Thinking about BOOMBAL near Ghent 23-6 August. (The lure of Belgian Mazurkas etc)
Has anyone been? Pros and Cons? Any hints for an easy time?
Well, the last two editions were amusingly muddy - so I would certainly pack your wellies just in case. But I'm rather hoping for a sunny edition. I don't know if there is any space left and how your Dutch/French is, but beforehand there are courses with various levels - some of the teachers for the advanced courses are French speaking, some are Dutch speaking you would need to check. There is also a music "stage" the week before the festival with the brilliant Wouter Vandenabeele.
There is a noise allowed camping and a quiet camping ground. I would recommend the quiet one :) but you have a five minute walk through a corn field to get there (because of the mud, it felt rather like crossing a crocodile swamp). Being Belgium, there often is no soap to wash your hands after using lavatories - which always alarms me when you think of circassian circles etc being danced
It is a friendly festival with lots of dancing - with cows looking on bemusedly next to the dancing floor. And in the evenings they have little metal campfires near the bar with little sessions happening. There is a musical instrument vestiaire where you can leave your instruments when you aren't using them.
There are several buses back to the station on Monday morning which is really useful.