Dominican students’ dance party a success
Friday night in Logan, a place about as un-Caribbean as they come, the sounds of merengue and bachata music came throbbing from the interior of Club NVO. Spanish was the language of choice. Dancing was a must. The Dominican Student Association was having a party.
DSA President Ariel Rosario said the party, which 245 people attended, was a resounding success and gave the Dominican students a forum to celebrate their culture together, and to share it with others.
“It was the bomb,” said Rosario, a graduate student studying business administration. “I went to Wal-Mart and people were talking about it, saying, ‘When are we going to do the next one?'”
Rosario said he started the DSA in the fall in response to 56 new Dominican students coming to USU on full scholarships from their government. He said when the wave of Dominican students he first came with arrived, there wasn’t a lot of formal leadership and he wanted to create some sort of organization for the incoming group.
“We wanted to provide an example,” Rosario said. “Tell them what the rules are, keep them out of trouble, tell them what professors not to take, you know, stuff like that.”
At Friday’s “Dominican Blast-Off” party, the DSA celebrated their Dominican culture through dancing and music and reached out to share it with others, giving dance lessons to anyone who was willing to learn.
“It was great,” said Carolina Candelario, a sophomore majoring in marketing. “I didn’t think there were going to be so many people, and I didn’t think they were going to be so open-minded, so friendly, so willing to dance. But they weren’t embarrassed; they were just dancing.”
Rosario said he’s been getting praise about the party from Dominicans and non-Dominicans alike, which he said is an indication of the party’s success.
“The integration of people, the dancing, the dance contest, the performance – that made it good,” Rosario said. “That’s one of the ways we have to portray the Dominican culture, what we’re all about.”
Now with one semester behind them, those Dominican students that came to USU in the fall say they are adjusting to American life and finding a familiar tropical warmth in the company of each other.
Masil Estevez, a freshman studying computer science, said the cornerstone to her experience has been having other Dominican students to share it with.
“It’s really, really important, because then I can feel like I’m in my country,” Estevez said. “They have the same culture. I don’t get homesick with them here. It’s a beautiful experience.”
She said that with other Dominicans around, it was easier to make the necessary adjustments when they arrived here in the fall. One of the biggest adjustments the students had to make was the transition from a tropical climate to Logan’s notorious chill.
“Oh, I was dying,” Estevez said. “People told me in Utah it’s cold, but I came and I felt the reality. But the first time I saw snow, it was really beautiful. The mountains are beautiful.”
Roberto Castillo, a freshman majoring in civil engineering, said he likes sledding, but the snow can get to be too much.
“Honestly, I like the snow, you know,” Castillo said. “But after three days, the snow starts to stink.”
But Fernando Escobar, a freshman majoring in finance, said his favorite experience at USU has been learning how to snowboard.
“I learned by myself,” he said. “I went with my friends and they taught me the basics. I fell like 1,000 times.”
Castillo said what he likes about USU is the opportunity to meet people from different cultures.
“I meet people from Africa, China, different people from American cities,” Castillo said. “I like to live here.”
He said he enjoyed the DSA party Friday because it was another opportunity for him to enjoy his Dominican culture while having that cultural exchange.
“Everybody had a good time learning how to dance,” Castillo said. “The people were so positive. They don’t know how, but they want to try. It made me feel proud that they want to learn about my culture. They can feel like we feel at home. Dancing is very important to us.”
Candelario said she has been happy with the reception given to the Dominican students.
“Utah people are very friendly,” she said. “They’re way friendly and open minded. We’re very lucky because everybody is interested in our culture and wants to know about us.”
The American experience for these Dominican students has in some ways met, and in other ways fallen short, of the expectations they had when they first arrived.
Estevez said people have been more friendly than she had expected.
“I thought that Americans wouldn’t like Dominicans because of race,” Estevez said. “I thought they might be racist, but I was wrong. I thought they might be shy, but now I have American friends.”
Escobar said he has had somewhat the opposite experience.
