The Conway community kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month on Friday with a festive night full of colorful traditional outfits, intricate Mexican folkloric dance numbers and fast-paced music.
Reynolds Performance Hall hosted the youth and adult dance groups of the Chicago-based Collaborative Institute of Cultural Arts with the help of Paloma Community Services of Conway.
Francisco Yáñez, board president of Paloma Community Services and the host of the event introduced each of the six acts of CICA’s performance, speaking to the audience in both Spanish and English.
The acts, titled “Guerrero Costa Chica,” “Zacatecas,” “Huasteca Veracruzana,” “Jalisco,” “Fiesta en Sinaloa” and “Nuevo Leon,” each represented a folkloric dance home to a different Mexican state and had a different costume.
Natalia Cancino, a 15-year-old member of the youth folkloric dance group said that she started folkloric dancing in elementary school. “One of my teachers worked in this group, CICA, and she invited me and one of my other dance mates to go and see how it was, and ever since we’ve been there having fun and just growing up together and building a family and a community with all of them.”
Cancino said, “You gain so much confidence, and gain a family all at once.”
“And friendship,” added Camila Lagunes Auila, a college freshman and fellow dancer in the youth folkloric dance group.
Lagunes Auila said she had been dancing for 13 years overall and that dancing has helped her get out of her comfort zone and be more outgoing.
Lagunes Auila said that earlier in her dance career, she dedicated eight to 10 hours a week to practicing, but now she practices four to six hours a week.
Cancino said, “I mean, dancing is part of us and it really just lets us express our culture to people that maybe don’t know about it, or don’t know what folkloric is because a lot of people don’t know what folkloric is until we tell them. … So we like coming here and to other places that we can show it off and express it in our way.”
Cancino and Lagunes Auila said that the group has traveled to perform in Colorado, Arkansas, and Illinois suburbs.
Lagunes Auila said, “People might say, ‘Oh, it’s just like a little hobby.’ … I feel like for us, it’s more like a passion, like part of our identity and it’s just grown since we were little. We just want to encourage others to also do it …”
Madeline Koger, a sophomore in English who came to the performance with Cielo Cervantes, a junior psychology double major, and Laura Rivera, a junior physics major, said, “I’m new to the Spanish culture, I’m in Spanish Elementary I this semester, so this is enrichment for that. I’m getting extra credit. But I also came with Cielo and Laura, my co-workers … They invited me to come. … I really enjoyed it; it’s super cool.”
Koger said that her favorite part of the performance was during “Nuevo Leon,” when the male dancers changed into red fringed jackets.
Cervantes said, “I’m from Mexico, so I really like going to anything that’s related to it. I’ve been here for five years and this is like a way of having a taste of [Mexico] without having to go all the way over there. I think it’s just a way of connecting with it and for other people to experience it. … I just like introducing people to our things.”
Rivera added, “I’m not from Mexico but my parents are, and so it’s just a way of connecting to it here on campus.”
The CICA also performed Saturday at Festival de la Herencia Hispana hosted by Paloma Community Services at Laurel Park from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Cancino and Lagunes Auila said the CICA youth group’s next performance would be at the Cultural Center in Chicago on Sept. 15.
