Essay On Latino Culture

On Sunday, October 29, 2017 at 2:30 P.M. I attended Ballet Hispanico at the Detroit Opera House. Ballet Hispanico was founded in 1970 by Venezuelan born dancer, Tina Ramiez after identifying the need to provide Latino dancers with access to training and performance opportunities. Ballet Hispanico is recognized as one of the country’s top Latino dance organizations. Over the past 40+ years, it has provided dance education and outreach programs to New York communities to engage interested residents in a guided exploration of dance and Latino cultures by expanding their knowledge in aesthetic awareness, cultural appreciation, and self-expression.

A day does not go by when I do not embrace my Latino roots or the cross that hangs around my neck; however, they do not define me per se. Instead, I firmly believe that my background and religion influenced me to cultivate the values and beliefs that I hold to this day. I will not write this assignment stagnant to one identity, whether that be as a Latina or woman of God because I am more than that.

Since the beginning of time, people have been identified simply by their racial phenotype resulting in a lack of acknowledgment of subcultures. “Latinx” is used as a general classification for a group of people who encompass hundreds of cultures. Likewise, the people of the state of Durango, Mexico share similarities to other Mexicans, but are ultimately unique. I am a proud Latino, a proud Mexican-American, but more specifically, a proud Duranguense. Being a Duranguense means that I come from miles of outstretched deserts, I value friends and family over everything, and that I cannot resist letting out a cry to the sound of Mexican polkas. I find great fulfillment in this part of my identity that is often overlooked and so I celebrate it in

However, I have not always been confident in my own skin, being as my appearance clearly shows I am hispanic. My tan skin, slight accent, dark hair and eyes, shows my hispanic being on my outside. Last year, in my eleventh grade year is when I was the least confident in myself. I have always brushed off the gardener and maid jokes, but this experience impacted me. Last year when I was walking in the hall, a random boy I did not know handed me a folded up sheet of paper. When I opened it, it had the bolded, upcased letters spelling out “Trump.” At the time I took it hard. I did not know what it meant. Was it some silly prank? Was the boy telling me I was gonna get deported? My parents and I are here legally, but it still shook my character and confidence in myself and culture. For a week I felt down, there was even a family gathering that weekend, and I told myself that I did not want to go, so I sat in my room the whole time. But then I realized that this is who I am. I am cuban. I am proud of who I am and no one should be able to take that away from me. My hispanic background is not something I can hide, so I have learned to not only accept it, but to embrace it. Even though this experience made me less confident in myself then, it made me learn to love my culture so much more now. I feel as if my

capitalism, the dance expression still practiced by a boomer generation of Tejanos stands as response to the mega-marketing of continual replacement of capitalism’s postmodernity. As a Chicanoized polka, that articulates an identity discourse of racialization and class oppression, I locate él taquachito as a residual element as a resource for either an alternative or oppositional articulation for today’s cultural expression. As a dance of the recent past, the distinct dance culture of the pachucos and pachucas—a select subaltern grouping—was grasped by the Tejana/o working class majority as a response to oppression. As a residual cultural element, él taquachito may offer an alternative or even oppositional relation to the present

At the age of 11, the news had never interested me until that day. I had begun my homework when a certain news reporter caught my attention. He was introduced as Jorge Ramos. He appeared on the TV screen, wearing an ironed white dress shirt and a striped blue tie. He was standing in front of a screen with bright graphs and pie charts reporting on bombing in the Middle East that had begun to occur more often in the past months. He spoke Spanish in such an articulate way, using many words that I did not understand. I noticed the way his tan face contorted into a deep sadness: his eyes were glossy and the wrinkles on his forehead became more prominent as he spoke. Immediately, I saw how compassionate he was. At the end of his report he urged viewers to donate to the Red Cross to aid the victims of the bombings and the tears threatened to fall from his eyes. From then on, I looked up to Jorge Ramos. Watching his reports daily made me realize that Latinos could also be smart, compassionate, and thoughtful, contrary to the stereotypes that are seen in the media. “Maybe being Latina isn’t so bad after all”, I

My father is Puerto Rican from Puerto Rico, he is very dark skinned. My mother is Polish American from New York, she has blonde hair blues eyes. Her grandparent were from Poland. My mother adapted to the Hispanic culture since she met my father when she was 15. I don’t recall at what age I understood I was a mixed race. My earliest memory is in elementary school. I dominate the Hispanic look, therefore I’m always treated as just that.

