While there are hundreds of clubs at WCHS, none of them have combined art with culture as well as WCHS’ first-ever Latin dance team, XPlosion Latina. Brought to life by seniors Lia Salazar and Bianca Rincon Tapias, the club has managed to foster a Latina community through dance.
“Last year, I went to an annual business meeting for women with Hispanic heritage in Montgomery County and a Latin dance team from another school came and performed in front of us,” Tapias said. “I did not even know schools had Latin dance teams and I wished WCHS had an actual team that competes and wins awards. Then, at [the WCHS] Noche Latina, another team came from Einstein and performed, and afterward, my friend came up to me and asked if I would like to start a club with her, a team, and I agreed to do it.”
One of the co-presidents, junior Kyara Aldana-Traverso, immediately wanted to join the club. As Tapias had hoped, Traverso saw it as an opportunity to connect with her culture and include others in it by teaching dances and performing in front of audiences.
“When the club was created, I got very excited because I felt like there was something that could represent us,” Aldana-Traverso said. “I was represented and motivated to join so I could help get more people involved. It is also an opportunity to perfect my technique when dancing and help other people get to know more about [Latin] dances.”
The dance company that XPlosion is a part of is called Baila4Life, which includes all MCPS teams and holds the annual competition located at Strathmore. Striving to give the Latin community an official place to express themselves through an important part of their culture, XPlosion is welcome to all.
“We are doing tryouts, but just to see the level of people trying out,” Tapias said. “Because we are just starting, the word has not come out enough yet for people to know about our team. We let everyone in, but tryouts decide who is going to be in competitions and performances are based on how much people practice and improve. We pick it by hard work, who shows up and who puts in the time and dedication and shows progress.”
So far, there are around 15 people who come to practice regularly, and, although this might seem like a small group, there is extreme diversity within the group. The one thing everyone has in common is they all show up motivated, serious and ready to be involved.
“I have noticed that mainly Latina girls are interested in joining Xplosion, but we do have a lot of Hispanic guys and dancers in general that have joined,” Aldana-Traverso said. “It is just a mix of people who like to dance, some are not Hispanic and there are even people who have no background in dancing. In our last performance, we had people of different races and nationalities, you do not have to be Hispanic to join. It is just if you like to dance or listen to Hispanic music.”
Baila4Life provides an instructor to each official team, but for now, XPlosion is mainly student-led as they haven’t received their instructor. Baila4Life also holds workshops where an instructor goes through basic steps and teaches all styles of dances including mambo, salsa and cha-cha.
“The best thing about dance is you can get good at it, we do start from zero and build up,” Tapias said. “We teach basic steps, but there is a thing called socials, which is when people just go to events to dance and it is really fun. I feel like that is a huge reason people decide to get into Hispanic dance, to meet people.”
Competitions start in November, so while XPlosion has not gotten the opportunity to showcase their skills yet, they are still bonding as a team and weaving their culture with the capability to form a dance team that makes the Latin community at WCHS proud. Even though she has been leading the club for only a year, Tapias is still thankful for the experience she has gained.
“Starting the club has definitely allowed me to connect more with the Hispanic community,” Tapias said. “In WCHS, there are not a lot of Hispanic people, and I feel that this club has helped me connect with so many cultures and dances, especially since I also have to teach myself the dances before I teach others. It has taught me a lot about leadership, communication and public speaking, so I am very grateful and it is just an amazing environment.”
