Last month, we introduced you to Sussan, one of the JUNTOS international liaisons. This month, we have the honor of introducing her partner in crime Christian Barrios!
Christian also helps program each trip abroad. This includes sharing information about JUNTOS with partner organizations, finding new collaborators, and ensuring all on site details are set for the students prior to travel.
He is the entertainer of the group. He loves to explore the cities we visit, he makes friends wherever he travels, and always makes the dancers smile. He is a lover of all music, and can often be caught singing one of his favorite show tunes.
Read the interview below to find out more about another inspiring human who makes Abroad trips such an incredible experience:
JUNTOS: How did you hear about JUNTOS?
Christian: I heard about the organization in 2010 while I was working on a marketing project with a very close work partner of mine. She informed me about the arrival of a particular group of dancers, JUNTOS. This immediately caught my attention because of the dancing. It was even more interesting to me once I understood the social objective of the project, specifically the part about “creating a community through dance”. It was an instant “click” for me.
J: Favorite place you have travelled?
C: The District of Barranco in Lima, Perú. It is an amazing place where I found this incredible blend of art and culture, highlighted by the view of the marvelous “Mar de Grau”, a sea surrounding the city of Miraflores.
J: What made you want to work with JUNTOS?
C: At first, working with JUNTOS was an opportunity to interact with future colleagues in the dance industry. This was a huge incentive within the project, but then I realized the great impact of bringing art and social work together, and how this connects such different people and needs within a community. This is something that continues to captivate me.
J: Do you have a funny or Inspiring JUNTOS memory that you want to share?
C: During a JUNTOS presentation in my hometown of Quetzaltenango City, I was there doing my job, shooting videos of the presentation and taking some pictures here and there, when suddenly I caught myself captivated by the look on the faces of the children watching. They were absolutely mesmerized by the dancers and the choreography. They were truly having a blast watching art!
The JUNTOS dancers, who came from so far away, were giving these kids a taste of the rainbow. This is something that many of the children from this city are not used to, it is something they can’t access easily. This continues to have a great impact on me.
J: What is one of your dreams?
C: I would really like to introduce the importance of the arts to my city. I think we could help communities if we develop the culture of our people. This can only happen if we create new spaces for art and find ways to support already existing projects. I want art to be 100% inclusive here.