My Review of Rodchata’s Dance Workshops (by V Jimenez)

Organization
The workshop, like all Salsa Extravaganza-sponsored workshops, was held at the Wyndham Resort. It’s a great hotel located in Palm Springs, with sizeable workshop rooms.

Friday – Bachata Basics
The capacity of the room was 100 people, it was small. Of course, for the organizer’s sake, I would like to see workshops be located in a bigger room. But from a purely selfish perspective, it was *amazing* to have one hour with Rodchata where he was able to make the class fun in a very crowded room. Since almost everybody taking the work shop had only been dancing for at least 1 or 4 years, he was able to teach at a basic level and explained several concepts in a fresh manner. It was at a more advance basic level than most of the workshops I’ve gotten to take. He did a great job of adjusting his teaching to the skills of the people in the room.

Rodchata also made a point of first teaching the basic steps, then adding what he called the “connection” – being one with your partner, hand placement, facial expressions, when to breathe, all the stuff that makes a partner dance look natural.

He has a cute way of speaking, ending almost every other sentence with “yes?” or “yeah?” Along with just being his own recognizable way of speaking, it also is his way of confirming that the class is keeping up with his teaching.

Saturday - Advance Workshop
Saturday workshop was fairly difficult, but good. (Well, I say that, but it could well have been for REALLY advance dancers) But it was nice to see what advance bachata workshop was all about. The workshop was done before anyone could get burnt out or bored. There was some cheer when Camille Yanantuono, who was watching the workshop, dashed to Rodchata and dance with him for a few seconds. I could tell that the advance dancers enjoyed it.

Rodchata stuck around after the workshop to videotape a segment of what he taught. He was very gracious about posing for pictures and chatting with students.

Sunday – All levels Workshop
Sunday, we covered bachata in general sense. Yet again, I was very happy for the class size and a bigger room. We were all able to dance in rotation without hitting each other. I don’t think it’s ever possible to completely avoid some mayhem when a room is overcrowded.

Rodchata taught his own preferred style of bachata dancing, which includes a little more influence drawn from the traditional as well as modern. He also includes some ways of merging certain moves that are not culturally authentic, though they are quite awesome. Rodchata, although not from a Dominican decent is extremely knowledgeable about the history and cultural context of bachata, and includes a lot of information about how to dance modern bachata without losing the traditional look.

He started the class by taking us through different basic steps concept and technique, then teaching us his new ways of feeling the music, the conga and the bass. Once we were up to speed, he taught a very nice kind of modern movements with a hint of romance and sensuality. It had a good Dominican flavor, while incorporating some fun extras like the turns, and a fun little trick where we kind of bend our knees on the third beat. I can’t describe it, but it was nice and it worked with the music. He managed it pretty well, and when the class tried it, there was a lot of giggling on the floor.

Overall Impressions
I wholeheartedly recommend taking a workshop with Rodchata. He is so down-to-earth, funny, and is obviously committed to making students feel like they come away from a workshop with as much valuable information as possible.

The influences of Dominican style and Modern are very clear in his dancing and teaching. So if you are a big fan of both styles, you will get a nice taste of it in any of his workshops. I have taken workshops with several bachata teachers in Europe and United States. While their teaching styles can be quite different, Rodchata takes a lot of history, tradition, his own style with other combinations and presents it in a much accessible workshop. He has a very rich background in Latin dancing.

He does, however, take those influences, and really makes his dance his own. The little details and nuances he teaches in his workshops are valuable for learning how to show your own personality in your dance. I think he excels at teaching the details that take technically correct movements and fill them with vibrancy and personality.