Many of the reactions I received from my performance were a lot different than I had anticipated. Groups of people came up to me and showered me with compliments about how beautiful my dance was. Ultimately that was my goal, my goal was to bring people together despite their differences. Had I not danced in the middle of The Shops of Legacy, some of those people may have never experience the dance of another culture; another culture that is predominant in their society but have never thought to venture out of their way to become accustomed to it. All I hoped to do with this project was make people think differently about that world, rather than our differences tear us apart, let our difference bring us together. In a time like this, where it seems as the entire nation in torn apart; I wanted to make a difference in the way people see people. Although, my integration was of classical Indian dance; my dance may stem a desire to go experience different shows. The Shun Ye show comes to the DFW metroplex every year during Chinese New Year time, no one I know has ever been but if my dance may have sparked an interest for someone to get to know more about a different culture. I would consider my outcome successful and I feel as though I did that, ultimately I believe I was successful in reaching my main goal of the personal

Culture and dance cannot remain stagnant, we must always move forward keeping with the times and keeping in touch with one another, and there is no better or more expressive way than through

On May 18 2016, I attended the La Costa Canyon Dance Recital, “A Night At The Movies”. The show was performed by the school’s dance team, Dance Mavs, and was well executed and rehearsed. The show provided an interesting interpretation of famous movies and their impact on the audience. Famous dances and themes were portrayed throughout the night, allowing for not only an entertaining experience, but an extremely memorable one. The amount of work put into the show was evident and allowed the audience to appreciate each dance with more respect and admiration. It is obvious these shows can take a toll on those performing, so it must be all the more rewarding when it turns out as great as the recital did.

With extended legs and pointed toes, graceful movements seized the stage of Texas Tech University’s Presidential Lecture and Performance Series which presented Complexions Contemporary Ballet on April 1st, 2016. The event took place in the Texas Tech Allen Theatre at 7:00 PM. The founding artistic directors of the dance company are Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson. The dance company consisted of about 13 people, with a mixture of males and females. The entire performance was a contemporary ballet, but included modern dance style as well. The performances were comprised of solos, duets, male or female sections, and a mixture of couple interaction. Before the ballet, the lights were dim and there were only a few lights directed towards the stage. The lighting and set design varied for each performance and used spotlights to bring the audience’s attention to particular dancers. Although the atmosphere was relatively quiet, the audience was respectful, enthusiastic, and seemed to be intrigued by the performances. Complexions Contemporary Ballet projected intense passion into each performance which contributed to an emotion-evoking experience and a sense of synchronization between each dance.

On September 9th, 2016 I had the pleasure of attending a concert, where I saw Adonis Puentas and the Voice of Cuba, at Grant park. The music being played introduced the sounds of an entirely different culture to my ears. Accompanying the harmony, melody and beat was a crowd of people dancing. I would later learn that many in the crowd were dancing the mambo, a Latin dance of Cuba also known as Salsa “on 2” because of the break occurring on the two count. The event was from 7 – 9:30 PM and when Adonis Puentas began singing the sun had set and the back drop was a sparkling Chicago skyline. The Afro-Cuban music produced by Adonis Puentas and the Voice of Cuba showcased many aspects of Cuban culture.

There are also things about it that I feel embarrassed about and among these is “machismo’ which is a huge aspect of the Latino culture. As a Latino, I grew up surrounded with the act of machismo, which represents the strong masculine pride that is associated to our culture. The strict unwritten gender rules we follow dictate our actions, which usually result overestimating or underestimating the real capabilities of women. With this belief, I grew up committed to an obligation to protect the women in our family because they are perceived to be the weaker gender. At some point in my life, the machismo image that typically draws a parallel line to my Hispanic culture was used negatively in labeling me. As a Latino, I experience being stereotyped by other people as a “machista”. This act of machismo that is a part of my culture can be useful when the aim is to protect and take care of women. However, its meaning is adapted differently. Some Latino men used it as a sign of power over women and it gives them the perceived right to position themselves higher than women. It is acceptable, because it is proper and norm as defined by our culture. This machismo practice directly implicates individuals like me who acknowledge equality of men and women.

I am a hispanic women college student. Growing up for me was not easy, being latino was a problem. I already had a labeled on top of my identity. I grew some with words, hatred words, more like discrimination. At a young age, I didn't know what “discrimination” or even “racism” was, so it was hard for me to question why do these things happen. I've always been looked at differently. I have family that are so proud that I didn't end up like my other cousins. What does that mean? Did I always have that “look” that I am going fail and follow someone else's mistakes? At a young age, I believed it was all true. I believed that all latinos were the same and did the same. People believed that since my parents did not get an education, I was not

On November 11, 2017 I went to dance fusion. Dance fusion is a show put on by college kids from the Collin college Spring Creek Campus. Along with dancers from the university of Texas at Arlington, University of Central Oklahoma and Texas Woman’s University. Upon entering the john Anthony Theatre, I noticed that many of the other students also watching the show had brought notebooks to take notes on what they had seen, and I had not even thought about that. At first, I didn’t know how I was going to remember everything for this essay. After seeing the Sugar Dreams video and the first dance, I knew it was going to be an intriguing show with every dance being unique.