{"id":172848,"date":"2026-05-05T17:47:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T21:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=172848"},"modified":"2026-05-08T15:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:29:11","slug":"celebration-of-culture-and-belonging-that-is-here-to-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2026\/05\/05\/celebration-of-culture-and-belonging-that-is-here-to-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebration of culture and belonging that is \u2018here to stay\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Josiah Lee Johnson \u201929 visited Bates as a high school student, he wasn\u2019t sure what it would be like to leave New York City and attend a school that might be so different from his home. Here for Bates Beginnings, he attended the cultural showcase co-hosted by the Caribbean Student Association (CSA) and Ra\u00edces Unidas. While he might have been considering several colleges when the showcase began, it was a decisive event.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the host pulled me onto the stage, the sudden shift from spectator to participant transformed my experience,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cHearing that roar of the crowd wasn’t just a warm welcome, it was an instinctive confirmation that I wouldn\u2019t have to marginalize my own identity to fit in. In that moment of collective energy, the abstract idea of \u2018community\u2019 became a tangible reality, and I knew I had found my place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"student
Josiah Lee Johnson \u201929 of New York City performs at the joint cultural showcase of Ra\u00edces Unidas and the Caribbean Students Association. (Avery Lehman for Bates College)

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Johnson chose Bates, and this year he found himself back on stage as a first-year student. He was one of more than 60 performers in the showcase which highlights and celebrates  \u2014 through performance \u2014 diverse cultures of the Caribbean and Latin American students at Bates. This year\u2019s showcase on April 17 was entitled \u201cHere to Stay: Rhythms that Raised Us,\u201d which points to both the past and future cultural influence of Latine and Caribbean cultures in the United States and at Bates. In addition to traditional dances, there were also contemporary dances, singers, and performances from collaborating groups 2Beats, Bollywood Dance Team, and the Deansmen. Samba Viva, a Brazilian samba ensemble based in Boston, joined the performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrea Alfonzo \u201927 of Long Island City, N.Y., was deeply involved with this year\u2019s production, both backstage and onstage. A biology major with a dance minor, Alfonzo worked alongside other members of CSA and Ra\u00edces Unidas to coordinate the evening of entertainment and community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis showcase has always been incredibly impactful for our community because it gives us the opportunity to express a part of ourselves that we often don\u2019t get to share in other spaces,\u201d Alfonzo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Students perform in a CSA dance choreographed by Andrea Alfonzo and Aaron Martinez. “Rhythms that Raised Us” is the joint cultural showcase of Ra\u00edces Unidas and the Caribbean Students Association. This event highlights the cultures, sounds, and stories that have shaped Latine and Caribbean identities, from the rhythms students grew up with to the ways they continue to carry and express them here at Bates. (Avery Lehman for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Aaron Martinez \u201926 of New York City (with family from Ecuador and Puerto Rico) was invited to participate in the showcase during his first year at Bates, as a model for one of the Carnival costumes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat year somebody was organizing a dance and they didn’t really have that many people. I was like, \u2018Okay, I can do it. I know how to move a little bit. Why not?\u2019” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before he knew it, he found himself even more involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martinez stepped up as a leader his sophomore year and helped bring a new generation of students to the organization and the showcase. He will graduate this semester with minors in dance and Latin American & Latinx Studies. (He also just completed his thesis for his economics major.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Bates Bollywood Dance Team performs at “Rhythms that Raised Us” with Sivani Arvapalli \u201926 of South Windsor, Conn., at center. (Avery Lehman for Bates College)
 
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For some students involved in this year\u2019s showcase, there was a clear urgency to claim space and celebrate culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt a deep responsibility to contribute a role that is both personal and political,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe currently live in a political climate where the rights of immigrants and people of color are under constant scrutiny and support systems are being dismantled. That being said, I wanted my performance to be a deliberate act of reclamation.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Boston-based Brazilian dance ensemble SambaViva performs and pulls audience members on stage with them. (Avery Lehman for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Acknowledging that everything is political, Martinez noted the celebratory elements of the cultural showcase. \u201cIt felt amazing to be able to share and spread the message in a way that didn’t feel super political,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cIt felt like more of a celebration of our culture than a fight or a struggle. I think a lot of the times what’s highlighted is the struggle, but I think there’s a lot to say about the resistance being joy. Joy is resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sebenele Lukhele \u201926 (left) of Manzini, Eswatini, and Mo Al-jabry \u201928 of Singapore perform at the cultural showcase. (Avery Lehman for Bates College)
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Alfonzo expressed a similar sentiment, as she looked back at the success of the show that she helped bring together.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like a big part of the showcase is bringing joy to each other and celebrating together. That’s my main takeaway,\u201d Alfonzo said. \u201c\u2018Here to stay\u2019 is a way of saying that we belong, that we matter, that we deserve to be here and to stay and to celebrate and to keep showing our cultures and to be proud of them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 60 performers participated in this year’s cultural showcase which highlights and celebrates\u00a0 \u2014 through performance \u2014 diverse cultures of the Caribbean and Latin American students at Bates. This year\u2019s showcase on April 17 was entitled \u201cHere to Stay: Rhythms that Raised Us,\u201d which points to both the past and future cultural influence of Latine and Caribbean cultures in the United States and at Bates. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1917,"featured_media":172855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[11010,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-batesnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1917"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172848"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173009,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172848\/revisions\/173009"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}