DC Bachata Congress

Party from Thursday to Monday Morning at The DC Bachata Congress

2012-07-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

Help us BEAT THE Guinness Book World Record for Largest Bachata Dance!

2012-06-25T17:49:00.001-07:00

Drum Roll Please..... DRRRRRRRRR....... Saturday Aug 11th be part of History at the DC Bachata Congress as we attempt to BEAT THE Guinness Book World Record for Largest Bachata Dance! Don't Miss It! Get those passes http://www.dcbachata.com/

Traveling to DC for the Congress?

2012-06-15T18:10:00.001-07:00

Click Here For the Guide!!

Nelly Soriano @ The DC Bachata Congress

2012-06-13T18:28:00.001-07:00

Friday Aug 10th 2012 @ The DC Bachata Congress it's LADIES NIGHT!

Get your outfits ready & BUY YOUR PASSES TODAY! http://www.facebook.com/events/343972962340232/

Nelly Soriano - Hoy Lo Siento (Official Music Video)

Nelly Soriano - "Contigo Soy Feliz" Bachata

Nelly Soriano - "Me Río De Ti" Merengue

Nelly Soriano - "Desaires"

2012 DC Bachata Congress Featured Artists ...

2012-05-03T18:49:00.002-07:00

This years featured artists will be none other than Joe Veras and Bachata Heightz. They will be live in concert at this years festival. You don't want to miss these amazing Bachateros.

Joe Veras 'Vencido'

Dancers in the video: Eymar Marcano and Tessa Gonzalez will also be instructing and performing at this years Festival

Bachata Heightz

Get your tickets at DCBachata.com NOW!

Gringuito & Gata Producers of the DC Bachata Congress Interviewed with Usher & Romeo!

2012-02-24T12:11:00.002-08:00

You can't turn on a Latin radio station without hearing the Spanglish crooning of Romeo Santos, the "Bachata King" to his fans. The 30-year-old artist's smooth vocals tell stories of love and yearning in his modernized version of bachata, a sensual Dominican style that fuses R&B, hip-hop and merengue.

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Santos says the name Romeo is strictly a stage name. "I'm really shy," he says.

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Getty Images

Santos says the name Romeo is strictly a stage name. "I'm really shy," he says.

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Though Santos is well known as the frontman of popular boy-band Aventura, he's attracting a broader audience solo.

Going solo: When Santos announced his own project a couple of years ago, he was asked what he would offer as a solo artist. "I'll have an artist from the Anglo industry sing bachata (on my album). Maybe a superstar like … Usher," the Usher fan recalls saying, without thinking much of it.

MORE: The soulful music and slow dance of Bachata

A few days later, news outlets were announcing a Romeo Santos/Usher collaboration that didn't exist. Acting fast, Santos wrote a song, sent it to Usher via producer Rico Love (who has worked with both artists) and waited nervously.

"My fear was (Usher) might not be familiar with the genre, or might find it a bit corny," Santos recalls. When the call came, "(Usher's) exact words were 'This song is incredible,' " says Santos.

Ushering in hits: Santos' debut album, Formula, Vol. 1, released in November, peaked at No. 9 on Billboard's album chart and spent seven consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Latin album chart (158,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan).

The album features several Spanish artists and also Lil Wayne (on All Aboard), George Lopez (in the introduction) and, of course, Usher (on Promise). First single You went No. 1 on Mediabase's Spanish contemporary airplay chart and Promise is No. 2 and rising. Santos and Usher released a music video that has been played in heavy rotation onMTV and performed Promise at the Latin Grammys.

For that awards show performance, Usher learned how to dance the bachata, because he wanted to fully experience the genre. "(Bachata is) a cultural movement that I wanted to be associated with," Usher says. "It was a new experience for my fans as well as for (Romeo's)."

A little Spanglish:Promise is the only song Santos has recorded in both English and Spanish. "The original (Spanish version) has definitely (taken) over," even for English-speaking fans, he says.

Like Aventura's success in Italy ("Italians did not understand what I was saying, but I heard them singing word for word"), Santos hopes to be a crossover success in America, without making English versions of his other songs.

In his collaborator's opinion, Santos has what it takes to win over English-speaking fans. "If you only understand English," it's harder to enjoy a Spanish-language song, Usher acknowledges, "but when you listen to (Romeo's) music, you're not put off by it."

What's in a name? Though he was born Anthony Santos, the Latin singer goes by "Romeo" for good reason: There was already a famous bachata musician with the same name. The self-proclaimed romantic chose "Romeo" as his stage name, but says that's strictly a persona. "This guy on stage is a very flirty guy. (In reality) I'm really shy."

Lovesick lyricist: Born and raised in the Bronx, Santos listened to R&B, hip-hop and Latin music. In school, there was one particularly hard-to-get girl that he tried to win over.

