WA hosts a multitude of different events that showcase a variety of cultures such as Chaat Masala and the Lunar New Year Celebration. However, not many festivities have been representative of Hispanic culture. With the hard work of five students and two advisors, WA successfully hosted its first ever Salsa Night to change that fact.
Salsa Night took place on Friday, May 30 in WA’s cafeteria and featured a range of activities that highlighted the Hispanic community. Although the main event of the night was learning traditional Hispanic dances, this was not the only activity offered to keep attendees entertained. The organizers also worked hard to provide snacks, a photo booth, and games such as Hispanic Bingo and dominoes.
Senior Lara Rodriguez, the primary organizer of Salsa Night, began developing the idea last year after the conclusion of Advanced Placement (AP) tests left her as the only junior in her AP Spanish class.
As soon as her idea gained traction, there was no stopping it. Rodriguez’s senior year began, and so did her arduous search for volunteers and advisors to help her achieve her goal. Rodriguez teamed up with World Language Curriculum Coordinator Stephanie Grabowski-Devlin and Spanish teacher Beth Beauchesne, while also recruiting other volunteers to help organize the event. Together, they formed a planning committee to collaborate with WA’s deans and administrators to get approval and funding, and to bring the event together.
“I wanted to bring some recognition and understanding to Latin American culture […], especially in a town where there’s not a huge Latin American population,” Rodriguez said. “I saw the success of events like Darba, and I loved being able to participate and learn about South Asian culture, so I thought I could do the same.”
As for the event itself, there were many different aspects that made it all come together and provided the attendees with constant entertainment. There were snacks, a raffle, and games, but the main activity of the night was the instructor-led dance. Rodriguez’s older sister, Jazmin Rodriguez, led everyone through the basic steps of salsa, bachata, and merengue which are three popular Hispanic dance styles.
The night also featured music from the WA Salsa Band. Rodriguez helped to form the salsa band during her time at WA, and one of her main motivators to create this event was to set up an environment for the Salsa Band to show off their work. Although the band was only able to play for a portion of the event, according to Rodriguez, in the future, the organizers would love to see them play for the entirety of the event.
One of the most unique aspects of the night was the stall of Guatemalan vendors Fern Remedi-Brown and Ginny Remedi who were selling Hispanic-style embellishments. These items included garments, jewelry, and accessories such as bags and hair scrunchies with traditional Guatemalan prints. Remedi-Brown and Remedi work with the organization A Thread of Hope Guatemalan Fair Trade to help support small artists in Guatemala by transporting their items and selling them in the United States.
Despite their hard work, the organizers were uncertain of how many people would show up in support of the event, but to their surprise, the turnout was even better than they expected.
“I don’t usually consider myself a pessimist, but I was really preparing myself for the worst, so to see it all come together like this is really amazing,” junior organizer Angel Matos Vega said.
Although most of the organizers were seniors and will be graduating this year, Matos Vega is planning to continue this event as his capstone project next year, and to develop it even further. The main improvement the organizers are hoping to carry out next year is to be able to purchase catering and provide meals to attendees. This year, it was not feasible because too few meal tickets were purchased, resulting in refunds and only small snacks being provided.
Aside from that, the planning committee and WA Salsa Band hope to continue spreading awareness of Hispanic culture to help the people around them learn, and allow people to have a fun time while doing so.
“We’ve had so many people help us out and I’m so appreciative to them,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve all put in so much time and effort to this and have done so much, so it’s just so nice to finally actually see it happen and turn out so nice.”
