HAZLE TWP. — At Hazleton Area High School, Carmen Ramos teaches Spanish, but on a recent afternoon she played music, held hands with one of her students and started teaching cumbia, a Colombian dance.
Other students joined in, following Ramos’s footwork while Frankie Ruiz sang “Desandote” (“Wishing for You”) through a speaker on a desk in her classroom.
Ramos has been giving lessons after school to prep students for a dance that celebrates the music and culture of 21 Spanish-speaking countries.
The Athena Club that Ramos advises has held the dance for three years to bring together everyone in Hazleton Area’s four high schools, where about 65% of students are Hispanic and 32% are white.
“Last year, we had so many non-Hispanics. I worried ‘Do they know how to dance?’ but they went out and had a good time,” Ramos said.
For a dance lesson on Wednesday, six students attended, all Latinas. Boys who belong to the club had sports practice, she said.
Tables and chairs were pushed to the edges of room, clearing a white square bordered by black tiles — a perfect dance floor.
Luizalia Sanchez Rodriguez, a 12th grader and club president, got things started, dancing the merengue and bachata with other students before pairing up with her teacher to learn cumbia.
“If you you stop you get tired. That’s how I do it, guys, you don’t stop,” said Sanchez, who stepped to music while talking.
Sanchez and other students said they dance at family gatherings, birthdays, holidays.
“Or random Saturdays and Sundays” when Merani Nunez said her mother puts on music.
For Nunez, the dance creates “a homey feeling enjoying our culture.”
She said her school also held Hispanic week when students wore clothes showing their heritage. Posters of favorite actors and singers hung in hallways and national flags went on display.
For this year’s dance on Dec. 14 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in the high school gym, Ramos asked students to pick the music.
When students suggested songs, she reposted them on her school social media and asked the whole school to give a thumb’s up or thumb’s down.
“Anything with greater than 90% we’re using it,” she said.
The playlist reflects styles of music from across the Spanish-speaking world. Ramos said students in the Hazleton Area have ties to many, but not all, of the countries she teaches about in Advanced Placement Spanish and Spanish classes for native speakers.
Lindsay Wagner said students in the Hazleton Area’s program for English Language Learners, which she supervises, were born in 28 nations or territories, including 17 where Spanish is spoken.
Josephine Castillo, an 11th grader who has taken Spanish for native speakers, said she thinks the dance will bring together students with Latino and Anglo heritages.
“A lot of them don’t feel part because of the language barriers,” Castillo said. She, Sanchez and Paul Martinez Trinidad, who all studied Spanish for native speakers, told the school board on Nov. 26 that they have earned college credits. The students along with teachers and administrators spoke to the board for 45 minutes while describing the district’s programs for teaching English to students learning the language.
Joining the Athena Club helped Castillo get the courage to speak to the board.
“I’m a reserved person. It helped me open up, be more social. It has helped me be more open in public,” she said.
Eli Adames, a 12th grader, attends Hazleton Area Academy of Sciences, and didn’t know club members before she joined.
“We’re getting along, sharing a good time,” she said.
The club’s purpose, Ramos said, is to empower and develop leaders and bring ideas to life.
For example, the World Language Department faculty suggested holding a Spanish dance, which many language teachers and bilingual teachers have volunteered to chaperone.
“They’re excited about it,” Ramos said.
Ticket sales from the dance go to a scholarship that Athena Club awards.
Also the Athena Club stages fun athletic contests called the Greek Games in which each class and the faculty compete for a trophy.
This year, club members are collecting household goods and personal care items for women in a homeless shelter.
As club member Anaheil Martes said before starting to dance: “We have ideas. We can realize a lot of things we can change here.”
