Gral. Belgrano, Argentina. Since its revival in 2017, the Basque club in General Belgrano, in the province of Buenos Aires, has stayed active especially in the areas of Basque and dance, but also by hosting open festivities for the community like the celebration of Diaspora Day. After resuming its activity after three decades, Basque language and dance classes had been taught, until recently, by instructors form the Basque Country who happened to be there, Edurne Altune and Joana Ourthiague.
This year, adapting to virtual gatherings due to COVID-19, Gure Etxea didn’t only continue with language and dance classes, they also did so with their own teachers. Basque was taught by Natalia Urcola, club member and a teacher in training in the Euskara Munduan Program, and dance is being taught by Bárbara Pérez Arrua, a teacher of folklore and classic dance.
According to Sonia Etchelet, from the club, she also a language student, “Classes take place twice a week; we learn a log and we also play; the teacher works hard too and includes recreational activities with our homework.” She also stressed the great atmosphere int eh group that has now has a dozen students that interact on social media.
In regards to dance, Etchelet explained that they had to cancel in person practice, but that they ahd been working on incorporating basic steps through videos: “The idea is that when we can finally gather again, we will already have mastered the basic steps so we can start dancing.”
“We hope that social gatherings can resume soon so that we can return to celebrate and get going on pending issues like elections for the board of directors,” the club’s secretary told EuskalKultura.eus.
Euskal Etxea in Gral. Belgrano on Facebook, Gure Etxea (Centro Vasco de General Belgrano)
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