Bright colors and boisterous chatter filled the Eden Prairie High School Activities Center. Kindergartners through fifth graders began to take their places on the polished floor as parents and caregivers settled into seats. It was almost time for the show to start. Hundreds of people had gathered on a rainy Thursday evening for the Festival de Primavera, the Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion annual performance that was making its comeback after a five-year hiatus due to Covid-19. For Principal Hernán Moncada, it was like there had never been a pause.
“Eagle Heights is not just the building,” Moncada said, taking the microphone to open the show. “Eagle Heights is us.” Applause erupted throughout the gym. This was a proud moment for the entire school. Once again, hundreds of students from across Eagle Heights would perform dances from different Spanish-speaking countries. They’d been practicing their moves all year, beautiful traditional clothing had been acquired (many with the help of the Eagle Heights PTO), and Eagles were excited. And nervous. “I’m so scared!” one student laughed to a friend before taking the floor. Teachers, dressed to match their classes, were waiting on the sidelines ready to help remind students of dance steps. Many of those teachers were at the Festival for the first time, but others, like Marisol Alcazar, had been there since the very first performance in 2007.
“Music and dancing is part of our culture,” Alcazar said just a few hours before the show. Her hair was pulled back in two intricate braids, and she smiled as she reminisced on the early days of the Festival. It had begun back when Eagle Heights was in its second year, when there were only kindergarten and first-grade classes. One of the teachers at that time had been showing her class how to do a traditional dance. Then, she thought, what if the whole school performed the dance? That was the debut of the Festival de Primavera, nearly 20 years ago in the Historic Gym at the Administrative Services Center. By their fourth year performing, Eagle Heights needed a bigger venue, which led to the move to EPHS. With the exception of 2020-2024, when there were no shows, they’d been there ever since.
The gym was rollicking with music and applause as the first group of kindergarten classes made its entrance. Dressed in red and black and dancing to a Spanish flamenco song, the students beamed as they performed. At one point, the boys gave red sashes to the girls, who waved them like matadors while the boys danced around like bulls, their fingers pointing out from their foreheads like little horns. The crowd was electric, and the show was just getting started.
First-grade teacher Paola Tavera was waiting on the edge of the floor with her students. They all were dressed in beautifully colorful, woven traditional clothes from Peru and were waiting eagerly to perform a huayno, a festive dance from the Peruvian Andes. “I’m excited to do this!” one student exclaimed, raising his hands over his head in a dance move he would soon perform. This was all so exciting to Tavera, who had been involved in the show since its second year. “The world is so wide, so this is a way to really help [students] understand… how wonderful it is to be different and how to appreciate others,” she said. “I want kids to see [that] we’re different and this makes us richer, this makes us great.”
One group of students after another took the floor to perform for the overflowing bleachers that flanked both sides of the gym. Students waved to their families as they waited their turn. Kindergarten students clapped along to the music as other groups of dancers performed. There was rhythmic stomping, “floating dance movements” and even inflatable hobby horses that one group of first graders incorporated as part of their dance. In total, 34 classes of students participated. Last up: the entire class of fifth graders.
This was a moment that the oldest students at Eagle Heights had been waiting for. Back in 2019, they’d been the kindergarten class, practicing for the 2020 Festival before it was cancelled due to Covid-19. That year, teachers got together to make a video of a dance for students to learn at home. But now, in 2025, their final year at Eagle Heights, these fifth graders were getting to perform for a live audience.
The class took the gym floor while waving flags from around the world. Their song, “Wavin’ Flag,” had become famous during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and the night’s program called it “an anthem for unity, resilience and celebration worldwide.” The crowd roared. This was the culmination of efforts from teachers like Tavera, Alcazar and many others. This was the result of care and excitement from Principal Moncada and planning and logistical support from Associate Principal Dr. Mitch Hegland. This was the demonstration of all the hard work the students had done to prepare for the evening. At a bigger level, this was what “belonging” looks like in Eden Prairie Schools. “The students see they’re a citizen of the whole world, and the world is big, it’s rich, it’s diverse,” Tavera said.
For that Thursday evening, the world had filled the EPHS gym. For students, this would be a memory they’d carry with them for much longer.
