Exciting New Trip to The Dominican Republic

By MAX LITVAK ‘20

This year, for the first time at Milton, Mrs. Shea-Caraballo is organizing a trip to the Dominican Republic for the students in Spanish 4 honors, 5, or 6 who have expressed interest in music and/or dance. The trip will take place over the course of 10 days during spring break. Shea-Caraballo is organizing the trip through the company Where There be Dragons, which also hosts the trip to Jordan with Mr. Emmott. Different from the Spanish exchange, this trip will center around Dominican culture, with a specific focus on local music and dance. The trip primarily functions to immerse students in the culture of the DR with an emphasis on these art forms, rather than a strong emphasis on language skill building.

Mrs. Shea-Caraballo teaches Spanish 6, which, she said, focuses on music and dance in the Caribbean. The class uses some of the most popular musical and dance genres of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean to explore different facets of social identities and the history and countries of origin of the genres. Spanish 6 students explore the history, instrumentation, rhythms, lyrics, dance movements and aesthetics of key genres such as merengue, bachata, and reggaeton while also examining themes such as national identity, socioeconomic class, race, sexuality, and gender. This trip is meant mainly for Spanish 6 students but is also open to others in other advanced Spanish classes. Mrs. Shea-Caraballo said, however, that the trip is designed for higher-level students who have a strong grasp of the language and an interest in the art forms so that they can be fully immersed in the rich culture of music and dance.

Besides learning about just music and dance, Shea-Caraballo said that students on the trip will experience the general culture of the DR. For the majority of the trip, students will be in Santiago, the country’s second largest city, with host families. However for a day or two before and after their time in the city, they will stay in the countryside, near the beach. In this way, students will get to experience multiple aspects of Dominican scenery and culture. Shea-Caraballo plans for them to participate in a variety of activities ranging from learning how to make chocolate or coffee, to learning about the history of the country from locals, to doing all sorts of activities with host families

Focusing on music and dance, students will learn about and play native Dominican instruments such as the tambora, while also taking dance classes at a local dance studio. The dance classes will not specifically be for Milton students but instead be already existing classes so that students can experience authentic dance. Besides just taking music classes similar to ones potentially taken at Milton, Shea-Caraballo said that, more importantly, students will be able to hear “the music on the streets or at the beach” and see what role music and dance plays in the country’s culture; they will experience “the real life applications of bachata, merengue, and other styles of music.”

Another focus of the trip, like other Dragons trips, is engaging with the local community. Throughout the trip, Milton students will spend time with locals, including underprivileged youth at the Bachata Academy, a project that helps them find vocation through playing traditional music for the community to enjoy. Through these interactions, Mrs. Shea-Caraballo hopes for students to learn about many parts of the Dominican culture.

This will be the first year that this trip takes place, so Shea-Caraballo, along with Dragons, is still in the process of finalizing the itinerary. She hopes that this trip could be an annual trip for students studying higher levels of Spanish who are interested in music or dance.