Latin American Dance Workshop at St. Louis Schools

The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth graders at St. Louis Catholic School were able to experience a Latin American dance workshop on Friday, April 1st 2022. Laura Ault and Mayra Adams taught our students a variety of latin dances including merengue, salsa, cumbia, and cha cha cha. Each dance included a variety of movements which were then combined together into a dance routine set to music from each dance genre. One of our teachers commented that they not only learned the dance moves, but also learned the history of these movements and the story they tell about the culture of the country where the dance originated.

Our students’ favorite part of the workshop was when songs from the popular Disney movie “Encanto” accompanied the routine of the cumbia and cha cha cha. We have conversations in Spanish class about the accuracy of Colombian culture in “Encanto,” but Laura and Mayra brought those conversations to life by showing the dances that usually accompany this style of Colombian music. Our students really enjoyed this experience!