What a gorgeous backdrop for this dance! Here we have the amazing Gatica Brodin dancing with Melvin Beltran to the song Afterglow by DJ Tronky. These two make such an inspiring dance couple. When you watch them, you just hope that you would be able to dance like that! The choreography is perfection and they never miss a beat.
The dance style they are performing is bachata fusion. Bachata fusion is interesting because it has taken all of the different branches of bachata that have been made over the years and fuses them (hence the name!) into one.
More Bachata videos
The Secrets to a Show-Stopping Bachata Performance- Refined Rhythms: How Bachata Transcends Youthful Stereotypes
- Enjoy the Moment: The Case Against Filming Dance Demos
A quick reminder of some of the different bachata dance styles:
- Dominican bachata – danced in an 8-count in a square formation with a tap of the hip on the 4th beat, and can be danced open, semi-open, or closed
- Traditional bachata – a simplified version of Dominican bachata danced side-to-side rather than in a square
- Sensual bachata – uses circular movements, body waves, body isolation, and dips
- Bachata moderna – incorporates more intricate turn patterns and musicality
- Urban bachata – fuses bachata with other dance styles such as hip-hop
So bachata fusion takes all of these different styles of bachata together, creating the sorts of amazing performances that you see in this video, It is modern, fresh, and so much fun.
These two are old hands at this. Gatica has been dancing since the age of four (starting with classical ballet) and danced at the Norwegian Opera for 10 years before starting with bachata (as well as a whole host of other dance styles). She has also developed her own style of bachata – bachata nueva. Melvin is a bachata, kizomba, and salsa teacher, as well as the founder of the Urban Dance Crew dance school. So the two of them as a dance couple is a crazy amount of talent to have in one place, and this video shows it!
Thank you for taking the time to watch our today’s video! I hope you found it inspiring and helpful. If you enjoyed it, feel free to share it with friends, fellow dancers, or anyone who might love it as much as you did. Every share helps spread the joy of dance a little further.
