America MarugoMurillo ‘21 lived in Mexico for 12 years before her parents decided to move to America. America says she misses Mexico very much, especially the beaches. “Beaches in Mexico are very beautiful, and it was the first beach I’ve ever been to,” Marugo-Murillo said.

She says she loves the United States, but learning English wasn’t the easiest transition. “Learning English was pretty hard because in Mexico we have English classes, but they aren’t as good,” Marugo-Murillo said. “They only teach you the basics like ‘hello,’ ‘how are you?’ But it was really hard for me because we were leaving everything behind.”

America had to leave everything behind in Mexico. The only thing she got to bring was her dancing. “The things that I left behind was all my family, it was kind of difficult because we would always have a gather up, I grew up knowing them more, when we moved to the US my grandpa was in the hospital but after a couple of months he passed away and it was really difficult for us to go back because my dad had to work and my brother and I had to go to school.”

America has been doing traditional Mexican dancing since she was in kindergarten. At her first school in Mexico, she didn’t have a team but, they were just represented by her school’s name: Escuela Primaria Heroe de Nacozari. When America got to fifth grade, she had to move schools. This new school didn’t have any type of dance team, but she still practiced what she loved to do at home.

Last year America was a part of a group called “Ballet Folklorico Corazon Latino … the kind of people that were on my group in elementary school was really kind, if someone missed practice they would help you learn it right away, and it was also nice because we were the same age, but in the one in Iowa it was different. I was with my cousin and her friends which are 18 and the other girls were 20 so I was the youngest one it was weird at first but I got used to it.” One of America’s favorite dance was Baile Folklórico Jesusita en Chihuahua: a Mexican polka.

 When America performs it helps others learn more about her culture and where she comes from through the form of dance. “My group Corazon Latino has performed in Iowa City, IA, Cedar Rapids, IA, North Liberty, IA, West Liberty, IA, Washington, IA, we have even performed at West High School, City High School, Southeast Junior High, we usually practiced Mondays-Thursdays we would practice 4 hours a day it was really tiring but it was worth it.” America also says even with her Mexican background she is still learning about the culture when she dances. About a year ago America didn’t have time to fit dancing into her school schedule so she decided it was time to quit, but some time in the future she would love to get back into the thing she loves.  

“I love doing dance, even though it is kinda hard,” Marugo-Murillo said. “It just depends on what kinds of dances you learn because there are different types of Mexican dances. But if school get easier I would definitely get back into dancing because I love to teach people about your culture through dancing.”