Latin American Week to feature dancing, Day of the Dead parade

The International House is closing out its Turkey-themed week and coming into the home stretch. There are only two culture weeks left on the schedule, starting with next week’s presentation of Latin American Week.

The Latin American Week has a particular focus on dancing, a popular part of Latin American culture, and it starts on Tuesday with the Coffee House, which takes place in the I-House Great Room at 6:30 p.m.

“This is my favorite part — we get to have a tango class,” Qi Fu, I-House graduate assistant and director of the Coffee House series, said.

“The two teachers are from Knoxville Argentine Tango Society,” Fu said. “So they are pretty professional.”

The Knoxville Argentine Tango Society dancers take their craft seriously, Fu explained.

“They said that the Argentine tango is the only ‘real tango,’” she said.

Fu said that guests would not only be treated to free dance lessons but that there would also be prizes.

“We have some tango music CDs to give away as door prizes,” she said.

The Culture Night on Wednesday night will feature dancing, too, thanks to the Latin American Student Organization’s plans for the evening.

“It’s LASO,” Richard Toomer, director of the Culture Nights, explained. “They’re always dancing!”

The dance demonstration will present the dances of different regions of Mexico.

In addition to the dancing, the theme of the night will specifically focus on Mexico.

“They’ll be doing a Day of the Dead parade,” Toomer said. “They’ll do the parade, and they’ll also do a presentation about (it).”

There will also be a general presentation about Mexican culture and traditions, as well as a fashion show. And as always, LASO is preparing a meal for all guests to enjoy.

The Culture Night will take place on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m.

Thursday’s movie will be the 2007 Mexican film “Under the Same Moon” (”La Misma Luna”). It will show at the I-House Great Room at 6:30 p.m., instead of its normal home at Hodges Library.

As many frequent I-House attendees might have noticed, the I-House’s I-EVENTS e-mail listing has recently been shut down. However, Fu said the I-House would now post updates of its upcoming events and all updates on its official Facebook page.

Also the I-House has a frequently updated Web site: http://web.utk.edu/~ihouse. One can find more information about upcoming events there or at the I-House itself, located on Melrose Avenue across from Hess Hall.

After next week’s Latin American Week, the final one will take place Nov. 16-20, and the theme will be the Middle East.