Every year, NC State students, faculty and staff gather together for Salsabor, a night of Latin American dancing, food and live music on Saturday in the Piedmont Ballroom in Talley. The event was orchestrated by Mi Familia, a student-run campus organization, and partially funded by Multicultural Student Affairs. Salsabor is held in the fall to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.

According to their webpage, Mi Familia aims to “provide a social, cultural and political forum for the students of North Carolina State University and the surrounding community interested in experiencing and promoting the richness of the international Latino and Hispanic community/culture.” One of the ways that the organizations accomplishes this is by keeping the tradition of Salsabor.

Didier Turcios, a junior studying statistics, has been a part of Mi Familia for as long has he has attended NC State. This year, Turcios is serving as the president of the organization.

“Mi Familia started in 2002,” Turcios said. “I’m not sure if we did [Salsabor] the first year, but we do it every year.”

Turcios explained that salsa has a rich cultural history derived from a variety of different countries and continents.

“Salsa is a dance which origins are Cuban and African,” Turcios said. “There was a mix from Central and South America [which] influenced the salsa. The term ‘salsa’ was first coined here in the U.S.”

Turcios also added that while Salsabor is centered on salsa dancing, they celebrate other dances as well.

“We put some merengue, some cumbia, some bachata, other types of Latin dances,” Turcios said.

The event, attracted roughly 40 to 50 people. All those that attended were dressed elegantly, with the ladies wearing dresses and the men donning pants and button-down shirts. Set up in the ballroom were tables of chips and salsa, beverages, and places to stand and chat. Near the front of the room was a stage set up with instruments.

To begin the event, the NC State Latin American dance group, Sube Ritmos, taught everyone the basics of the salsa dance. Gabriel Carrión, a senior studying engineering and one of the heads of the dance group, was the instructor for the night, and he helped everyone learn the moves and get into rhythm. After everyone had practiced a few times, the band began to play and gave everyone an opportunity to dance to music.

Andres Sanchez, a junior international student from Ecuador studying mechanical engineering, and Emily Tellez, a freshman studying animal science, were each other’s dance partners for the evening. Both Sanchez and Tellez are members of Mi Familia.

“They teach you step-by-step everything, there are so many people that are open to teaching you and helping you, so I thought it was pretty cool,” Tellez said. “I think I did pretty good.”

“For me it’s kind of different because I danced salsa in Ecuador,” Sanchez said. “I’m not a professional dancer, but I liked to dance salsa in discos, in my house, in house parties. But when I came here, I lost everything about [salsa]. It was a really good experience to come here and recover that dancing.”

The night continued with the band playing many different songs, some in Spanish and some in English. The variety of music ranged from Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me” to the Eagles’ “Hotel California.” The band added its own “música Latina” taste to every song, making them perfect for salsa and cumbia dancing.

Throughout the night, the attendees shared dances, conversations and jokes. Some chose to mingle with friends rather than dance, and some were on the dance floor the entire night.