We were all packed up and ready to go. Excited to finally take classes with Cornel & Rithika from India and to finally take classes again with Luis & Andrea from Spain. I was waiting at home after a long day, waiting for Philipp to get back from work when I got the message: "Bachaakizzz might be cancelled, more information at 5:30 pm". My heart rate picked up, "what ?! why ?!".
And so there we were, at 5:30 pm, sitting with one of our friends who was supposed to be carpooling to Stuttgart with us, as we got the message: "BachaaKizzz has been cancelled". We were shocked. Imran, Naida and the rest of the team had been working so hard for so many months, years even. They had literally thought of EVERYTHING. And still, the city officials found a weak link in the event: the event had apparently failed to comply with hygiene rules.
The rules for Dance Events in Baden-Würtemmberg, Germany are kind of strange. Your allowed to dance without a mask, but as soon as you leave the dance floor/order drinks at the bar etc, you must wear your mask. We had been to events in the state of Baden-Würtemmberg and had realised ourselves that these rules are not all that simple to respect. You dance, sweat, then put your mask on. You pull your mask down for a minute near a window trying to dry your face, maybe forget to pull it up straight away after drinking a bottle of water... and it seems that exactly this is what led to the event being cancelled.
It appears as though the city had sent some police to check the compliance with these hygiene standards at the festivals opening night and had caught some attendees not wearing a mask outside of the dance floor. Without a warning, the event was cancelled the very next day.
We still have trouble believing it. Not just because we were looking forward to it, but because it just seems so unfair. We are devastated for the organisers and don't want to imagine how many nerves this has cost them, not to mention the financial burden, which is surely huge. We truly hope that this was not the end for Bachaakizzz and that they will return stronger next year, when hopefully all these shitty hygiene rules will be ancient history and we can finally dance, party and enjoy without constraints!
So please, if you had a ticket, hold onto it for next year! Lets come together, support each other and enjoy the sensation together in 2023!!
