ASC celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month (11-05-07)
Photo By Cheryl Ravens
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month in October, Adams State College presented a night of dance, music, and words.
Throughout October, the campus celebrated with variety of events including a performance by the salsa class, a poetry reading, and lectures on Hispanic culture.
The Adams State salsa class performed a dance and Dr. Juan Gonzalez, associate professor of Spanish, spoke about "The Roots of Latin Music," on Oct. 24.
The salsa class included Adams State staff, students, and faculty, and community members who performed a choreographed routine to a piece of salsa dance music.
Santiago Candelaria, the director of social dance at the Moving People Dance Theatre in Santa Fe, choreographed the dance. "The class did extremely well," Candelaria said. "They all had fun, and that is the most important part."
Catalina Bartlett, director of Student Support Services, was instrumental in organizing many of the Adams State events for Hispanic Heritage Month and teaches the salsa class. "This was an opportunity to celebrate Hispanic culture all over the world."
Dr. Randy Newell, professor of accounting, was among the performers. "Catalina has a lot of patience with the students," he said. "Santiago's talent and wisdom put it all together."
Gonzalez played music from four centuries. "I am trying to cover the history of salsa music in 40 minutes," he said. "I taught a workshop this summer on the same subject that lasted for hours."
He would play a sample of music, explain briefly the heritage and tied all the pieces together to current day salsa.
A talk about Malintzin, a controversial female archetype in Latino culture, by Sandra Santacruz, and a poetry reading by Associate Professor of English Aaron Abeyta, were also events included during Hispanic Heritage Month.
By Linda Relyea
