Three days of strangers holding each other only works if everyone knows where the line is, and knows what happens when someone crosses it.
You never need our permission to call the police, and we will never discourage it. If you only want someone to sit with you and no report at all, that is a complete and acceptable outcome.
A hand out, a nod, eye contact. All of it is a question, not a decision.
No reason is owed and none should be asked for. Smile, and move on.
Mid‑song, mid‑sentence, mid‑anything. No explanation needed.
Yours or somebody else's. We would rather hear it twice than not at all.
Everything below is these four sentences, written out in full.
Every room and every hour of the festival: workshops, parties, shows, the competition, the lobby, the bar and the queue outside. Everyone equally — dancers, artists, DJs, photographers, volunteers, staff and organizers. It also covers messages sent through our channels. Buying a pass means accepting it.
Bachata is a close dance. Closeness is negotiated every single time, and it is never assumed from the fact that someone said yes to the dance.
If you are not sure whether something was welcome, it was not. Ask, or leave it out.
Harassment is behaviour towards another person that is unwelcome, and that a reasonable person would find intimidating, humiliating or hostile. It does not need to be repeated, and it does not need to have been intended.
Touching without consent. Grabbing, blocking someone's way, standing too close after being asked for room.
Sexual comments and propositions. Remarks about a body. Slurs and jokes about race, religion, disability, size, age, gender or who someone loves.
Following someone around the venue. Repeated messages after being asked to stop. Waiting outside a room.
Filming or photographing someone who does not want it. Zooming in on a body. Posting a video after being asked not to.
An artist, DJ or organizer using the role to get access or a private meeting. The imbalance makes a “yes” unreliable.
Punishing, freezing out or badmouthing someone because they reported something, or backed up a report.
Intention is not the test. Impact is. “I did not mean it that way” is an explanation, sometimes an honest one, but it does not undo what happened. Stop, apologise once, leave it there.
No warning, no conversation, no refund. The pass is void, the person leaves the building, and where the law is involved we support the person affected in going to the police.
Drink at your own pace and never push a round. Illegal substances are not permitted anywhere on the premises. Being drunk excuses nothing in this document.
Do not leave them. Somewhere quiet, water, and find a team member. Nobody gets in trouble for asking help for a friend, whatever state they are in.
Ask us if you do not feel safe leaving alone at night. We call a taxi, walk you out or find someone to go with you. It is never a bother.
Held to a higher standard, not a lower one. Hands‑on correction is asked for first. Approaching a student for something private during the festival is not acceptable, however it is framed.
Attends with a parent or guardian who is present and signs at check‑in. Adults do not dance with a minor in a closed hold. Any concern goes to the safety lead as urgent.
You need no proof and it is not your job to judge. Interrupt with something ordinary, stand nearby, ask afterwards if they are alright. Then tell us. Anonymously is fine.
Photos and video have their own rules, in section 7 of the terms: what we shoot, what we do with it, and how to have something taken down.
Five ways up, and you can start at any of them.
This is not a queue and you do not have to work through it in order. Open a step to see who it reaches and how fast.
Stop the dance and walk away. You do not have to finish the song, explain yourself or be polite about it. Say “I am done, thank you” and go. If you would rather not speak, raise a hand and step back.
Head for the bar, the reception desk or the door of the room. There is always someone from the team within sight of all three.
Team members wear a marked wristband and are briefed on this document before the doors open. Tell any of them, or the hotel reception, which is staffed around the clock.
They take you somewhere quiet, stay with you if you want company, keep the other person away from you for the rest of the weekend, and write down what you tell them. Nothing further happens without your say‑so unless someone is in danger.
Blanka is independent of the organizing team and handles reports directly. In person at the festival, by email at safespace@bachataczechrepublic.com, or on Instagram at @blanquita_hu.
She answers the same day during the festival, and within two days outside it. What you tell her stays with her unless you agree otherwise, or unless a child is at risk or someone is in immediate danger.
If you are not satisfied with how a report was handled, say so — through the report form, choosing Someone from the team, or in a reply to the lead. It is passed to the organizers within two days without going through the person it concerns.
Decisions that end someone's festival or ban them from future editions are taken here, on the lead's recommendation.
Dial 112 for any emergency in any language, 158 for the Czech police, 155 for an ambulance. The hotel front desk is staffed 24 hours.
Ask us and we will make the call with you, find an interpreter, keep the other person away from you and preserve anything we hold that might matter later.
The same five stages every time, whoever the report is about.
Somewhere quiet, at your pace, with someone beside you if you want. No cross‑examination, and nobody asks what you were wearing.
Practical steps before anything is decided: the other person kept away from you, a different room, an escort out, a taxi.
Support only, a quiet word, a formal process, or the police. The one exception is danger to someone or a child involved, and we say so if it applies.
The other person hears what was reported and answers it, without learning anything that identifies you. Decided on what is more likely than not, not courtroom proof.
What was decided and what it means for you. During the festival, within hours. Afterwards, within fourteen days.
A private conversation, and a note kept for the weekend.
Keeping away from a person or a room, or losing the parties but keeping the workshops.
The pass is void and the person leaves the building. No refund.
Excluded from future editions, and shared with other festivals where safety requires it.
Where a crime may have been committed, with our full cooperation.
Anyone facing removal or a ban may appeal once, in writing to the organizers within fourteen days. It is read by someone who was not part of the original decision, and the sanction stands while it is considered. Reports are kept by the safety lead, apart from the ticketing system, and deleted after three years unless a ban is still running.
Retaliation against someone who reports, or who backs up a report, is itself a breach of this document and is treated as seriously as the original incident. That includes freezing someone out or talking about them in the community.
Report what you experienced or saw. A report that turns out to be mistaken is not a problem — people misread situations and that is human. A report invented to damage somebody is, and it is handled as a breach in its own right.
Ask before you travel, or long after. Safety goes to safespace@bachataczechrepublic.com, everything else through the contact form.
26 to 28 February 2027 · Hotel Olympik Artemis · Prague