The Baile, translating to The Dance, is a school cultural event that united over two hundred students a few years ago, but it has been canceled two years in a row.
The Baile is an event that showcases Hispanic culture; this year it was set to take place on March 22 at PRHS. Lizbeth Contreras, 3 year member of MEChA, was helping with the planning of the event, “I think it’s a way to celebrate our Mexican culture, there aren’t many events like The Baile, it’s pretty special to us,” Contreras said
Almost 3 years ago, the first ever Baile was created by the ACT club and MEChA club which was a huge success selling over two hundred tickets. The planning committee from 2023 hoped that the Baile would transform into a yearly school event because huge support and excitement came from it.
PRHS has 56.7% of their current students identifying as Hispanic/Latino. The Baile is one of the few events that brings a cultural connection within the school.
The MEChA club began selling their tickets $5 (w/ASB) and $8 (w/o ASB) early in March and in the span of two weeks, the club only managed to sell eleven tickets in total.
Three days before the Baile was going to happen, the MEChA club officially declared The Baile canceled on their Instagram account. Despite their efforts in promoting The Baile and going as far as purchasing posters from the PRHS Business Club; MEChA did not manage to sell enough tickets thus resulting in cancellation of the dance.
This is the second year that the baile is unable to happen due to the lack of ticket sales:“We’re very disappointed with the outcome because we put so much effort into it,” said Jessica Lopez, Co-President of MEChA, and 3 years in the club.
Lopez expressed that she had put in many hours in creating posters, flyers, reaching out to vendors to sell at the baile, and getting the PRHS Mexican Regional Music Class class involved.
“It’s super upsetting, but we will definitely try again next year,” said Lopez.
Having to tear down posters and refund tickets, Lizbeth Contreras acknowledges the heartbreak of canceling. “The lack of ticket sales shows a lack of support within the community, two years ago, The Baile was a huge hit because it was open to the middle schoolers,” said Contreras. 
Nobody is more disappointed than Jasmin McEntire, advisor for the MEChA club, “My students worked so hard. The MEChistas began advertising at the beginning of March, and everything in hopes that we would sell for two weeks and we would have our baile,” said McEntire.
McEntire explains that MEChA had huge support from the PRHS staff and it wasn’t the cost of the baile that canceled it, the lack of ticket sales from students caused its cancellation.
McEntire wishes to give a special thanks to Humberto Cera, his performers, for always being willing to perform at the baile, Jennifer Bedrosian for promoting the baile through the school speaker, BreAnne Overton for the MECHA posters, and Carlos Guzman for being one of their food vendors.
“We had huge help from Mrs. Overton, huge help from admin, and the vendors were flexible and ready to go. They were always willing to collaborate.”
Humberto Cera and his band performers were flexible with the date change, practiced to perform, and uploaded a video to promote the Baile on the MEChA instagram account. Emily Chen, a MEChA member & a band performer, says “Everyone in 1st period was super excited for the baile and during 1st period, people recorded the video in hopes it would get people to attend.”
MEChA club members were in the ASB office selling tickets for eight days in a row, but despite their efforts, the total number of tickets sold was only 11 out of the 2,093 Bearcats on campus and the previous year there were only 7 ticket sales. The MEChA club had an administrator, school resource officer, two local food vendors, and ten staff members committed to chaperoning. The MECHA club is unsure why Bearcats didn’t buy their tickets for the second year in a row.
“We don’t know what happened. Our members were so excited to attend the baile and it was 100% student effort.” McEntire said
MEChA plans that instead of The Baile, the MEChA club will do Baile con Bolis, free of cost, and during both lunches on April 17.
“We’ve been talking about giving bolis (iced popsicles) for free, and there’s going to be live music performed by Mr Cera’s school band,” said Contreras.
