Celebrating the culture
Annual salsa dance contest promotes Hispanic heritage
Photos by Krystal Powell
By Laura McFarland
skiff staff
Feet tap out a beat with the music. Hips swivel in time to the rhythm.
Fancy footwork heats up the stage.
For seven couples, it was a time to dance in the second annual Salsa Contest.
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Senior religion major Mandy Mahan and freshman music education major Daniel Hardaway dance to the sounds of salsa group DLG (Dark Latin Groove). They won the $100 prize at the salsa dance contest, sponsored by the Organization of Latin American Students on Thursday in the Student Center Lounge. |
The couples participated in the contest from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday in the Student Center Lounge. The contest, as well as two salsa lessons that were offered the previous week, was sponsored by the Organization of Latin American Students.
OLAS president Carmen Orozco-Acosta, a sophomore psychology major, said about 20 students came to the lessons.
“The lessons and the contest are a good way to reach a lot of people,” she said. “We had different people come to all three events.”
OLAS officials said they wanted to help promote awareness of Hispanic Heritage Month and highlight one part of the Latino culture through salsa dancing.
“It’s a really good thing to bring together a diverse group of people on campus,” Orozco-Acosta said. “Both dancing and music are a large part of the Latin culture, so it is a fun way to share an aspect of our culture.”
First-place winners Daniel Hardaway, a freshman music major, and Amanda Mahan, a senior religion major, each received $50 cash. Hardaway said he choreographed the dance based on his involvement in Quinciñeras, elaborate 15th birthday celebrations for women, when he was younger.
“I was nervous being on-stage at first, but after awhile, I forgot about the audience,” he said. “It was almost like dancing in a club.”
Last year’s winning couple, Maria Yabrudy, a junior economics major, and Pepe Castro, a senior marketing major, received second place this year. Their prize was a $30 gift certificate to Los Vaqueros Restaurant.
“I expected there to be some really good dancers in the competition this year and there were,” Yabrudy said. “I enjoyed it and I know that the first-place winners really deserved to win.”
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The first couple to take the stage
in the Salsa Contest was freshman biology major Abram Albizo and
freshman interior design major Maria Montes.
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This year, Yabrudy and Castro relied primarily on improvisation for their performance. Castro said they spent a maximum of 20 minutes practicing the night before and the day of the contest.
“We go to parties and dance together, so we know how each other moves,” Castro said. “We went in to the contest knowing we just wanted to have fun.”
Third-place finishers Tim Salas, a sophomore business major, and Maru Iabichela Chacon, a freshman business management major, said they were surprised when they won a $25 gift certificate to La Playa Maya.
“We hadn’t even entered (the competition),” Salas said. “After all the pairs were done, they called up volunteers and we just got up there.”
The pair was asked to sign up and dance before the contest took place,
but they didn’t want to practice a routine. Even though they didn’t
have a planned routine, their main goal was to get on-stage and have fun.
“I was very happy when we heard we won (third place), but the best
part was being up on-stage,” Iabichela said. “Even if we hadn’t
won, we still had a lot of fun, and that is the reason we went up there.”
Laura McFarland
ldm_77040@yahoo.com