BalDamn! 2023
After 5 years Amsterdam balboa weekend is finally back in town! With a new name, new teachers and a new venue. We are happy to introduce the incredible fast and furious feet of Andreas Olsson & Olga Marina and Gio Olla & Natalia Rueda. Be ready for inspirational and fun classes for 2 levels, a pre-party on Thursday night, and 3 parties on Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. We are really excited to be back. You too? Stay updated via this page and on the Facebook Event
When: February 2nd – 5th 2023
Venue: Kompaszaal, KNSM-laan 311, Amsterdam
REGISTRATION
Registration opens on 17 October at 16.00h. Single dancers will be placed on a waiting list if the balance between leads and follows is unequal. If you register with a partner, please register both separately.
LIMITED SPACE! AS WE HAVE EVERYTHING IN ONE VENUE, THE CLASSES ARE SUITABLE ONLY FOR A LIMITED AMOUNT OF DANCERS SO BE FAST 🙂
LEVELS & AUDITION INFO
-
- Abs beginners: We want everyone to feel welcome at BAL’DAMn and if you have never done balboa before the best way to do it is with this crash course! It includes a party pass for all the parties. Pay attention!! This crash course is at jan 29th!! The parties are during the Baldamn! weekend as mentioned in the schedule.
- Beginner/Intermediate : you can dance most basics (single time and double time basic, lollies, paddles, out & ins, throw out/come around). You would like to broaden your vocabulary and get more technical/musical about your dancing.
- Intermediate/advanced: You dance balboa regularly, you go to classes or participated in international workshops. You know your basics, can dance easily to different tempo’s, you have a pallet of steps but you like to expand your vocabulary, be more musical and refine your technical skills.
The audition will be held on Saturday at 10:30 am. Make sure you are on time.
The audition is for everyone that has registered for the intermediate/advanced level so that teachers can accommodate everybody’s needs and make the groups as balanced as possible. You have the choice to audition as a couple or (so that you stay together in one level) or to audition individually.
PRICES
-
- EARLY BIRDS FULL PASS: Euro 165 (9 hours of classes plus 4 parties Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday) – PRICE AVAILABLE ONLY UNTIL 15th of NOVEMBER 2022 (on which day the payment should have been received
- Full pass: Euro 180 (9 hours of classes plus 4 parties Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday)
- Abs beginner pass: Euro 80 ( 4 hours of classes + party pass)
- Party pass: Euro 65 (3 parties fri/sat/sun)
- Single party: Euro 25
FOOD
Our venue offers delicious food which is always praised by festival visitors! All food options are vegan, gluten free requirement can be taken into account. Dinners: Friday Shakshuka, Saturday Coconut Curry & Sunday Vegan sausage w/ potatoes salad. Lunches: Saturday Creamy lentil soup & Sunday Sandwich w/ grilled veggies and hummus.
-
- Lunch pack : Euro 18 (2X lunch sat/sun)
- Single dinner: Euro 15
- Full food package: Euro 55 (2 lunches + 3 dinners)
SCHEDULE
PARTIES
LOCATION
All the lessons and parties will be in the historic building of the Kompaszaal. This beautiful ballroom dating from 1956, was once created as the first class arrival and departure terminal for ship passengers travelling from Amsterdam overseas with the Koninklijke Nederlandse Stoom Maatschappij. Read more about its history here.
TEACHERS
Meet our superduper teacher team!
Andreas Olsson
Andreas was introduced to swing dancing in 2001. In his early career, Andreas focused on performance and competition. He was part of the Swedish National Lindy Hop team and the Stockholm based performance troop Shout n Feel it. His international teaching career started in the mid 2000´s. Since then, Andreas teaches swing dances all around the world. He often competes and was awarded first place at most prestigious international swing events. Andreas is also the reigning champion of the American Classic Balboa Championships at All Balboa Weekend together with Olga Marina.
Andreas is not only involved in the swing dance community as a dancer. He has since many years back been the competition organiser and DJ coordinator of Snowball. He is organising events and is a founder of the Bal-Love festival in Prague, Czech Republic. He is also the launching an online Balboa class system called BAL-ACADEMY, in 2020.
Before working full time with Swing dance, Andreas was working as a maritime archaeologist in Stockholm. Diving, history and archaeology is still one of his greatest interests.
Olga Marina
Olga was born into a family of teachers and since early years has been an energetic live wire – studying music, doing athletics, martial arts and gymnastics. In 2007 she was introduced to Lindy Hop and this is where the real passion story begins. She got dance hooked and started to explore more of the dance world by getting into Blues and later Balboa. She has been actively travelling the globe in pursuit of more opportunities to dance, learn and compete. Later she began to share her love for swing music and dance by teaching. Now Olga is the international balboa instructor, teaching solo and couple Balboa all over the world.
At her classes she pays a lot of attention to getting the students interested and involved by giving challenging and fun tasks, working both on technique and musicality and infecting them even more with the love of dancing. For the time being she is passionately developing a new direction of swing dance practices – iSoloBalboa – offline and online solo classes for balboa leaders and followers which aim at polishing up technique and developing creativity and musicality.
Gio Olla
Gio started dancing at the age of 10 and he never stopped. He travelled from the very beginning for Boogie Woogie competitions, later on he discovered Balboa which is now his great passion. He is originally from Italy but since 2008 he is based in Stockholm, Sweden.
Gio enjoys experimenting with new moves and stretching the borders of the dance, many people remember him for his following skills. Among his signature moves you can find développés, hip’s movements and different poses.
Gio still likes to compete, he won the first place title at All Balboa Weekend Amateur Strictly and Jack’n’Jill, Balboa on the Promenade Strictly and Strictly and Jack’n’Jill at Snowball.
In class he is precise and pedagogical; he is more a coach than a teacher. Ask him for personal feedback!
This workshop he will partner up with Natalia Rueda.
Natalia Rueda
Natalia began her career in the arts industry in Colombia, where she was born and raised. She holds 1st place titles in singing and cheerleading competitions.
After moving to Canada, she discovered Swing dancing in the spring of 2005 and immediately fell in love with Lindy Hop and Balboa. Natalia co-founded Swing Dynamite, the city’s first dedicated Swing school and performance troupe, in the autumn of 2006. At age 19, she won her first medal as a coach and choreographer, with her Solo Jazz team – The Dynamite Girls –, at the Canadian Swing Championships. Natalia is an award-winning competitor in Lindy Hop, Balboa, Jazz, Blues and West Coast Swing.
A Swing instructor of 17 years, she has taught throughout Canada, the USA, Mexico, and Western Europe. With many teaching and working partners. This workshop she will partner up with Gio Olla.
BANDS
Samengebracht door een voorliefde voor Early Jazz, is de Fried Seven een groep jonge muzikanten die opwindende, swingende muziek speelt, geïnspireerd door bands uit New Orleans en de Swing Era. De bandleden komen uit verschillende delen van Europa, met verschillende achtergronden en talen, maar zijn verenigd in hun passie voor deze muziek.
Het repertoire dat ze spelen varieert van Louis Armstrongs Hot Seven tot composities van Duke Ellington, maar ook originele arrangementen die speciaal voor deze band zijn gemaakt. Binnen dit gemengde programma mixt de band ensemblespel met geïmproviseerde solo’s waarin de unieke stem van elk lid de kans krijgt om te schitteren. De Fried Seven hebben opgetreden op het Grachtenfestival 2021 en op het Jazzfestival Heerde, het Breda Jazz Festival, Jazz in Duketown en het Enkhuizen Jazz Festival. Zij wonnen in 2022 de Juryprijs van de Karel van Eerd Prijs.
Duved Dunayevsky, Sam Ghezzi and gang
Duved Dunayevsky is a Paris-based guitarist, composer and band leader.
He is recognized by many as the foremost interpreter of Django Reinhardt’s 1930s guitar style.
Samule Ghezzi is the iconic Italian singer and multi-instrumentalist of the Amsterdam based bands The Roaring Cats and The Hi-Stakes.
Duved and Sam will bring together an occasional band of amazing musicians that make you wanna dance till you drop.
ACCOMODATION
Since we are just a small team organizing this special weekend, we don’t offer hosting. But do feel free to ask and offer hosting on the Facebook event page. And dear Amsterdam dancers, if you have room for some cool & sophisticated dancers please say so too, you can add to all the magic and enjoy some good company and eternal gratitude!
Amsterdam is a very popular city, so reserving a hotel should be done well in advance. Prices are much cheaper outside the city center.
We recommend StayOkay OOST Hostel (20 min walk from our venue, 10 bike ride), and we managed to provide our participants a DISCOUNT on booking that hostel! You can use the KZHOUSING keyword and get 10% off the price! If you already booked the accommodation, you can still re-book and use the code! Also lots of places available through AirBnB.
TRANSPORT
Public transportation
All venues are reachable by public transportation, check 9292.nl for details.
Car
Parking in Amsterdam City Center is all awfully expensive, prices differ per neighbourhood and time, check parkeren in Amsterdam. Parking in the neighbourhood of the venue costs EUR 4.50 an hour, but you can also buy a day ticket, so please check the options.
Bicycle
Rental bikes are everywhere in the city, see for example A-bike