By Bonnie Eissner

A family day is planned for Ballet Hispánico Way on West 89th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus avenues on Saturday, October 5 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The event, featuring food trucks, dancing, face painting, and much more, is the 2024 Celebración Latina Family Day, Ballet Hispánico’s annual celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs through October 15.

Inside Ballet Hispánico’s building, there will be free performances and dance lessons for all ages. No experience is needed to learn salsa, flamenco, Spanish dance, contemporary dance, and hip-hop. 

“It’s to open our headquarters to everyone,” said Eduardo Vilaro, artistic director and CEO of Ballet Hispánico. He spoke with evident pride about the organization that he has been a part of for 25 years. 

Started 54 years ago as a dance school and small professional company run out of a dilapidated carriage house on the Upper West Side, Ballet Hispánico has become the nation’s largest Latino cultural organization. 

Vilaro joined the company in 1985, the year he graduated from Adelphi University. “I loved it from the minute I walked in,” he said. He saw grandmothers speaking Spanish and sewing flamenco dresses for the kids. For a Cuban immigrant accustomed to feeling a stigma for speaking Spanish in public, it was a haven. 

“I was immediately touring the world, and it was remarkable,” Vilaro said.  

He left the company for close to 15 years before he was invited to return as artistic director in 2009, succeeding founder Tina Ramirez. 

“I certainly have very deep roots, and so I understand the culture of the organization and also its mission and vision fully,” Vilaro said. “But what I did was bring my own brand of what, from my point of view, it means to be Latino Americano.”

Latinos are not one race, but many – Indigenous, Spanish, African, Asian, said Vilaro. To convey that diversity, he has introduced choreography for the dance company that fuses contemporary dance and ballet with traditional folk dances, such as salsa and flamenco. 

The company, which began with seven dancers in 1970, has now performed for more than 2.5 million people on three continents.

The dance school enrolls about 1,000 students a year, ranging in age from 2 to 82. “We have children that are Black and brown … that come from different economic and social areas,” Vilaro said. “So we try to give both the rigor of what it is to be trained but understand that these children need a little bit more support. We do a lot of work to get scholarships.”   

Three years ago, the organization started a tuition-free professional studies program, Pa’lante Scholars.

Ballet Hispánico also runs three-week to three-month residency programs in 45 public schools, which expose K-12 students to forms of Latin American dance during and after the school day. The individualized programs are designed in collaboration with school leaders, Vilaro said. 

“We try to be a cultural beacon for our community, much more than just a dance company,” he said. 

“And we are such a part of the Upper West Side, it’s so exciting,” said Vilaro, who recalled that there was once a crack house down the street from the school. Now there are beautiful townhouses and a community garden. “The neighbors know us. We know them. Our politicians in the area support us,” he said. “It’s really wonderful. It’s been home since 1970.”