You may have taken some bachata classes already and are now feeling ready to go to your first party. But what should you wear? Ultimately you can just go with whatever you feel comfortable in, but as a beginner you may need someone to point you in the general direction. Dance style communities tend to have “trends” in what they wear, just like in fashion, so being aware of those might be helpful. Here are some tops, bottoms, and shoes that I see most often at bachata parties for women.
Tops
Women dancing bachata tend to wear small crop tops. You can go minimal and clean or you can do ruffles, colors and patterns. A good tip would be to choose a top where your armpits are not covered, so that the skin can breathe and you won’t get as sweaty (read about general hygiene tips here). Make sure you can lift your arms up in the top easily.
Pants
Bachata dancers tend to wear jeans or pants, since some sensual bachata movements require you and your partner’s knees to be between each other’s legs. This is challenging to do if you are wearing a tight long skirt or a long dress.
The pants are usually high-waisted or at least mid-waist, to compensate for the small top. Tight jeans are the most common – light wash blue jeans and white are very popular. Jeans might also be ripped, either “skinny” or “mom-jeans”.
Their love for tight clothes also means they may also show up to the party in leggings or full cat-suits. Flared leggings seem to be the latest trend.
I have also seen cargo pants trending, so if tight clothes don’t look great for your body type, you can try those.
Dresses & Skirts
You may need to dress up a little more depending on the occasion, for example when the theme of a party is “elegant” or “gala”. This is where dresses and skirts come into play. Bachateras tend to choose tighter cuts, like body-con dresses.
For ease of movement, long skirts should have a high slit on the side. Body-con dresses should also be either with a slit or simply very short.
Shoes
Lastly and most importantly – dance shoes! Your choice of footwear is very important and will dictate how comfortable you feel and how well you can dance. Years ago it used to be common to wear high heels to dance bachata (latin shoes with suede soles), but heels are being replaced with sneakers nowadays, especially white sneakers. Make sure they are specifically dance sneakers though, meaning they have a slippery enough sole for turns (you can find my review of Fuego sneakers here).
Some girls have gone for ankle boots with heels that are used by dancers of the heels style. They tend to have a stiffer sole and offer more stability, which means they can be a better choice for beginners than traditional latin shoes.
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This is what I believe bachateras commonly wear to parties based on what I have observed. Hope this helps to give you some ideas on what to wear to bachata parties as a woman.
Obviously there are a lot of Latinas in the bachata scene, so the trending fashion choices tend to be what they like to wear and what suits their body type (short & curvy). Therefore you need to use discernment – whatever is common or popular might not be suitable for your body type. Just keep in mind the nature of the dance and make sure it’s easy to move in your clothes. The most important factor is “danceability” – can you lift your arms, can you move freely, does it show sweat stains etc.
Let me know what dance style you would like to see next and if you’d be interested in a men’s edition!
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