FOUNDING MEMBERS & HISTORY

Los Fundadores y Nuestra Historia

Just as we seek to spread the history of Latin American culture through performance, ¡Baila! adamantly believes in recognizing and appreciating our own roots as a dance troupe on the Johns Hopkins campus.

Before ¡Baila!, there was OLÉ Dance. OLÉ Dance was an extension of the OLÉ Latinx Student Group on campus and specialized on Mexican folkloric dancing. OLÉ Dance consisted of Leslie Ocampo Badilla (OLÉ Dance's founder and OLÉ's president at the time), Jorge Alvarado, and Lisa del Pio.

In 2012, Daniel Ricardo came in as a freshman and noticed a lack of Latinx representation during Hopkins' annual O-Show, meant to showcase Hopkins' dance groups during the early weeks of fall semester. As a part of the OLÉ Latinx Student Group, Daniel proposed bringing his JUMP friends and expanding OLÉ Dance into a unique Latinx dance team that performed merengue, salsa, and bachata in addition to the traditional folkloric dancing. Leslie agreed and thus began the new and improved OLÉ Dance, informally ¡Baila!, pictured below (2012-14).

Featured above, from left to right: Back row, Lisa del Rio, Pamela Saavedra, Kimberly Iboy, Jorge Alvarado, Leslie Ocampo Badilla, Gabriela Abril Sarmiento, Maria Laura Reategui, Ariana Cruz, Leslie Peralta; Front row, Ronan Carrero, Randy Cruz, Francisco Fernandez, Daniel Ricardo Chang, and Roberto Carlos Ramirez

Not pictured: Melissa Sajnani, Amanda Daniella Garcia, Gigi Cabello, and Eduardo Alvarado

This was just the very beginnings of a group that would eventually evolve to become the baila we know today. The baila we know today was beginning to form at this time, thanks to the new leadership of Gabriela Abril and Daniel Ricardo. We are very grateful for Leslie Ocampo’s vision and her contributions to helping OLE Dance’s early transition into the ¡Baila! we know today. We are also grateful for Leslie Peralta, another important leader throughout this transition. Gabriela was a transfer student who grew up dancing in Colombia and came to Hopkins as a junior in 2012. Daniel was training to become a dance instructor. At the time, they were the two most experienced dancers on the team.

From 2012 to 2014, the members of OLÉ Dance / ¡Baila! went through the daunting and drawn out process of applying to become an independent student group. As OLÉ Dance was an extension of OLÉ Latinx Student Group, they were dependent on small portion of OLÉ's already inadequate funds. In the Spring of 2014, they were finally approved to become an official independent group with proper funding come Fall 2014.

At this point, Daniel and Gabi had just started dating and became a powerhouse. Leslie Ocampo Badilla stepped way from the organization in order to pursue more career oriented activities and prepare to graduate and ¡Baila! was in need of new leadership. Naturally, Daniel and Gabi stepped in.

The follows who performed at O-Show in Fall 2014, under Daniel and Gabi's new leadership.

The leads who performed at O-Show in Fall 2014, under Daniel and Gabi's new leadership.

Fun Fact: Our iconic lead serenades were started by Daniel and his Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity, Inc. brothers and were brought to ¡Baila! as a leads' solo dance for O-Show.

Following their Fall 2014 performance, ¡Baila! was officially opened to the entire student community, raking up 90 students at the first practice of the semester. Spring 2015 marked ¡Baila!'s first showcase, comprising of people who came in with zero experience the semester before. This team is what is considered the first class of ¡Baila! to be trained by Daniel and Gabi as they put in the time, effort, and dedication to be undeniably performance ready by showcase season. Not only did these people begin from zero but they also shaped ¡Baila! after Daniel and Gabi graduated/moved away to continue on in their medical journeys.

Fun Fact: both Daniel and Gabi are currently surgeons! A power couple indeed :')

Gabi and Daniel the night of Culture Show (Nov. 2014)

Daniel & Gabi with ¡Baila!'s first class at Fall 2014's culture show, featuring - Pedro Gomez, Alondra Paulino, Priscilla Garza, Wendy Piedra, Lauren Zingaro, Eileen Ramirez, Juliet Villegas, Tatiana Sorenson, Santiago Encarnacion, Gabo Sousa-Ebert, Mauricio Silva, Christopher Hurtado, Joel Zaldumbide, Kiana Rodgers

Hopkins' Winter Talent Show, featuring Gabi Abril Sarmiento, Gabo Sosa Ebert, and Lauren Zingaro (Dec. 2014)

¡Baila!'s first showcase (May 2015)

By Fall 2015, Gabi and Daniel had established a striking team of about 50 students from people who had come in with little to no experience the previous fall. In Spring 2016, the team participated in its first competition at the Naval Academy, coming in first place among Latinx dance teams of the region.

Culture Show Fall 2015

¡Baila!'s first competition at the Naval Academy (May 2016)

In Fall 2016, the team expanded even more and in Fall 2017, ¡Baila! began having auditions. Gabi and Daniel continued serving as alumni advisors.

¡Baila! 2017-18

In Fall 2018, ¡Baila! competed at College Park for the first time and came in second place. Below is a clip from the competition.

We give thanks to our founders, Daniel and Gabi, as well as everyone who has come before us for paving the way and making us into who we are today. Thank you for giving us a home, a family, and a little something to look forward to on Mondays and Saturdays :)