Q: Do I need any dancing experience to join your classes?

A: Not at all! Our beginner course is thoughtfully designed to welcome new people to the world of bachata and dance in general. At the same time, our beginner course is also suitable for dancers with some bachata experience and looking for a more systematic approach to their dance journey.

For our open level courses some prior experience is recommended, but newer dancers are also welcome to challenge themselves. We’ll do our best to adapt to the group while still keeping the designed structure. Please check out our class descriptions for more details.

Q: Do I need to bring a partner, or can I come alone?

A: You don’t need to bring a partner. Come as you are, solo, with a friend, the gang, or even with your grandma. Everyone is welcome! We’ll be rotating partners throughout the class, so it’s a great chance to meet new people and enjoy the dance.

Q: Can we join as a couple, and only dance with each other?

A: We usually rotate partners in class, because you always learn different things from dancing with different partners, and you get to know many new people. However, we completely understand if you prefer to dance only with your own partner when trying out bachata for the first time. The most important thing to us is that you can explore dance and feel comfortable! Just let us know, and we’ll make sure to accommodate you as a fixed couple.

Q: Does the leader have to be a man and the follower a woman?

A: Nope! We actually encourage all dancers to try switching roles. It helps you understand the other perspective, improves your leading and following skills, and it makes you a better dancer overall. Nowadays many good dancers can do seamless role rotation back and forth throughout a dance as part of the improvisation and non verbal dancing communication. Think of it as the children's game “Follow the leader”, that’s basically what it is.
If you have some bachata experience and want to explore the opposite role in a structured way from the beginning, take this is as your sign!

Q: I’ve danced some bachata and taken a few courses at different places. Should I join your beginner course or the open level courses?

A: Our beginner course has a unique, well-structured curriculum, so even if you’ve danced some bachata before, you’ll likely learn a lot and get a solid foundation to start systemizing your skills and your further learning process.

Our open level courses, led by our amazing international guest instructor Jeremy, are designed as focused 5-week crash courses on specific topics that will not only strengthen a specific style or part of the dance, but make you a better and more confident dancer overall.

You’re welcome to join whichever courses interest you the most, or get a full pass to attend all the courses as we know many people will do. With a full pass you’ll get access to more dancing on a weekly basis right in Oslo at a lower price than ever before, instead of having to travel to multiple bachata festivals abroad.

Jeremy will only be in Oslo for a limited time, so we highly recommend making the most of this precious opportunity and joining as many of the courses as you can.

For all his partner work, Jeremy will be dancing with Natalia, internationally recognized for her technical precision, playful musicality, and unique styling. With our other main instructor Martin also present, you’ll benefit from feedback and insights from not one, not two, but three dedicated instructors throughout the open level courses.

Q: Why should I become a Factory member?

A: As a non-profit organization (ideell forening), we’re truly built by and for the community. By becoming a member, you not only support the safe and growing dance environment we create together, but also gain access to the best discounts and exclusive benefits. Learn more on our membership page!

Q: what’s the difference between a class, course and workshop?

A: The way we use these words, a class is just a single regular session, usually lasting 55–85 minutes.
A course is a series of classes, typically one class per week over 5 weeks.
A workshop is something extraordinary outside our regular schedule, like a weekend workshop for example.

Q: what’s the concept of the factory practice zone on monday evenings?

A: Our Practice zone is an open, welcoming space where you can practice techniques, moves, or any topics at your own pace. You're free to take breaks, chat, or repeat things mid-song as much as you want. It’s a low-pressure environment, perfect for practice, reviewing, or even challenging yourself to dance full songs if you feel like it. This is your space. We’ll play somewhat slower bachata songs selected straight from our Spotify bachata banger list, and we’ll keep the volume low enough to make it easy to talk while the music is playing.

Q: what’s a “social”?

A: In a social dance event, or a “social” as most bachateros call it, the focus is simply on dancing to music with others. Unlike the Practice zone, it’s not very common to stop mid-song to discuss or break down moves, unless you and your partner both agree on having more of a “practice approach”. But still, you should always do what you feel like, since dancing should come from your heart, as long as you’re respecting everyone else around you.

Q: What kind of clothes should i wear?

A: Anything that you’re comfortable moving in! Maybe avoid your most rigid, tight, unstretchy jeans. Usually people wears more flexible pants, loose pants, baggy pants, jogging pants or shorts. Some girls prefer to wear dance or fitness tights, and some kind of dance or fitness top, but anything that lets you move freely works great!

Q: there are several dance schools in oslo already, is there a need for another one?

A: Actually, our intention has never been to create just another dance school. What we’re building is more of a platform, a space, where dancers can come together, collaborate, and easily bring new ideas to life. The existing schools in Oslo are already doing great work, and we don’t aim to duplicate that. Instead, we want to complement what’s already out there by offering something a bit different. Our hope is to create space for collaboration, exchange, and new ideas that strengthen the community as a whole.

As a dancer, you're welcome to join our classes while also attending others elsewhere, we genuinely encourage everyone to do so, as we believe that learning from a variety of places helps you grow in different ways. We’re also offering instructors from different schools a shared space to develop together, something many have been asking for.

And last but not least, we offer beginner classes with the goal of reaching new groups, people who might not otherwise take the leap into dancing. The bachata scene in Oslo is already well established, but we believe it has the potential to grow into something much bigger, which would be beneficial and enriching for everyone.

Q: MY NORWEGIAN (OR MY ENGLISH) IS NOT SO GOOD, WHAT LANGUAGE DO YOU SPEAK IN CLASS?

A: While all our instructors speaks English, Martin, Natalia & Katrine also speaks Norwegian, Martin speaks Swedish, Natalia speaks Polish, and Katrine speaks Spanish. This means that we’ll be able to accomodate you in English, Norwegian, Swedish and Polish in 100% of our classes, as well as Spanish in many of our classes.
Welcome! Velkommen! Välkommen! Witamy! ¡Bienvenidos!

Q: I have ANOTHER question, Where can I CONTACT you?

A: Feel free to email us at bachatafactoryoslo@gmail.com or send us a message on Instagram! We’ll keep updating this page with more FAQs along the way.