Friday night members of the different Sigma Lambda Beta chapters from across Illinois made the trek to SIUC to dance and celebrate the Latino culture.

Fraternity members from Western Illinois University, Northern Illinois University, Northeastern Illinois University, University of Illinois at Chicago, DePaul University, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and Illinois State University came to support their 13 SIUC comrades.

“Illinois is the heart of the whole fraternity throughout the country,” Giezi Lacardi, a Sigma Lambda Beta member said.

“There is a lot of pride in the central region between all our chapters, so we’re very close-knit.”

Upwards of 600 to 700 students, staff, faculty and community members were in attendance for the third annual Noche de Gala, also known as the “Night of Elegance”. The event was held in the Student Center Ballrooms C and D. The Sigma Lambda Beta fraternity, Student Programming and Center Events and Multicultural Programming Services sponsored the event.

With much energy, Orquestra Sabor, a popular 11-member salsa orchestra from Chicago, performed for the dancers. With wide smiles on their faces, couples spun, stepped and moved their hips to the beat of the music. There was not a sedentary foot in the ballroom, even at the tables, people were tapping their toes and moving their shoulders.

Three years of salsa dancing and a love for the music brought Alexandra Chavarria, a sophomore in zoology, out to the event. Chavarria said she likes salsa because it is liberating. Her friend Christopher Nicolic, a construction worker, said he came to the dance because he likes to dance to Latin music.

“Hopefully, I’m still wearing all my clothes by the time we’re done because I like to get crazy and rip everything off,” Nicolic said.

Sigma Lambda Beta’s president Eduardo Garcia said he is thankful to all of the members and the hard work they put into making the event happen. Garcia said he was pleased with the high attendance number.

“It went better than we expected,” Garcia said.

In 1995, Sigma Lambda Beta first showed up on campus as an interest group and became a fraternity in 1996. It is the first and only historically based Latino fraternity on campus. The founding members started the fraternity to gain community and to have a place to emphasize their culture. Forty-two brothers have entered their brotherhood, and 90 percent have graduated from SIUC.

“I think that our community service projects and our cultural awareness projects are the biggest part of our exposure. ” Lacardi said.

“I’m just glad everybody is enjoying themselves,” Octavio Flores, Sigma Lambda Beta’s event coordinator, said. “All of the hard work is paying off.”