Cross Cumbias For Hispanic Heritage Month

Wilbur Cross tenth grader Shayel Rodriguez gathered with 12 other student dancers in the school’s gymnasium to perform Puerto Rican bomba, Colombian cumbia, and Brazilian samba – to help celebrate the cultural heritage of the school’s diverse and growing Hispanic population.

That dance performance took place on Friday as part of a program of poetry readings and exhibitions of student art at Wilbur Cross’s annual celebration of Hispanic Heritage month, which spans from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. 

“I was excited,” Rodriguez said about spotting her parents in the crowd at the 181 Mitchell Dr. school. ​“And scared,” as her parents had never seen her dance before. 

The theme of this year’s festival at the high school was ​“Carnival,” or El Carnaval. Compared to last year’s smaller celebration, which modeled the more intimate chinchorro food stalls, this year saw a complete program of live performances accompanied with student-made ceviches, rice and chicken, and seasoned pork.

Spanish teacher Emilio Reales, who emceed the event, shared that the students led the change in this year’s event.

“This year we prepared a show because the kids wanted to dance,” Reales said. ​“The kids actually wanted to perform, so they designed the whole thing.”

Seven dancers performed a cumbia routine, all wearing long dresses. Rodriguez was one of the group, donning a dark blue dress. While she danced, the cloth rippled, akin to a fire flickering. She had practiced the routine for three weeks before Friday, and prior to learning the routine, she had never formally learned how to dance. The entire celebration had taken the students over an entire month to prepare. And according to Reales, the students had worked hard every day to hammer out the logistics of the event, as well as rehearse their dances.

“I’m proud of my students,” Reales said, after the dance. ​“From where they have started to right now, they have grown so much.”

Nicole Soto, a Spanish teacher at Wilbur Cross, said that the celebrations were an important avenue for students to be ​“proud of their ethnicity” and encourage them to show other students their heritage. She further noted that the high school’s Hispanic population far outnumbered other groups in the school. According to a US News report, Wilbur Cross is a majority Hispanic school, with 64.8 percent of its student body identifying as Hispanic. Soto herself is Puerto Rican. Districtwide, New Haven Public Schools has seen an increase in the number of enrolled multilingual learners — especially those who are native Spanish speakers. 

For Rodriguez, coming to a more diverse school provided her a community she hadn’t had before. She transferred to the school last year. Until then, she had been attending High School in the Community and described the student body as ​“very, very small.” As such, she didn’t have a huge community of other Hispanic students to interact with. Now, being at Wilbur Cross, she not only has other Hispanic friends, but specifically Ecuadorian friends, where her parents are from.

“I have family here,” Rodriguez said.

Reales emphasized the importance of Latino culture not just in New Haven, but for the nation. A notion that both he and Soto shared was that the country was ​“built on Latino culture.” The carnival, according to Reales, is a way of passing down this culture to a younger diasporic generation. In a site of celebration and joy, dancing becomes a way to connect across the ocean. Reales said the students intentionally picked out different songs and dances from different cultures.

“It’s really important for me to transmit to my students the Hispanic heritage,” Reales said. ​“This is the tradition that we carry on from generation to generation.”

Posters with names of countries and cities where students are from hung on the wall behind the performers. And on tables to the right were bright, papier-mâché masks. At the end of the day, audience members clapped for the 13 dancers as they lined up to bow.

“Honestly it was really amazing. I’m really glad I saw some of the dances,” Ruby Gutirrez, a junior at Wilbur Cross, said. ​“I’m trying to learn how to dance to folkloric music. And I’m trying to find out where I can do that.”

Students crowded around the table with masks to try them on. A student hesitated to pick a mask up — a large one with five polka-dotted horns. At the encouragement of a teacher, she held the mask to her head. Her concerned expression disappeared and staring back was a mischievous and colorful face, larger than life.