The month of March was without a doubt one of the most eventful months for the Selma High Paisanos. Show Offs, the annual event for high schools around the area to showcase their best performances, was held at Fresno High on March 9th. The following week, on March 16th, Los Paisanos were able to show their talent to a greater audience at Sabor Latino. To conclude the busy month of March for Los Paisanos, on March 24th they attended Mexico Magico, a festival where other schools and studios from the area performed.
Los Paisanos had to dedicate an endless amount of time to put on a captivating dance for Show Offs. Both the intermediate and advanced classes learned one of the dances for Veracruz Sotavento, the region they’d be taking to Show Offs this year, before going into winter break. The audition was held, and the practices began the last week of winter break. Coming back to school, regular practices after school took place in order to perfect the region. In the end, it was evident that the time and effort spent on the performance paid off, as dance instructor Mr. Bustos recounted.
“At the end of High School Show Offs it was really strong. We had a good audience response, and the students felt really happy about their performance,” commented Mr. Bustos. It is needless to say that Show Offs was a success for the Selma High Paisanos.
The advanced and intermediate classes were ready to perform the following weekend at Sabor Latino, a competition that took place at El Segundo High School. At this competition schools and studios participated in different categories. After hours on the road, and quickly getting ready, performers practiced many times before going up on stage as some had to perform various times throughout the day. Los Paisanos took the regions of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Hidalgo, Veracruz Sotavento, Aguascalientes, Revolución, and Chihuahua to Sabor Latino. At the end of the night an awards ceremony took place, and the Paisanos took home a multitude of awards. The sixth period intermediate class showcasing Revolución took 1st place in two categories one of which was Producers Choice Award. They also won 2nd place with Aguascalientes. Senior Mariah Ramirez and junior Lupe Renteria won 1st place with the region of Chihuahua. Senior Jason Luna took the region of Hidalgo on stage, and won 1st place with his solo. Although the other four performing groups that attended Sabor Latino didn’t place, their talent didn’t go unnoticed by the instructor.
“I was happy with the way advanced performed. I think just the competition [in their category] was a little stronger, but I know the students weren’t as happy,” stated Mr. Bustos.
Despite some groups not placing at the competition, the class took the wins as a triumph for everyone.
“Unexpected and ultimately rewarding,” was the way Mariah Ramirez would describe winning the duet with her partner Lupe Renteria.
Every win was celebrated by the whole class with cheering and hugging for the good outcome of their efforts to overcome any challenges presented along the way, especially the conflict of managing different tasks.
“Trying to rush and understand that everything will be worth it in the end,” expressed Ramirez.
For sophomore Joel Hernandez, time was also a big issue when it came to attending the practices that would lead to the winning of two awards at Sabor Latino. Joel Hernandez participated in Aguascalientes and Revolución. He and Mariah would also attend practices for Tamaulipas, but in the end due to a last minute inconvenience, they didn’t perform with the rest of the group.The dedication to various groups and practices was at times hard to manage.
“I communicated with Mr. Bustos a lot because I do have sports [that conflicted with practices],” said Joel Hernandez. “I tried my best to make it to all practices, and I put on my calendar that I had certain days taken up.”
Sometimes it was stressful for Hernandez since he felt overwhelmed with dealing with many tasks. But he admits that it was all worth it.
The last performance of the month for Los Paisanos was at Mexico Magico. Only the region of Tamaulipas attended. Due to the previous engagements in March, there was not a lot of time for this region to practice. Joel only knew two of the three dances for this region, as he was not an official member of the region, but he stepped in on the day of the festival to substitute a member who was not able to attend. This along with other arising issues, was a struggle for everyone to adapt to.
“[To go in at the last minute in a dance] affected me because I didn’t really know the steps, but I feel like I caught on to them pretty quickly,” commented Hernandez.
After seeing some of the conflicts in the performances this time around, Mr. Bustos came to the conclusion that there could have been things he would have done differently.
“Designating different people for each show so that it wasn’t the same people from all three shows [would have been a better approach]. There was a lot of overlap, so I think if I had a group of students focus on Show Offs, another group on Sabor Latino, and a different group for the festival, then even though I would’ve been split between the three the students would have only needed to focus on one. It would’ve led to a stronger performance for all three shows.”
Although the month of March was a rough month for those who participated in these events, there were a lot of things they enjoyed about it.
“It’s been [a memorable experience] because we get to do this one last time, and not only that but we get to make memories with the people that you’ve been doing since freshman year,” noted Ramirez.
“Making a lot of memories [was the best part],” according to Hernandez. He additionally participated in Mexico Magico with Teocalli, a studio which he’s a part of. “For instance, it was my first ever show with them which was pretty memorable too.”
The long weeks of practice culminated in the indelible span of three weeks. Weeks filled with controlled chaos and many memories the participants hold dear to them with medals and trophies to remind them of the good times.