“For example, my culture is friendly and loud and we like to meet people. But when we would talk to people, they would act scared,” he said.
He added that the expectations he had about American behavior were influenced by American movies.
“Before I came here, I saw all the movies like ‘American Pie,’ and I thought it would be like that, and it wasn’t like the movies,” he said. “I wasn’t disappointed, but it wasn’t like the movies.”
When it comes to their education, the Dominican students say they are grateful to be here. Estevez said she loves going to school at USU and is constantly improving her English.
“I feel very comfortable here,” Estevez said. “The most important thing is the professors are helpful. They have more communication, they try to help you. In my country, the professors don’t care about you sometimes. They say, ‘You study,’ and that’s all. Not all of them, but some. But here they give you respect.”
Escobar echoed the sentiment.
“I love the classes over here,” he said. “The professors try to help you, which is totally different from my country.”
With that in mind, Rosario said the more than $400 raised at Friday’s party will be given to the USU Dominican Alumni Association to help future Dominican students pay for paperwork and the other expenses that aren’t covered by the Dominican government, so it will be easier for their families to send them here.
“It’s our way of giving back to the country,” he said. “All we really have to do is go to classes, so we want to help our country.”
While the Dominican students say they miss their families, the food and the parties of their home, they say having so many others to share their experience with has been key. Castillo said without the other Dominicans, his experience at USU would be much more difficult.
“Oh, oh, oh … It would be really tough,” Castillo said. “You can’t imagine how different it would be without the other Dominicans here. It would be so lonely. If we were here alone, we wouldn’t be so outgoing. It would take longer, the process, to adapt to this place.”
Candelario said living in Utah has been an adjustment because there are a lot more rules to follow.
“In the Dominican Republic, there’s so much more freedom,” she said. “Here there’s so much more rules. There’s rules where you live, there’s rules in the street. In the Dominican Republic, nobody would call the cops because the music was too loud.”
Castillo agreed and said he and his friends play their music loud in the dorms anyway.
“In my country we have to respect some rules, but we don’t have so much pressure from the police. When these guys start playing the music in their rooms loud, the merengue, the bachata and I’m studying, that just makes me feel like home,” he said. “Back home, I would be in my room making an assignment and my neighbors would be playing their music loud. It’s just like home.”
“Music is just part of our culture,” Candelario agreed. “Since you’re little, you’re dancing. You go to the clubs Wednesday through Sunday – they’re packed. In the house, you always play music.”
Castillo said the new American rules can be good and bad, depending on how you look at it. He said one American standard he likes is crosswalks.
“I like rules; that makes America what it is,” he said. “For example, when you’re walking by and all the cars stop because you’re walking. In my country you have to be careful – instead of stopping, they speed. You have to run.”
Castillo said he was disappointed by one standard at Friday’s party at Club NVO, since everybody had to leave when the club closed at 1 a.m.
“We go way into the night,” Castillo said. “We are just starting, you know? We just like so much partying. We have a lot of energy. It comes from the music, I think.”
Castillo, who said he grew up watching “Saved By the Bell,” has been able to adjust to American life more quickly because of the media.
“It’s easy for us to get used to American culture,” he said. “We have cable, so we watch American shows. We watch the ‘Simpsons,’ ‘The O.C.,’ ‘SportsCenter.'”
He said the more difficult adjustment to make was to Utah culture.
“I had kind of a cultural shock with the Mormon thing,” Castillo said. “Sometimes I feel like there’s a wall there. I think the real thing is it’s the first time I’m in an environment without my same religion. It’s hard to be in a city with people who have different traditions and beliefs. But I like that they believe so much.”
Overall, Castillo said he is enjoying his time at USU.
“Right now, I’m just living it up,” he said. “I’m having fun, meeting new people, learning about the Mormon culture, the American holidays. I’m just happy to be here. I appreciate what God gave me right now, this opportunity.”
-jenbeasley@cc.usu.edu