Dance In A Quinceañera

I would never have expected to dance in a quinceañera in high school. I grew up in the white neighborhood of Hermosa Beach, California where I wasn’t exposed to events like quinceañeras. In fact, when my friend asked if I wanted to be her main chambelan for her quinceañera, I gave a response fully exuding my cultural naïveté.
“What the heck is a chambelan?” I replied.
My experience with a quinceañera—apart from becoming a world-class dancer—led me to interact with people of different backgrounds, some of whom didn’t speak English. I grew to love dancing the waltz (or “el valz,” as they called it) and saw how important this event was in the eyes of my friend’s family. I felt extremely grateful to have participated—I also feel grateful now knowing that the main chambelan is the girl’s main date. It wasn’t just quinceañeras that I experienced for the first time in high school. My diverse engineering-focused high school in Hawthorne, California introduced me to many new friends of different backgrounds. At my new school, my friend group wasn’t mostly white anymore; in fact, I was the only white person in it. I would often cross …show more content…
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