Desert dance workshop “High Heel Dance”. Photo by Luisa Barrios – KTSM
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) dance organization is trying to make its way into the heart of Borderland.
Desert Dance is a student organization implementing new strategies to bring dance events, workshops and fundraising not only to the UTEP community, but to the Borderland community as well.
KTSM spoke with the organization's president, Gabriela Muñoz. She is a junior majoring in dance and linguistics and is helping the dance department grow and emerge.
During the spring semester, the department hosts several workshops on different types of dance, Muñoz said.
In past years, these workshops were only available to UTEP students and some were a requirement for certain dance courses.
This year that changed.
The department decided they wanted to stop limiting the experience by expanding these workshops to non-students as well, welcoming anyone to come and dance.
The cost of each workshop is $10 for non-students/non-members and $15 for those who want to become a Desert Dance member. You must be a UTEP student to become a member, Muñoz said.
For Desert Dance members, the workshops are free.
On the afternoon of Friday, March 29, the last workshop of this season was held.
The heel dancing workshop led by UTEP student Daniela Duarte was a different and lively experience for attendees.
As the name suggests, the dance involves performing a routine in high heels from start to finish.
Duarte began training in high heels in 2021, making it one of her favorite dance styles and supporting an outlet to further explore her feminine power, read Duarte's workshop description on the Desert Dance Instagram account.
Despite the complexity of the dance, Duarte made sure to keep attendees safe and comfortable at all times.
Providing water breaks, constantly asking if everyone is okay, and even changing some parts of the choreography if it gets too complicated for attendees, are some of the few examples of how Duarte makes everyone in the room enjoy the experience to the fullest.
The purpose of expanding the workshops to non-students is for the community to have a safe, open space with access to dance opportunities like Duarte's workshop, Muñoz said.
“I feel like dancing is a big part of our culture, and as a Mexican I realize that now. Not only folkloric and traditional, we have a high percentage of hip-hop here, not only at UTEP but in El Paso,” Muñoz said. “A lot of people are very interested in attending Dance workshops I think at UTEP it's a little difficult because people don't know where to go and they get lost. But overall, people are very interested and I feel like if we give that to them, a lot of people will be able to go, and it will be a very fun experience for everyone. We hope that these workshops can generate more revenue and increase demand.”
The dance department is working to bring these workshops to the fall semester for the first time, in hopes of gaining more visibility and sharing the art of dance with the community, Muñoz concluded.
You can learn more about Desert Dance here, or follow them on Instagram.
