The annual Hispanic Heritage Month celebration attracted parents and students of all backgrounds on Oct. 29. Students of Ms. Ester Galo’s AP and IB Spanish classes participated in the 21-act performance.“The performance was an artistic blend between choreography, design [and] planning.” sophomore Ayub Ahmed, who attended the performance, said. “It was a combination between different clubs in the school, all combined into one beautiful cultural exhibit. It really changed my view on the student body [of] Bellaire.”

Even with a large number of Central and South American students in the performance, the Hispanic Heritage Month celebration was still a demonstration of how diverse Bellaire is with the amount of different ethnicities participating.

“What really struck me was it wasn’t [just] Hispanic people performing,” Ahmed said. “It was [also] a blend of [other races].”

Spanish teacher Esther Galo sponsored and helped orchestrate the event Tuesday night.

“We have a very big Spanish speaking population here at Bellaire, and of course, the school is very diverse, so it’s an opportunity for students to feel like they’re represented and also for students that are not Latinos to learn about the Latino culture,” Galo said.

A central part of the celebration was the variety of dances from a range of countries. These dances, including bachata, salsa, tribal, huapango and cumbiata, were all put on by current AP and IB Spanish students. Sophomore Nisha Thukral took part in the Bachata dance.

“I wanted to participate just to have fun with my friends and to try something new,” Thukral said. “Everyone who performed [ended the performance] with smiles on their faces and the crowd was cheering the whole time. I learned more about teamwork because in my class we all had to work together to create a fun dance while also learning about the culture of our chosen country, [El Salvador].”

The performance also featured a wide variety of music ranging from Mexican regional music to “Ojala que Llueva Caf” sung by senior Soleiman Barrera Kelly.

“I think [the performance] was really interesting,” sophomore and attendee Jerron Holgate said. “I really enjoyed the songs. I actually took some of the names of some of the songs, and I’m going to listen to some of them when I get home”

A later performance featured two guitarists, one of whom was sophomore Brian Portillo, who performed “Baby” by Eslabon Armado with junior Moises Lobo.

“I was super nervous,” Portillo said. “[But when I was] at the curtain, I was getting a little more confident. Once I got up there, in the dark [next to] the lights on stage, I saw my family, and they were cheering for me and my friends. I knew I [was] gonna be okay.”

Another highlight of the celebration was the duet between the brothers senior Jose Martinez and Jonathan Martinez, a Bellaire alumni. They performed “No Le Aflojo” by Fuerza Regida and “Disfruto Lo Malo” by Junior H.

“The celebration was special for me particularly because my brother used to be a student at Bellaire 10 years ago,” Jose Martinez said. “So it was like him saying goodbye to Bellaire and also him helping me do a show for my senior year.”

Galo, the sponsor of LSL (LULAC, Spanish, and Latin Revolution Club), helped give the students more than just a fun experience.

“One of the most beautiful things I saw was the fact that my students felt more connected with their classmates, built relationships and then also had the opportunity to do something they would have probably never done in the past,” Galo said.