Contributing Writer: Sabrina Hurtado, Arts Outreach & Engagement Intern
This pandemic might keep us physically apart, but the arts are still engaging and connecting our community. As part of our Arts Spotlight series, Arts NC State will be featuring articles on students, organizations, and faculty/staff who are creating and making.
This month our student organization feature is Sube Ritmo, the only Latin dance team at NC State University!
For more information on the six visual and performing arts programs of Arts NC State, visit go.ncsu.edu/arts and sign up for our emails!
Tell us how Sube Ritmo came to be? What is the mission of Sube Ritmo?
Our team came to be with a goal to share our passion for dance and love for our culture with everybody in and out of our NC State community. Our mission is to educate individuals about the Hispanic/Latinx culture through the competition and teamwork of dance. We hope to inspire others to delve into the different dance styles that we perform and to invite them into our team and community regardless of gender, race, or dance experience.
Who are the club leaders and what are your backgrounds?
My name is Irene Nazario and I am Co-Director of Sube Ritmo. I was born in Guatemala, then lived in Puerto Rico, before moving to Georgia, and live in NC to study in the university. I am an Animal Science major and am planning to go to vet school to earn my DVM. When starting college I wanted to find a group of people that would make NC State feel like home, and in my time in Sube Ritmo I believe that I have found it. The Latinx community here at NCSU is like a big family that takes you in and makes you feel loved. This sense of community is one of the big reasons that I love being able to interact with each of our incredible team members. As Co-Director I have learned everything from how to mix different dance genres, to how to use various leadership skills in finding what is best for our team. I have made so many different friendships in my journey here and hope to have impacted others as much as their enthusiasm and love has impacted me. (Read more about Irene in this Park Scholars blog).
Hello my name is Emily Coronado, I am a first generation college student of Mexican heritage. I am currently a senior studying biological sciences with a minor in psychology. In the last few years I have strived to become more involved with the Latin community at state through friendships and clubs such as Sube Ritmo. During my time here at state I have worked towards acquiring new skills and trying new things and latin dance has been the most fun skill I have picked up over the years. As co-director of Sube Ritmo I have been able to express myself through dance by creating new choreography and developed leadership by meeting and working with our amazing team members. As a senior I will be saying goodbye to a lot of things at State and I must say that my goodbye to Sube will be one of the hardest.
What kinds of projects and things has Sube Ritmo done so far?
We have done everything from performances in festivals to entering and winning the Best Dance Crew competition here at NC State. In past seasons we have also held workshops for local schools and have loved to see all of the students so invested in learning about our passion while doing some really cool dance moves. As a team we take any and every opportunity to share this form of expression with others and we hope to inspire others to join us in doing what we all love.
What are some ways Sube Ritmo encourages diversity in the Latin Dance scene and the NC State community?
We often do workshops with different clubs and organizations to teach others in our NC State community about the different dance styles that we do and how they connect back to our culture. Our dance team is not exclusive to the Latinx community, and we accept members from all different backgrounds of dance and life. Through our performances and workshops we hope to spread the love that we share for our culture and to teach others about the passion that we hold for this artform.
How have you adjusted to the pandemic?
We have definitely had to change our approach from the heavy contact form that is Latin dance, to a more virtual and safe way of performing. Last semester we hosted multiple online workshops and aimed to reach our audience through our social media. This semester we will be dancing from many different platforms, which now includes a TikTok account that we have created to share fun dances with anybody who would like to learn. We will also be conducting workshops throughout the semester and collaborating with various different organizations to teach salsa and bachata while having lots of fun. We hope to host auditions this semester and open our doors to new team members that we are excited to dance with.
What do you have in the works?
Right now we are hoping to go through with our auditions process and invite many new members to our team. We are looking forward to collaborating with other organizations both in and out of our Latinx community. Throughout the semester we are planning to host many workshops covering dance styles from salsa, bachata, and maybe a bit of reggaeton. Our team is very excited to go into a new season and share our passion for dance whether that be through social media or through our events.
What else do you want us to know?
We just want to share as much of the excitement and love that we hold for dancing with anybody that wants to hear! We are looking forward to the activities that we have planned for this season and hope that you can join us as well. We want everybody to feel like Latin dance is something that they can enjoy, and that they will always be accepted in all of our events, regardless of dance experience or cultural background. Our team is looking forward to seeing all of you in our events and can’t wait to meet you! 🙂
Social Media:
Instagram: suberitmo
TikTok: ncsu.suberitmo
Email: ncsusuberitmo@gmail.com
