On March 19 from 4 to 5:30 on the Bakersfield college campus in the General Science courtyard area an event being hosted by Stem success coach Maria Mares-Baltzar. It was called Spring latin dance where you could get free dance lessons like Bachata, Cumbia, and Salsa.

I asked Mares-Baltzar why in the spring and she said, “March is our longest uninterrupted month during Spring Semester. Other months have holidays that give students a break from attending classes but not from learning so I thought it would be a great idea to create our own break from school.”

The group of students with a partner and mares starts by demonstrating them bachata with some basic moves and the students follow by doing the same moves as her. As each time the students learn the moves. The moves get a little bit more complicated so they can be challenged and get out of their comfort zone.Everyone is laughing and enjoying themselves having a good time. As time went on more people started coming in and joining and it became a packed crowd.

It was a very inclusive atmosphere anybody would have joined even if you didn’t know dancing or was from a different culture. Mares would walk around and check in to help so nobody would fall behind. Every so often the students would rotate so they can meet new people and learn with someone different.

With all 3 styles of dance the students learned it was different then the rest. Each dance was unique which made it more enjoyable and students were learning more and more. Everyone was really engaged and mares really encouraged them not to be shy and talk to each other to get comfortable. That’s  what dancing is: being comfortable with your partner and going with the flow of the music.

It seemed like everyone was having a good experience like Kassandra Espinoza she said “it’s been great, excellent and the teachers explained it very well.”