By Grace Hooley | Echo
Vibrant.
This is the word junior Ivana Sempertegui and sophomore Danny Magallanes, co-presidents of the Latin Student Union (LSU), decided to use to describe yesterday's Salsa Night.
"We would use the word vibrant because there is a lot of bold, bright things that we chose to highlight with this event that embodies our culture such as flavor of food, brightness of colors, and energy of the music and the people," Magallanes said.
The event was held in the LaRita Boren Campus Center from 7:30-9 p.m., and it consisted of Latin music, dances and food.
It was open to everyone and anyone interested in joining in a cultural dance party. The LaRita Boren Campus Center was lively as students filed into the cafeteria to party with their friends.
"Our hopes are to be able to share a little bit of our culture with everyone else," Magallanes said. "A big part of our culture is dance and we would love for others to experience that. We also hope to have everyone and anyone come by, not just latinos. This event is for everyone."
There was an instructor named David Fennig for part of the event who was also present at Salsa Night last year. He taught the salsa to those who came.
The dances present last night included the salsa, bachata, cumbia and reggaeton.
"This instructor was also present at salsa night last year," Magallanes said.
Despite the LSU leaders not knowing the origins of the event, they do know it has always been a lot of fun. The leaders also said that while they may appear exclusive, their goal is to remove this assumption and encourage Taylor that they welcome anyone and everyone.
The club's goal is to build bridges around campus among groups of different ethnic or demographic backgrounds by sharing, as well as educating others about their culture through different events. They hope to have more events like this in the future.
"Thank you for letting us share our culture with you," Magallanes said.
