DR4 loves all the dance genres and our diamond level instructors have a long genre list in their repertoire (authentic bachata, international bachata, Salsa On1, On2, salsa dominicana, merengue, tipico, mambo, palo, dembow, chachacha, etc.). We are happy and humble people and instead of comparing the superiority of genres we just love dancing. We don't mind if you do combinations like KizombaMerengue or SalsaBachata. However we will do our best to offer you 100% clean authentic Dominican style bachata, because that skill will make you a hero in Dominican Republic. The awareness of authentic is rapidly growing all around the world and actually it's the fastest growing dance genre right now. In DR we dance authentic and at home you can keep dancing authentic or mix it e.g. with international bachata. You'll certainly notice authentic enhancing all your dance skills including international bachata, salsa and kizomba to a new much higher level. It's a foundation for greater understanding.

Here is our Dominican instructor Rodolfo's excellent example of the autentic Dominican style bachata.

Here is an example of our Dominican instructor Ambiori dancing authentic Dominican style bachata.  This is the way they and all their friends dance.

Social, Choreo or Competition Dancing?

Dominicans dance bachata as a social dance in their clubs. Bachata choreographies and shows are extremely rare in DR, because there is just a handfull of bachata dance schools in the whole country. There are just a few bachata competitions (e.g. in Dominican TV) and just part of them are based on choreographies. The bachata clubs don't have bachata competitions and if they would have they most propably wouldn't be choreography based. As a result the authentic Dominican style bachata can be regarded as a Social Dance Only.

DR4 is focused on authentic Dominican style bachata as a Social Dance. DR3rd is the only festival in the world teaching it. However we will not limit ourselves to the Social Dance Only, because we do understand that the international participants need the skills for the international parties also. Therefore we do also highly advanced footwork, choreographies, shines and all the necessary routines to become star dancer. We are proud to be the only ones having enough knowledge on how Dominicans dance in order to make the clear distinction of what belongs to Social side, what is exaggerated (looks stupid in Dominican eyes) and what belongs to the Choreo/Show skills (=both dancers participated the same workshop).

The goal is to hear Dominicans saying "hey, they dance like us, just better" and to avoid getting qualified as "loco turista"l.

Musicality

Musicality means dancing to the music's rhythm, melody, and mood. It's the key issue in any dance and especially in the authentic Dominican style bachata. Dominicans seem to hear bachata slightly different and their stepping has logics unknown to others. Dominican bachata has On1, On2, 4 step, 3 step, double step, triple step, syncopated step and chachacha step. Dominicans always dance to the music, some perfectly but everyone at least believe following the music. Musicality is actually a highly complex set of issues. In the beat level you'll find the stepping technics and stepping to the rhythm of the instruments. The skill of hearing the measures and sections is even more valuable, because failing to hear it is the moment when Dominicans say "you can't dance" or "you are out of the rhythm". Their perception of rhythm is in higher musicality level than ours. The highest level "melody and mood" means living the moment in a deep sentimental and musical understanding. Adding the cultural customs, habits and patterns to each individual song in each different village or suburb makes the musical perfection impossible, but highly recommend way of enjoying the life learning the new way's to express yourself and to love dancing as it would be the life itself.

DR4 has invested extremely much to the musicality workshops. DR4 is the only bachata festival in the world covering all the musicality levels. All our diamond level Dominican instructors are well prepared to give you a huge amount of musicality workshops. In addition you'll be 7 days surrounded by the musicality with Dominicans. The authentic environment will fill your brains with all the musicality levels. DR4 will certainly change your way to hear and to dance to music.