Advertising junior Natalie Zamora performed Juan Gabriel’s song “Amor Eterno” (“Eternal Love”) at the Latin Xplosion Friday at the Auditorium.
Pink and red rose petals covered the floor and the words “love” and “amor” shone under the lights at the 11th annual Latin Xplosion on Friday.
The amorous makeover to the Auditorium was the work of 13 students involved with Culturas de las Razas Unidas, or CRU. The group planned Latin Xplosion, a Chicano and Latino talent show.
“We chose the theme because it’s close to Valentine’s Day, but also because of Novelas,” said Crystál Stoll, a member of the Latin Xplosion committee. Novelas, or popular Latino soap operas, inspired the committee to produce its own soap opera, called “Amor Latino.”
Group members performed five-minute scenes from “Amor Latino” between each talent act throughout Latin Xplosion, said Stoll, a journalism junior specializing in Chicano and Latino studies.
In addition to the rapping, singing, stepping and dancing acts that brought Chicano and Latino culture to the stage, Stoll recited a poem she wrote for the show. She said her personal experiences of discrimination served as inspiration for her poem, “Until You Know Me.”
“People outside the Latino community don’t accept me as a Latino,” Stoll said. “They judge me by my last name because it’s not a typical Latino last name.”
Stoll said her lighter skin, which causes people to assume she is not a member of the Latino community, comes from the fact that her mother is Argentinean and her father is white.
Before her act, Stoll said she was excited to share her personal experiences and feelings with more than 400 people who were present at Latin Xplosion. The annual event continues to grow in size every year, committee members said.
The first act of the show featured a step routine by Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority Inc., and Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity Inc. The crowd cheered as the brothers of Sigma Lambda Beta stepped while reciting the history of how their Latino-based multicultural fraternity came to be.
“Our goal was to get a lot of cultural acts to showcase our culture,” said Martha Garcia, a member of the Latin Xplosion committee.
As the case has been in previous years, the majority of acts featured dance routines, Garcia said.
Before participants were able to perform their acts on stage, Latin Xplosion committee members dedicated their creativity and more than four months to the planning process.
“Seeing all the months of hard work coming alive makes you realize that hard work pays off,” said William DéRamus, committee member and secretary.
The planning process was easy compared to the 11 hours spent decorating the Auditorium prior to the show, said DéRamus, a telecommunication, information studies and media senior.
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