DECATUR — Baile Monarcas formed in 2018 at the University of Illinois at Springfield and even when COVID shut down most things and some social and cultural groups never recovered, dancers refused to let it go stop them.
Baile Monarcas – Spanish for dancing monarchs, as in butterflies, not royalty – performed at Richland Community College on Friday for Hispanic Heritage Month. President Cristian Leon graduated from Eisenhower High School and attended Richland before transferring to ISU.
“We do a few Latin dances to promote our culture, because there’s not a lot of Latin (culture) representation here in Decatur,” Leon said. “I’m a huge cumbia (dance) fan so we had to do some cumbia.”
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It is a folk dance originating from Colombia. The group also performed reggaeton, a Puerto Rican dance style influenced by hip hop and Caribbean music, and traditional Mexican folk dance. The dancers provide their own costumes and spent two weeks preparing for the show, Leon said.
Faculty adviser Daniel Aguilar, who acted as emcee, joked that he couldn’t dance, so he’s puzzled as to why the group chose him as their adviser.
The hope of presenting the dance was not only highlight a part of Hispanic culture, but to inspire Richland students to deepen this culture. The first introduction to another culture, he said, is often the food, and people might research why certain dishes are prepared the way they use the ingredients they use, which could spark increased interest. for other aspects of this culture.
“We’re hoping it gets people hooked and you spark something,” he said. “This group has become something that attracts people who want to dance and who want to express themselves through song and dance and a kind of culture of expression in a different way than what we usually talk about. It’s easy to say, “Let’s go to Cristian’s family restaurant” or “Let’s go see a movie”, but dancing is a way to physically interact with a culture.
19 Hispanic Historic Steps to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month
Early exploration
St. Augustine in the mid-1500s was the first permanent European settlement in the United States, bringing Catholicism and the Spanish language to Florida. Spanish Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Florida’s first colonial governor, founded the colony.
Hispanics, from the area now known as Mexico, explored North America a century before the British founded Jamestown in the early 1600s. Pictured are re-enactment Spanish soldiers at Castillo de San Marcos are checking out a cannon in St. Augustine, Florida.
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS
West Texas and beyond
Explorer Diego de Vargas in the late 1600s led an expedition to the Guadalupe Mountains (Sierra de Guadalupe, pictured), in what is now western Texas and southeastern New Mexico , becoming the first non-Native American visitor to the region.
ROBERT CROSS/CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Los Angeles founded in 1781
A group of Spaniards, Afro-Latinos, natives and mestizos from colonial Mexico traveled to California and founded the city of Los Angeles, which with about 5 million inhabitants , has the largest current Hispanic population in the country.
Barbara Davidson/The Los Angeles Times/TNS
mexican revolution
In 1910, the Mexican Revolution sent dozens of Mexicans north, many of whom settled in the American Southwest. Pictured is a Mexico City parade honoring the start of the 1910 Revolution against Porfirio Diaz.
Dream time/NER
Puerto Ricans gain US citizenship
The United States extended both citizenship and, soon after, military conscription to Puerto Rico in 1917 as World War I raged in Europe.
Mike Stocker/Sun Sentinel/MCT
First Senator
In 1928, Octaviano Larrazolo of New Mexico became the first Hispanic elected to the United States Senate. As a politician, he pushed to strengthen Hispanic representation so that the political system would reflect the population of the state. He also helped draft portions of the state constitution ensuring that people of Mexican descent would not be disenfranchised.
Library of Congress
Chief Justice of the High Court
While most people think Sonia Sotomayor was the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court, there is evidence that another came first. In 1932, Benjamin Nathan Cardozo replaced Oliver Wendell Holmes on the high court. His family was originally from the Iberian Peninsula.
Library of Congress
School victory
In 1945, years before Brown v. Board of Education, Hispanics of Orange County, Calif., won an appeals court case that found Mexican separate schools unconstitutional.
Library of Congress
Best actor win
In 1950, José Ferrer was the first Hispanic to win the Oscar for best actor for his role in “Cyrano de Bergerac”.
Dream time/NER
Fight against discrimination
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that Hispanics enjoyed equal protection under the 14th Amendment, providing a legal avenue to fight discrimination.
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Cuban Revolution
In the years following the Cuban Revolution of 1959, led by Fidel Castro, more than a million Cubans left the island, and many settled in Miami, a city they transformed. The next waves of Cubans migrated to the United States in the 1980s, with the Mariel boat lift, and the 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union disrupted the island’s economy.
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Harvesters’ strike
In 1965, Hispanic farmworker unions joined in a strike and then a grape boycott in the Delano area of California to protest poor working conditions. The five-year campaign was ultimately successful in forcing grape growers to sign union contracts.
The victory helped secure the place of the United Farm Workers of America and its leader, Cesar Chavez, as a key player in the Hispanic civil rights movement.
HBY-STAMPS KRT PHOTOGRAPH VIA PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
Creation of Hispanic Heritage Month
Hispanic Heritage Month was proclaimed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968 and begins each year on September 15, the independence day of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mexico, Chile and Belize also celebrate their independence days during this period. Pictured is Julian Castro, then Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, attends a reception for Hispanic Heritage Month in the East Room of the White House in 2016.
Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS
Roberto Clement
A black and Hispanic rights champion who began his career before segregation ended, Roberto Clemente was the first Hispanic in professional baseball to hit 3,000 hits. He played in two World Series, winning the MVP title in 1971.
“My greatest satisfaction comes from helping erase the old opinion about Latinos and blacks,” Clemente said. He died in a plane crash in 1972 while delivering supplies to Nicaragua after an earthquake.
KRT PHOTO BY JOHN SLEEZER/KANSAS CITY STAR
Hiring practices
In 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, legalizing some undocumented workers and establishing guidelines for hiring practices.
Evan Golub/Zuma Press/TNS
first astronaut
In 1991, Ellen Ochoa became the first Hispanic female astronaut and flew four space missions.
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Rock Hall of Fame
In 1998, guitar master Carlos Santana was the first Hispanic inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Finizio Roberto
Demonstration for the day without immigrants
In 2006, the first Day Without Immigrants demonstration, rallying against proposed new immigration laws, took place.
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Hispanic population is growing
Today, 57.5 million people, or 18% of the US population, are of Hispanic or Latino descent. This represents a significant increase from 2000, which recorded the Hispanic population at 35.3 million, or 13% of the total US population.
Phil Skinner/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/MCT
Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter
