Thanks to Lorraine Navarro, a volunteer with Girl Scout Troop 20504, for contributing this blog post!
Last October, we were approached by Centro Latino Americano to perform in their 40th Anniversary and Latino Night celebration. After speaking with the girls and their parents at our next meeting, we all agreed that it sounded like a fun idea! We had had so much success at the girls' first show at Solvang Retirement Center that we decided to keep up with the community performances. After much practicing and picking out our outfits, the Girl Scouts in Hispanic Initiative were ready to go on stage again!
We all met at the Valley River Inn on a cold and rainy Friday night. Some of the girls had their troop vests over their traditional Mexican folk dance outfits. It was an unspoken tradition that we had adopted at our first show. After getting a little lost in the lobby, we made our way to the “Dressing Room.” Much to our surprise, it was catered by Cinnabon and other delicious looking food! In over 20 years dancing, I have never even had a catered dressing room! They really made the girls feel like stars.
After much excitement and a little bit of exploring around the inn, a representative came to our room to inform us that we were going on soon. Everyone seemed a little nervous but we giggled and gave pep talks to reassure the girls. We made our way down the stairs and were stopped by many guests and staff who wanted to compliment our outfits. We stopped near the Centro Latino banquet hall and waited for our names to be called.
There had much practice before the show for our dances and choreography but we didn't really know what our entrance would look like. Once our names were called, we walked in to a very large banquet hall with cameras and lights flashing. It was very much like being super stars. We made our way to the stage and began our dances: La Botella, Los Machetes, La Raspa and Jarabe Tapatio.
We finished up to an enormous applause! Back out in the lobby, we took many pictures, congratulated each other and thanked the Centro Latino coordinators for inviting us to such a fabulous event! We were very proud of the girls. They really pulled together and improvised. We had been missing a dancer and they worked their way around it. It was a show that all of us will definitely never forget!
Earlier this year, Girl Scouts of the USA's CEO Anna Maria Chavez wrote an op-ed in The Huffington Post. You can head over to their site to read the whole thing, but here are a few fun facts we pulled out!
