By Anna Hu
SPECIAL TO EASTBOSTON.COM
At 6 a.m. on the last day of summer, Madeleine Steczynski and her event planner were overseeing a stage crew set up for the East Boston Latin Music and Dance Festival on the open fields of a local park. It was cold, it was wet, and the forecast kept pushing back when the rain would stop.
By 10 a.m. the two stages were set up, but Steczynski and the planning committee realized they would have to bring the festival indoors to the studio of ZUMIX, a youth and arts centered community organization that coordinates the event, and where Steczynski is executive director. They put out the word on social media, and waited.
Now in its third year, the spark for this festival came from Sen. Lydia Edwards of the Third Suffolk district (which includes East Boston). Edwards introduced the idea of a Latin cultural festival in 2021. After the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, she wanted to bring people together, and enlisted ZUMIX and other collaborators to plan the event.
The success of the first two years paved the way for a new tradition, offering a space for East Boston residents and beyond to enjoy song, food, and dance.
The community didn’t disappoint, braving the rain to gather inside the cozy studio, hanging up wet coats and lining the walls as they cheered on performers.
Standing in front of a stage chock-full of musical instruments and a black curtain illuminated by colorful lights, ZUMIX students opened the event. Their vocal ensemble, Voces, performed Luis Enrique’s Yo No Sé Mañana and The Chain by Fleetwood Mac, followed by twelve-year-old Leo Lopez singing ballads in Spanish and playing the guitar.
In addition to performing, young people in the community were working on the technical side of the event. A fourteen-year-old ran sound, and sixteen-year-old Pablo Giraldo and his father Yeison videotaped the whole event –with the son teaching his father.
Johnny Giraldo, co-founder and director of the dance company Salsa y Control, emceed for the third time alongside José C. Massó III, the trailblazing host of ¡Con Salsa! on WBUR. The duo was fresh from hosting the Embrace Massó “¡Con Salsa!” International Music Festival a week earlier, where Massó was honored with a day named after him in the City of Boston.
Giraldo particularly enjoyed local band La Rockola Boston. “They did a great job engaging the audience, singing and dancing with them,” he said. Indeed, La Rockola was seen venturing into their crowd even singing in a kick line.
More performances came from Omar Clavijo y su Son Latino playing Andean music with panpipes and guitars, a mariachi group from the Veronica Robles Cultural Center (another partner in the event), and Jesus Pagan y su Orquesta playing salsa.
While the musicians performed, the crowd danced. Audience members took to the floor in pairs, by themselves, or with their children.
“I am in love with our community because everybody showed up. Everybody contributed in their own way,” Steczynski said.
Among those contributing were the dozen local eateries that catered the event, including Bono Restaurant, La Hacienda, Pazza on Porter, and Brasil Brazil. FaceArt, a non-profit, provided face-painting and donated its tips to medical treatment for service animals.
Steczynski estimated about 200 dancers, musicians and vendors participated in the festival, and another 800 attendees strolled in over the course of the day.
Every age group was represented: from toddlers in strollers to parents and grandparents holding a baby. Somehow that baby slept while the music played.
In addition to the spontaneous dancing, choregraphed performances delighted the crowd. A team from Salsa y Control sparkled as they ran through three salsa numbers, settling into deep splits and executing sharp spins.
Giraldo then led a salsa workshop, inviting audience members to participate. SambaViva came out with Brazilian folk dances and carnival costumes bedecked in bright feathers, drawing audience members out onto the floor.
Bajucol Dance Company performed folk dances, and the youth dancers of the Veronica Robles Cultural Center put out a series of contemporary and traditional Colombian and Mexican dances, including a colorful skirt twirling duet.
“I felt it, the sense of community,” Giraldo said, emphasizing the joy of being able to gather in a shared space. “Despite the rain, we’re still going to dance.”
Anna Hu is a freelance writer in Jamaica Plain, Boston.