"She wasn't the nicest girl. I expressed myself by writing poems and lyrics (to her)," he says. The poetry must have worked, because she's the mother of Santos' 11-year-old son. "I kind of thank her now for being so mean to me," says Santos.

Bachata breakthrough: Sensual, sexy bachata appealed to Santos, even though "the youth was not really up on this type of music" that gained popularity in the Dominican Republic in the '80s.

In 1994, the then-church singer, his cousin and two friends changed all that by starting Aventura on the streets of the Bronx, before being signed to BMG five years later. In 2010, Aventura had the top Latin tour, according to Billboard, including four sold-outMadison Square Garden performances.

The group is "on pause to do individual projects," but will reunite in a couple years, Santos promises. As a solo act, Santos just sold out his first show at Madison Square, one of three dates he's set to play there.

Small-screen star: Aside from recording music and preparing for a national tour that kicks off Feb. 11, Santos has another project in the works: a TV show that goes into production in about six months.

The singer was signed by Will Smith's production company, Overbrook Entertainment, to star in an as-yet unnamed ABC sitcom about a second-generation Dominican-American who clashes with his traditional father. It's his first acting gig, but "it's very similar to my relationship with my real father," says Santos, who has a Dominican father and Puerto Rican mother.

He's got soul: Though Romeo's voice becomes a silky falsetto on his record, that's not how it sounds in interviews. "At first, people think, 'Oh, you've got a cold,' " he says of his raspy speaking voice. "When I sing, I try to have soul, and it comes out naturally."

Under his skin: Since the early days of Aventura, Santos has been a heartthrob accustomed to girlish screams. Perhaps that's why one male fan is particularly memorable. He showed the singer the "Romeo" tattoo on his wrist and told Santos he'd been an inspiration in his life.

"I want to touch people's lives with my music and my lyrics," says Santos. "(That fan) made me feel like mission accomplished."

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The DC Bachata Congress Interviewed by USA Today about Bachata!

2012-02-24T12:09:00.002-08:00

Bachata is heavily rooted in percussion, bass, guitar and a maraca-like instrument called the güira. The music "has taken off to an unbelievable degree," says Tufts Universityprofessor Deborah Pacini Hernandez, author of Bachata: A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music.

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Usher is singing and dancing in the Latin style.

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Usher is singing and dancing in the Latin style.

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"In 1986, nobody had ever heard of (bachata) outside of the Dominican Republic," she says. Now, mainstream musician Usher is singing and dancing in the Latin style.

Initially, bachata was "the music of maids and taxi drivers," says Hernandez, but singers such as Juan Luis Guerra and Antony Santos made the rural migrant music respectable, cleaner and more appealing to women.

MORE: Aventura's Romeo Santos becomes the 'Bachata King'

In the 1990s, Romeo Santos' group, Aventura, brought the music to New York and made it hip, young, bicultural and bilingual, but still authentic. Where the classic bachata is fast and includes funny double entendres, the newer version sounds more soulful and R&B-flavored.

In the dance world, bachata has taken off. Professional bachatero Lee "El Gringuito" says attendance at his D.C-based Bachata Congress has gone from hundreds in 2009 to 5,000 last August. The dance has been modernized and fused with other styles to form variations such as the bachatango and bachazouk.

Dancing bachata is much different from the grinding dances of reggaeton or hip-hop. It's an intimate, slow chest-to-chest dance. Though Romeo Santos says he's not the best bachata dancer ("Dancing is not my thing"), Usher can bachata like a pro.

"You can't do a bachata and not know how to dance it," says Usher.

We are proud to announce our Artistic Director for the 2012 DC Bachata Congress!

2012-02-24T12:01:00.001-08:00

We are proud to announce Zeke Fabulosa Ruvalcaba will be coming back as Artistic Director of the 2012 DC Bachata Congress. Our attendees called last year's show "the best we have ever had," thanks to Zeke's innovative ideas and show selection. This year we are updating the stage to have different sets & will have an amazing theatrical production that will rival the World's most largest festivals.

Zeke will also be bringing back Bachata All Stars, Rising Stars & the San Diego team. We can't wait to see what Mr. Zeke Fabulosa Ruvalcaba has in store for DC this year! He has told me that there will be new RunWay shows that will "tear the house down." Are you guys ready for the DC Bachata Congress?

The World Bachata Champions are coming back to the DC Bachata Congress

2012-02-24T11:47:00.000-08:00

We are proud to announce the current Bachata World CHAMPIONS Christian Oviedo & Alien Ramirez will be coming back for the 4th Annual DC Bachata & International Latin Dance Festival. Alien & Christian currently hold over 10 World Championship Titles in Salsa, Bachata, Ladies Solo, Men's Solo & Cabaret. They are also two of the nicest people who literally dance with EVERYONE!

We can't wait to have them back in DC! If you missed there workshops last year, you have to catch them @ The 4th Annual DC Bachata Congress August 9-12th. http://wwwdcbachata.com