5, 6, 7, Salsa!

By Chelsea Wootten

Delaware Technical Community College students got the chance to shake a leg to the beat of Latin grooves as Hispanic Heritage Month continued with Salsa lessons in the dining hall on Oct. 1.

The dance instructors of the travelling dance troupe Dance Moves and Manners kicked off the event with a demonstration, followed by a video on the history of the Salsa and a lesson in the basic footwork of the dance.

Owner Yvonne Cimone, who has been dancing for about 10 years, said what she likes about the Salsa is its energy.

“It’s athletic, it’s upbeat, it’s flirtatious,” Cimone said. “So for kids, you know, it’s just fun.”

The Salsa lesson is one of seven events the Hispanic Heritage committee on campus has organized for Hispanic Heritage month. Chairperson Jose Weidner-Ahorrio said the committee found Dance Moves and Manners through resources on campus.

“We inquired with our office of Corporate Community Programs and they had the resources for the dancers, since they had already taught dance here.” The office provided the committee with contact information for Cimone for scheduling purposes.

Next year, the committee hopes to try different kinds of dance events, Weidner- Ahorrio said.

“Maybe the Tango or Merengue,”Weidner-Ahorrio said. “It all depends on what our community will decide on.”

Community interest plays a major part in the arranging and planning of events on the Owens campus. Academic counselor and head of Student Activities Dr. Denise Berry said there are several ways to determine the types of events the campus will host.

“We sometimes do surveys,” Dr. Berry said. “If we did events last year that were successful, then we might repeat those events the following year. Then, we just look online, see what other schools are doing and see if maybe that would work at our school.”

In the case of the Salsa lesson, planning started as far back as July, Dr. Berry said.

“We have a Hispanic Heritage committee, and we met and we came up with some ideas of what we wanted to do for Hispanic Heritage Month,” Dr. Berry said. “Once we figured out what we wanted to do, it was just now following up and finding out what the resources were to give the people here.”

Securing the date, finalizing the cost, and determining exactly how the event would run were also major factors in putting on the Salsa event, Dr. Berry said.

This marks the first year that Delaware Tech has celebrated Hispanic Heritage with a whole month of activities.

“We've always done something for Hispanic Heritage, but it was only just one day,” Dr. Berry said. “But now, we've been doing weekly events, and we have seven events now. We want to make students aware of the culture of Hispanics and we've spread those events over the whole month.”

Hispanic Heritage Month wrapped up with a recognition event in the dining hall.