Austin dancer offers free dance class for Hispanic Heritage Month

AUSTIN, Texas - Ivana Castañeda is a dancer from Colombia. When she moved to Austin about ten years ago, she noticed the city didn’t offer many Latin dance classes.

"I wanted to create a space for, like, us Latinos to come and listen to our songs, to listen to merengue, reggaeton, everything that is about us," Castañeda said.

After graduating from UT, Castañeda starting teaching Latin fusion classes at local dance studios.

"I have students from everywhere, from Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, every single place," Castañeda said. "So, it's kind of like, oh, like this class is very different. It's like I teach you a choreography to a song that you might hear in a radio, in a club, or like you grew up listening to. So, like I started, I wanted to create this space for us."

City of Austin acknowledges Hispanic heritage

It's Hispanic Heritage Month, and the City of Austin made it official today, acknowledging the contributions Latinos make and continue to make in Austin.

Every Latin country has a different style of dance. Castañeda tries to incorporate them in her class.

Castañeda says more people have enrolled in her class because they finally see Latino representation.

"They've been like, loving it," Castañeda said. "I have students that only speak Spanish, and they're like, feel comfortable asking me questions in Spanish, which like in other classes, you don't get that."

For Hispanic Heritage Month, Castañeda wanted to give back to her community and offer a free dance class.