Photos by Kevin Warn Orange Coast College s flamenco students make a colorful splash at the Dia de la Raza festival in the Quad Sunday. Bodies pivoted, spun and stepped in cadence to euphonious sounds Sunday as the Quad was transformed into a dance floor for the Dia de la Raza festival. The free day-long event featured musicians, foods and crafts of Latin American descent. Informative booths and dance performances by Orange Coast College students were also part of the festivities.

This is a celebration of people, dance instructor Jose Costas said. It is a celebration of the mixture of cultures. Our dance, our food is not all from one place. Costas is on sabbatical but decided to come back to organize and emcee the event. As the event progressed, his words revealed an unmistakable prophesy. Through music and dance the ambiance seemed to shift as the day wore on and paid tribute to the diversity of the Spanish-speaking hemisphere.

The all-female ensemble Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles serenaded the audience with its ballads and quintessential folk music. Their uniquely-adorned suits and archetypal sombreros brought a little piece of the south-of-the-border culture to Coast. Additionally, the South-American music styles of Iliniza exemplified the convergence of cultures with its blend of Latin rhythms.

As the festival stretched into the late afternoon, the setting was transformed by the Susie Hansen Latin Band into a scene that could have been taken right out of South Beach. The Latin jazz fusion energized a salsa-savvy audience laced with unmistakable Cuban accents. Professional performers were not the only forms of entertainment. Day of the Dead statues were among the many cultural items sold at the Dia de la Raza festival Sunday at OCC.