Wheaton Wire

Issue date: 10/8/08 Section: Arts & Culture

Media Credit: Sam Kestenbaum ’09

"As Latinos, we grow up dancing in the family," says Jossie Mar Diaz Ortiz '10, co-director of Paraiso Latino, Wheaton's newly-formed Latin music and dance group. Cultivating a sense of community is central to Paraiso Latino's mission on campus, "we want to create that same sense of family with our group," Ortiz says.

Paraiso Latino offers free weekly lessons for Wheaton students on Thursday nights from 7-9 p.m. "That's also why, as a dance group, we won't only be working on our own routines, but we'll be reaching out to the community; we're offering dance classes to the Wheaton community and maybe even family classes to the Norton community," says Ortiz.

Not only is Paraiso Latino Wheaton's first Latin dance group-and first dance group to offer free weekly classes-they are also the only dance group on campus to incorporate live music into their routines. Jay Maisonet '11, who also performs with the Wheaton Jazz Ensemble, leads the band of musicians.

Maissonet and Ortiz are long-time friends who attended high school together. "We'd been talking about forming a group like this for a while," says Maissonet, "We both felt that Latin culture could be further represented on campus." Maissonet wanted to bring together his love for music and his love for dance in one group. In Latin music, Maissonet says, you can't have one without the other.

"We've been learning to play salsas and cha-chas so far. Some of these pieces are very difficult," Maissonet says, but he is optimistic that the musicians can learn to play even the trickiest meringues. "Right now, we still have to use the recordings sometimes," to accompany dances, Maissonet says, "but someday I'd like to throw all of the CDs away." Paraiso Latino's musical group includes saxophones, trumpets, bass, guitar and percussion.

Though things are now running smoothly for Paraiso Latino, finding the initial funding and support on campus was a challenge. "Some of the administration weren't really seeing how we fit in on campus," Jessica Matos '10 said, "'Why can't you do Latin dance through TRYBE?' they would ask. But we're more than 'multi-cultural;' we're Latin dance. And we're also different than LSA; it's more specific, we dance, we do music, and we teach."

"As of right now, we receive zero funding from the administration," Matos said. "But we're getting there; we've all been working hard," she added, smiling. With the help of some faculty members' donations, the group has purchased official Paraiso Latino outfits, which they will wear for their performances, the first of which, Café con Leche, will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. Balfour Atrium.

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