The feeling of culture and diversity filled Irvington’s Valhalla theater as the Fremont community gathered and waited in anticipation for MEChA’s annual Ritmo Latino show to begin. Ritmo has brought together people from across the Fremont community in a massive celebration of Latin tradition, music, and culture. With shows hosted on both January 23 and 24, members of the community were able to enjoy the show and experience different cultures being introduced and conjoined together.
With its 21-year long legacy, Ritmo has served as Irvington MEChA’s annual performance showcase, highlighting the growth of the Hispanic community and celebrating Hispanic culture at Irvington under the guidance of Spanish teacher and MEChA supervisor Mr. Ballado. Ritmo brings in a range of performers from all over the Bay Area. From Irvington’s Spanish classes to school cultural clubs to folklórico dance groups to local salsa studios to Aztec dancers; this year’s Ritmo united all sorts of cultures and showcased the unique and diverse Latin community in Fremont.
Throughout both days of the show, many different kinds of dances were showcased. A majority of the performers were from the Irvington’s Spanish 3 and AP Spanish classes. Landon Castaneda (10), a dancer and choreographer for the Ritmo show, shared his thoughts on the work that went into the show. “Everyone was able to get very engaged with the culture, and having to coordinate all the dances in a different language was really interesting,” Castaneda said. Many members of the MEChA club also participated in the dances. Monika Pospieszny (12), the photographer for MEChA and Ritmo and a student choreographer, shared some of the challenges while preparing for her own class dance. “One of the most difficult things was working with different skill levels,” Pospieszny said. “Not everyone had dance experience, so we had to adjust and keep the choreography simple.”
Aside from Irvington students, the show also featured performances from other schools like James Logan’s folklórico dance crew and local dance studios. An audience favorite was Anahuac traditional Aztec dance group, the glow-in-the-dark Aztec dance performed on Friday evening. Their glowing wardrobe, powerful choreography, and traditional music deeply resonated with the audience and showed everyone how Aztec culture is kept alive through performance and storytelling. Alongside the Anahuac Traditional Aztec dance group, the showcase featured numerous folklórico dances that incorporated themes of courtship and romance, creating colorful and engaging stories. These dances showed off their outstanding costumes, dramatic acting, and intricate footwork that highlighted the authenticity of these performances. Local community studios were also included in the show. The Hermosura salsa dance team brought an upbeat and energetic performance that kept the crowd lively for both performance days. Their contagious smiles, sharp footwork, passionate expressions, and overall engaging performance left a lasting impression on the audience.
When asked, Mr. Ballado and Co-Presidents Allison Young (12) and Mariana Esquivias (12) expressed immense pride in the growth of Irvington’s folklórico group, highlighting how the has grown significantly with size and number of performances. Young points out how much the team has grown, saying, “Last year our folklórico team was like three guys and five girls, and now we have 20 dancers performing eight dances.” Esquivias adds on, saying, “Seeing our folklórico group grow has been really exciting. It used to be much smaller, and now more people are interested and getting involved.” Having been the teacher advisor of MEChA for almost 26 years, Ballado reflected on the club’s progression throughout the years. “Seeing how much the folklórico team has grown and how committed the students are makes this year especially meaningful,” Ballado commented.
An event as big as Ritmo is no easy job. Ritmo emcee and Event Coordinator, Nikhil Shukla (11) emphasized how much work went into planning the event. “With an event like this, planning begins months earlier. We have to work out logistics like food, ticketing, and the overall quality of our show,” Shukla stated. Co-president Allison Young also oversaw the coordination of the event, “We worked very closely with ASG to ensure everything from finance to tech was in order. Communication with all the Spanish classes was also key, as every class needed to be kept updated for the best outcome,” Young shared.
As the final curtains were drawn, Mr. Ballado stated his commitment to retaining Ritmo at Irvington, “As long as there is Mr. Ballado, there is Ritmo Latino.” For the community Ritmo serves as something that will preserve and display Latino culture. It remains a tradition in the acculturation of Irvington, and proves that culture is best preserved when shared.
