Las Americas Day

Las Americas Day was a cultural event that took place at my school in March of 2008. It was an opportunity for students from both North and South America to get together and share our cultures with the rest of the student body and the local community. We organized two days of workshops, political discussions, movies, and show-and-tell sessions, finally culminating in a two hour long performance by the American students. For my part, I participated in four acts in the show and represented the United States during the workshops and sessions.

There are many Americans on campus and therefore extensive organization went into this event. We had very different cultures to share as well, with countries as vastly different as the U.S., Ecuador, Argentina, and Canada to be represented. I was not in charge of the entire event but I did coordinate three acts and participate in one more.

I had to get a group together and choreograph a line dance. This was funny but also a bit challenging, as although I knew how to line dance, I had learned it casually back home and only did it for fun, never for show. I had to figure out how to teach the dance to people who had absolutely no idea what line dancing was about. We had a lot of fun doing it, though, and the result was great. We practiced twice daily for a week and in the end, we all ended up perfectly synchronized.

I also worked with three other people to put together a swing dance. Again, swing dancing was something I knew about vaguely and casually, but never something I had learned on a professional level. Therefore, the four of us were all practically beginners at swing dancing. We watched lots of videos and old movies of traditional swing dances and ended up making a choreography. We were quite ambitious and worked to include many throws and jumps into our routine. Most swing dancers do not attempt aerial moves until a year or so after they have begun swing dancing but we decided to try and teach ourselves anyway, and in the span of only 2 weeks. I have to admit that practices were painful for awhile, but we soon actually got the hang of it and ended up with an impressive routine in the show.

I also attempted to use some of my musical experience to perform in a show for the first time. I have never played or learned piano but I decided that all of my years reading and studying music on other instruments might make it easier to learn a piano piece. So about two months before the show, I sat down and started transcribing what I thought the notes to a song that I had were. It was difficult and took me a long time as I have not played an instrument in years, but I still did it. It was rewarding to work so hard at something and to actually do it right. I spent many late nights practicing the same chord progressions over and over again, eventually finding a vocalist to add in the lyrics of the piece. Although the performance wasn't perfect, it was still an experience for me to overcome my fear of playing in front of others.

Lastly, I danced in a traditional Colombian dance, called cumbia. There were four people in this dance and I was the only non-South American. I had to wear a traditional tiered skirt which is held throughout the entire dance. I had never done anything like this before but I enjoyed myself so much and learned a lot about Latin American rhythms and traditional dance.

I think that Las Americas Day was a very nice event for my entire school, but it also showcased various cultures to the local Norwegians in this area. I was so proud to be able to show both culture from the U.S. as well as Native American culture to people who really did not know much about it. Next time, when I participate in an event like this, I will be sure to begin practicing much earlier because I did not have as much time as I would have liked to to prepare for this show. Still, with hard work and a bit of stress, the show came together quite well and I was happy with the final product.