VIVA's annual salsa event shimmies

VIVA members danced, ate and fellowshipped with students and faculty at their annual salsa event, "A Dance for Freedom."VIVA, a Hispanic awareness group, capped off its month long celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, with the Salsa Festival to raise money for charity.

This year, the group is sending proceeds to an international charity called Not for Sale, which deals with the issues of modern day slavery and human trafficking.

The event included an array of traditional Latin American dishes, live music from the Cincinnati band Son Del Caribe and salsa lessons.

Senior Amanda Gomez, one of the leaders of VIVA, said she was pleased to see the hard work pay off.

"There was a lot of planning that went into this event. A lot of different committees were made, so that we could cover more ground this year in order to make the event better," Gomez said.

Gomez also said she was proud of the hard work and the level of leadership brought by returning and new members.

Freshman, Kamila Goldin, a member, participated said she was proud of the organization for raising as much money as it did, but was disappointed with the turnout.

"It was a really good event because we were able to raise more money than we had in previous years, but there wasn't a lot of people there, which was kind of disappointing," Goldin said.

"I guess it's a trade off."

Although Goldin and Gomez were disappointed in the attendance this year, both were excited to report that the group made $800, more money than the group made in previous years.

Goldin said while she was happy to see new faces at the dance, she is ready for VIVA to focus more on the cultural aspects of Latin American life.

"The success of this month made us realize that we want to get beyond the obvious things of food and dancing and expand more on other cultural topics that affect the Latin American community," she said.

Gomez also said she is looking forward to seeing VIVA expand and continue promoting diversity.

"My hope is that VIVA continues to grow, but that it will also stay true to our character as an organization because it really is like a family, and I hope that future leadership continues to keep it that way," she said.