Latina Dance Project: not just salsa!

by Amanda Davis

A week of multicultural dancing will end with a grand finale with a performance by the Latina Dance Project this Sunday at 8 p.m. in Roberts theatre.

The group is composed of four Latina performers/choreographers who have been involved in a wide variety of projects, from staging productions with adolescents from migrant communities, to choreographing a production of Federico Garcia Lorca’s Blooding Wedding, to performing a one-woman show based on Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. If the varied resumes of the performers are any indication, the show promises to be anything but the standard samba, salsa and tango that have come to be associated with Latino/a dancers.

Juanita Newton ‘04, president of SOL, has been working to bring Latino/a dance to campus since last semester. After an unsuccessful attempt to bring a ballet folklorico group to campus, Newton and Shawn Womack, Dance, finally got funding from the Office of Communications and Events.

Newton is excited to finally have the group come to campus. “Having these amazing women who have traveled all around the world and have formed this Latina Dance Project group is a phenomenal thing,” she said.

One of her favorite things about the group, Newton said, is that they don’t just study flamenco. The Latina Dance Project tries to break down the idea that “Latinos or Latinas are only one specific thing and that you have to adhere to that identity,” Newton said. “It’s a really good thing to have as part of your mission statement.”

On Saturday from 2-3:15, the performers will also be hosting a workshop, called From the Cultures Within, in Roberts Theatre. According to Newton, “It’s going to be a workshop in which you’re going to be able to explore your own culture, regardless of if you’re multicultural or not.”

Community members are also invited to a SOL-sponsored dinner with the group on Saturday night at 6 p.m., location to be announced. After dinner, the group will be attending the dance troupe performance.

Newton sees both the Latina Dance Project and the recent hip hop festival as positive indicators of Grinnell’s increasing appreciation of diversity. “It’s a step in the right direction,” she said. “This campus is starting to encourage more diverse ideas and this is a way for students and the campus to show they’re encouraging that movement too.”

Get more information about the group: www.latinadanceproject.com