'A unifying moment': Luz de las Naciones, highlighting Latin American dance and music, returns

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The annual Luz de las Naciones celebration returns Friday and Saturday.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints event is meant to showcase Latin American culture and promote the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The event is in its 23rd year, and this year's installment coincides with the centennial anniversary of formal church outreach efforts in South America.

SALT LAKE CITY — As The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints marks 100 years of outreach to South America, this year's installment of the Luz de las Naciones celebration takes on added significance, organizers say.

For Alejandro Melecio, though, the central message of the event transcends the centennial anniversary and even the event's focus on Latino music, dance and culture. Melecio, originally from Mexico but now living in American Fork, is one of the soloists in this year's Luz de las Naciones performances, set for Friday and Saturday at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.

"It's hopefully helping people identify the light in them that we all share," he said. "We're all sons and daughters of God. We are more alike than different, and even though we represent a lot of different cultures here musically and in the arts, there's a lot in common across the world. ... It's a unifying moment, and we need that in the world."

The Luz de las Naciones performance returns to the Conference Center in Salt Lake City on Friday and Saturday. Alejandro Melecio, a performer, discusses the event before a dress rehearsal on Monday. (Photo: Tim Vandenack, KSL.com)

Likewise, Israel González-Nieri, the director of Luz de las Naciones — Light of the Nations in English — sees the event as more than just a means of showcasing the varied music and dance of Latin America. Aside from helping performers and viewers reconnect with their roots, he said, he hopes the event helps them "feel that peace, that eternal peace that only comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ and through his love." He's originally from Peru.

Now in its 23rd year and featuring a cast of around 1,000 performers, the theme of this year's Luz de las Naciones celebration is "Peace That Shines." The 2025 installment comes as the church marks 100 years of its efforts to preach Jesus Christ's gospel in South America, launched in Argentina in 1925, and Elder Jorge T. Becerra referenced the centennial.

"Many have increased the feeling of joy in their lives as they have heard and embraced the message of peace that comes from the Savior and his teachings," Elder Becerra, general authority seventy and second counselor in the Utah Area Presidency, said in a statement.

Tickets to the event, which has morphed and expanded over the years, sold out minutes after they went on sale, but Saturday's show will be broadcast live and available for viewing online.

Tangos, mariachi and Andean sounds

This year's event will feature performances highlighting the music and dance of Bolivia, Honduras, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Brazil and other countries.

Music is "a deep part of the cultural identities of different countries," Melecio said, and varies widely across Latin America. "In Argentina, you have the tangos. In Mexico, you have the mariachi and other traditional folk music. In Peru, you have the Andean sounds and the dances from Afro American influences."

As for the performers, while many have roots in Latin America, not all of them do. Cast members are volunteers who juggle work and school to fit in time for rehearsals, which began last July for this year's performances. "As long as you're a good dancer and you want to serve and you want to dance, you can try out and you can dance whatever dance they need you for," Melecio said.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.