'A new sense of energy': Student-run Latin Sol salsa dance festival connects campus to community
Students participating in a previous Latin Sol workshop led by ASU Professor David Olarte. Photo courtesy the School of Music, Dance and Theatre
Arizona State University senior Scarlett Uribe was the first to volunteer when she heard the annual Latin Sol salsa dance festival needed a director for this year. The event is run completely by ASU students, for ASU students as a collaboration with the School of Music, Dance and Theatre and the ASU Salsa Club.
“I jumped right in,” Uribe said. “I’ve always had a passion for bringing people together.”
Uribe is an environmental design major in The Design School who is also pursuing a minor in marketing and sales essentials. She’s a first-generation college student who is passionate about honoring her Mexican heritage.
“To me, this has been about personal growth and career growth. But it’s also very personal to me, because this is my community and I want to share this with them,” Uribe said.
Uribe didn’t start dancing until college, when she signed up for a class with David Olarte, clinical assistant professor in the School of Music, Dance and Theatre.
“I’ve always wanted to learn to dance, and I thought it was too late,” Uribe said. “But there’s something different about the Latin dance community — open arms welcoming people in with good food and good music.”
With a committee of a dozen student volunteers, Uribe is looking to make this event even bigger than previous years. This year features more guest artists than ever before, an entirely new cultural celebration and a salsa museum pop-up designed by the Latin Sol committee.
The event highlights interdisciplinary collaboration within the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. Uribe used the skills she gained at ASU to rebrand the event with an updated logo, website and marketing materials. Along with the committee, she also re-envisioned the way the weekend was structured, moving all workshop and discussion events to the ASU Student Pavilion and creating a large community festival at Nelson Fine Arts Plaza on Sunday.
“I wanted to bring something completely new and different, a new sense of energy to Latin Sol,” Uribe said.
Uribe is also a student in Barrett, The Honors College. She’s using Latin Sol as her Barrett honors thesis, and Olarte is her mentor.
“It’s not an easy process,” Olarte said. “There’s a lot of pain and labor, but putting together an event and managing a budget before you graduate, it’s a great deal of accountability and responsibility. That is what our students need to be exposed to.”
Olarte has been part of Latin Sol since its inception in 2017. He’s seen it grow and change each year. But one thing always drives the event, he said: keeping it free to remove barriers so as many students can attend as possible. He said ASU is ideal for making it accessible to students and for making the campus more accessible to the Latino community.
Latin Sol Festival, March 15–17
Friday, March 15, features a lecture, workshops and a kickoff social dance.
Saturday, March 16, features workshops, lectures, discussions, performances and a salsa museum pop-up.
Sunday, March 17, features a giant community celebration with vendors, food trucks, music, live performances and the “Salsa Olympics."
“Salsa by nature is about celebrating our culture in the community,” Olarte said.
The result is four days of jam-packed, community-based events open to ASU students and community members.
This year’s events kick off Thursday, March 14, with a late-night Latin dance community social at The Duce in Phoenix from 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m., followed by a Friday morning lecture in Bulldog Hall starting at 10:45 a.m. Then attendees will head over to the Student Pavilion for four hours of free workshops before finishing off the night using their Latin dance skills at the kickoff social dance.
Saturday features a full day of workshops, lectures, discussions and performances in the Student Pavilion. The lobby of the Student Pavilion will be turned into a salsa museum pop-up, a multimedia display where people can learn more about the history of salsa dancing.
“We’ll be showcasing videos and costumes as well as instruments,” Uribe said. “Everybody loves to dance, but not everyone knows the history behind it.”
The weekend ends with a giant community celebration on Sunday. Featuring vendors, food trucks, music, live performances and the “Salsa Olympics,” this event is a great time for families to gather and celebrate Latin culture, music and dance. Uribe advises bringing comfortable shoes and money to purchase food and goods from vendors.
“It’s very inspiring,” Olarte said. “Being a faculty member, having students see their culture more visible, it makes me feel very proud.”
His advice for attendees?
“We have to be present in the moment and sense that feeling of pride,” Olarte said. “These moments are fleeting. We have to make sure we hold onto that impact and we do something with it after the event.”
Anyone interested in attending can find more information and reserve their free ticket at LatinSolFestival.com.
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