By: Sophia Carlucci
The Latin Ballet is a group of Spanish dancers travelling from places, such as Spain and Puerto Rico. The dancers perform traditional Spanish dances such as flamenco and salsa throughout the ballet. Pamela St. Clair and Andy Martin took their Spanish students on a field trip to see the Latin Ballet perform in Richmond, Va. This is St. Clair and Martin’s second year attending.
“It is a great experience, but takes a lot of coordination and paperwork,” said St. Clair. “I had to reserve the tickets back in July.”
Around the Spanish holiday Dia de Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, the ballet incorporates traditional music and dance to honor the holiday. The dancers set up pictures of ancestors on an altar, which is an important symbol of the holiday.
Dia de Los Muertos is a national Spanish holiday from Oct. 31 through Nov. 2, where families honor their ancestors who have passed away celebrating their lives on Earth with their family.
The Ballet consisted of a dance and song representing cultural events. “La Llorona” was a song played that tells the story of a Mother named Maria who drowns her children in the Mexican River as revenge against her husband for leaving her for a younger woman.
“La Llorona was a really creepy part of the ballet,” said St. Clair. “You could tell that some people were scared of that.”
At the end of the ballet the dancers brought up students to dance on stage, which St. Clair enjoyed.
“I loved the interaction that the dancers had with the crowd. We were front row, so they were always involving us. I loved when they brought some of our students on stage to dance,” said St. Clair. “We had so much fun with the dancers that they invited us back to another ballet that they will be having in January called ‘La Poinsettia’.
Junior Abby Funkhouser attended the field trip for the first time this year and was interested by the many things the ballet taught her.
“We saw several dancers express different aspects of Dia de los Muertos. They danced about legends around the holiday,” said Funkhouser. “I enjoyed it because it provided new knowledge that you wouldn’t hear about in a classroom setting. It showed the beauty and complexity of Hispanic culture, which is talked a lot about in the textbooks.”
Senior Aly Huntsman, was interested in learning more about Spanish culture.
“I enjoyed it because it is fun to be able to get out of the classroom and really experience what we’ve learned in Spanish class,” said Huntsman. “Learning about other cultures is definitely a hobby of mine.”