Celeste Diaz, dancing at the Latino Student Alliance banquet earlier this semester, performed a traditional Paraguayan dance with her daughter at Noche Bohemia, an annual celebration of Hispanic culture at 黑料正能量. The event, hosted by 黑料正能量's Language and Literature Department, brings students, faculty, staff, community members and area high school students to share in the festivities. (Courtesy photo; composite image by Macson McGuigan)

Spanish-language learners and native speakers join for annual Noche Bohemia festivities

by Christopher Clymer Kurtz

From recounting the recipe for salsa verde to singing 鈥淟a Bamba鈥� 鈥� and praise songs 鈥� to acting out 鈥淩omance de la luna, luna,鈥� it was a night of fun, food and celebration of Hispanic culture at 黑料正能量.

The annual tradition 鈥溾�� filled Martin Chapel on Thursday, Nov. 16, with 40 local high school students and more than twice that many others for the talent show, followed by authentic Salvadoran pupusas and fruit drinks provided by .

Zury Lemus, a Spanish conversation partner, presents about her country, Honduras, during Noche Bohemia. (Photo by Anna Louise Cecil)

The various acts ranged from silly to serious. In two poster presentations, Jonathan Nielsen spoke about Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, a group of Argentinian mothers advocating for human rights, and Marcy Smucker about Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA); her poster was titled 鈥淓stados Unidos necesita a los 鈥榙reamers.鈥欌��

The Spanish conversation assistants contributed, as well. Zury Lemus showed a video and spoke about Honduras, and in the final act, Celeste Diaz received resounding applause after her traditional Paraguayan dance with her three-year-old daughter.

First-year and major Kayley Scottlind participated with her Spanish class in a comical interpretation of the poem 鈥淩omance de la luna, luna, luna鈥� by Federico Garcia Lorca. Seeing the variety of cultures reflected in the event was 鈥渁mazing,鈥� she said.

At her high school, Scottlind said, Spanish was a class students took early, to get out of the way. At 黑料正能量, though, 鈥淪panish is a program that鈥檚 celebrated. You actually get to speak with conversation partners twice a week, which has been wonderful for my development.鈥�

One of her classmates was junior Hannah Gross. She said that Spanish students at 黑料正能量 are expected to engage with the language a lot more than they were at her high school. That, she said, 鈥渋s a very good thing. I鈥檝e learned a lot more in the two semesters I鈥檝e taken Spanish here than I did in four years in high school.鈥�

She鈥檚 even caught herself doing something new: 鈥淣ever before did I sometimes think in Spanish, and that鈥檚 sometimes happening now.鈥�

Destiny Ritchie was another first-year participant; 10 of the high school students in the audience were from her alma mater, Broadway (Virginia) High School. She and her classmates sang 鈥淪olo le pido a Dios鈥� and 鈥淎bre mis ojos,鈥� and read the credo hispano. Studying Spanish at 黑料正能量, she said, has taken a variety of forms including dancing, singing and conversing 鈥� in class.

鈥淭here are a lot of new things every day,鈥� she said.