A Bremen High School student group celebrated its Hispanic heritage Saturday, showing off some Latin moves at the Midlothian Public Library.
“I enjoy how it shows off my heritage,” said Emily Orta, a sophomore from Markham. “Working as a group is also very enjoyable.”
Both are reasons why roughly 80 students at the Midlothian school are part of the Fuego Dance Group. Fuego means fire or passion in English, and the group, the children they taught and club sponsor Mayra Martinez displayed just that.
“It was a little challenging at first,” said sophomore Melissa Meza, who lives in Midlothian. “But I overcame my fears of performing in front of an audience.”
Martinez nudged her students and the children to get the dancing just right during the Hispanic Heritage Month event, telling them “jump, jump” and “wipe the sweat off,” motioning how to use their hands to wipe their brows as part of the dance. She started the club in 2014 with only a handful of students.
Martinez’s 3-year-old daughter, Vicky, participated, as did Marceline Stone, 4, who was visiting the library with father, Caleb Stone, of Midlothian.
“I really love to dance and in high school was in dance groups,” said Martinez, who is Mexican-American. “I’m really into the genre personally and that’s why I think it was my niche and I became known as the Fuego sponsor.”
She teaches AP Spanish and Heritage Spanish (for native speakers) at the school and initially took on the club as a volunteer. Over the years, it became so popular the school turned it into a paid position.
“Every year, I say ‘This is too much, with teaching and now I’m a mom, I can’t do it,” said Martinez. “But every single year, I tell the kids this is going to be my last and I hear the sighs and ‘No, that’s not fair.’
“Every time I leave, I leave so much happier,” she said.
But there’s also a good feeling from helping struggling students who join the group.
“Other teachers are very grateful if they’re seeing a student in the club who is not doing great in class,” she said. “I’ve reached that relationship level with the kids where I say, ‘Hey, don’t let me down, I need you in this club.’”
Maricela Kim, the teen services librarian who helped organize Saturday’s event, said she was glad the group came.
“To have a group that is not only part of the Midlothian community but encourages expression in the form of dance to our youth is amazing,” said Kim.
Each year, several students are team captains/choreographers, and research dances to teach their fellow students. They often break up into two groups for performances, Fuego girls, who do singles dances, and Fuego couple’s dances. Some of their dances include “Waka Waka” by Shakira and the popular Bachata-based couples dances that originated in the Caribbean.
The club took a break during the pandemic but then started again, performing at area elementary schools, Midlothian Public Library and a pep assembly for Bremen’s soccer varsity night. They plan a Cinco de Mayo celebration for next year.
The students who join often make more friends as they practice and perform.
“After COVID was over, we got to collaborate with different schools and become more popular,” said senior Genesis Suarez, from Posen, who initially joined as a freshman with her boyfriend, Cristopher Barrere, who said it was something they could do together.
Barrere, a senior from Midlothian, heard about the club from a friend’s older brother.
“I wanted to try it out and it was pretty cool,” he said. “Through word of mouth, a lot of people find out about it.”
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
