Baile Latino in Cedar Rapids, IA

“The seed for my connection with Project Victoria was first planted in 2004. My college graduation gift to my daughter Laurel was to spend three weeks in Guatemala. We went there with no particular itinerary and Laurel thought it would be appropriate to spend a week in Xela at a language school where I could brush up on my Spanish. I've known Chris Curran and his family since he was in elementary school and so we decided to attend the school where he was just finishing his tenure as the International Coordinator for the school. We spent a week there and then spent the next two weeks touring the country. The people were warm and friendly and the countryside was beautiful. Besides improving my Spanish and enjoying the many sights and salsa dancing, I learned about the political realities of the country which included a distribution of wealth where a few families possessed most of the wealth and most lived in poverty. I also learned of discrimination between the native Mayans and the Spaniards who had conquered this country. For the Mayan children born into poverty, schooling is a luxury and for most non-existent. I witnessed this poverty everywhere I went. There is an image will forever remain in my mind. That image is of a man who appeared to be really old who was bent over with an enormous pile of wood that he was carrying on his back. In our country a man of that age (and who knows if he was as old as he appeared) would be enjoying his retirement years.

“In Cedar Rapids, about 6 or 7 years ago, I, along with a friend, started an organization called Baile Latino (www.crsalsa.org). I started taking salsa lessons about 8 years ago and as my passion grew, I wanted there to be salsa dancing here in Cedar Rapids. It already existed in Iowa City, but not here. To that end, I started teaching weekly lessons at CSPS every Saturday from 3:30 to 5:30. My motives were selfish; you can't salsa dance by yourself and if there is not a community of salsa dancers, no business will provide a place for you to dance on a regular basis. There has now been salsa dancing in Cedar Rapids in different venues for many years and currently we dance every Thursday at a new nightclub called Karma. We still meet every Saturday for lessons, but our organization has become so much more than salsa lessons. Our group has become a way of creating community within Cedar Rapids. Many of my best friends today, I met through this group. It is a very diverse group. The age ranges roughly from 16 to 60 plus and for whatever reason, we attract people from not only Latin cultures, but Indian, Vietnamese, Japan, Africa, and all over the world. Because one of the things that community does is gives back to community we like to participate in community service.

“When Chris asked if we would like to sponsor a dance to raise money for Project Victoria we thought it was a wonderful way of expanding our community and tying into the Latin roots from which we have been given the gift of music and dance. We've had several successful fund raisers which has been a lot of fun. We've worked to get high school students to our dance fundraisers. We like the ide of high school students in Cedar Rapids helping high school students in Guatemala. And the kids who come have a marvelous time.

“Our world, as everyone knows, is figuratively becoming smaller and smaller. In closing, I will use some unforgettable words I heard from my friend, the late John Ely Jr. (a great supporter of the Greater Cedar Rapids Foundation), "If we want to have world peace, we have to share more of what we have with the rest of the world". I'm happy that Baile Latino has been able to share, even if it is just a little bit. Chris does a great job of helping us with our fund raisers and keeping us updated about all the success that these scholarship students have had.”

Gloria Zmolek
Founder, Baile Latino
http://crsalsa.org/home.html
email@bailelatino.org

Click here to go back to the 2009 Report.

 Tax-deductible contributions to Project Victoria may be made to:

Project Victoria Fund
Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation
200 1st St. SW
Cedar Rapids IA 52404
319-366-2862