DIS Profile

When Viviana Calles describes the setting of her childhood neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina she evokes images from the classic 1957 musical West Side Story, a tale of families outdoors in the evenings, lounging on stoops, sharing convivial stories about life and love with ever-present vats of bubbling pasta sauce nurtured by mamma-mias in every kitchen. Outside in the street, the pseudo-rival gangs of Jets and Sharks, snapping their fingers and prancing along in side-step with love and good humor in the air. Her neighborhood was, surprisingly, an Italian neighborhood. And Viviana (maiden name Oddone), half-Italian by birth.

But the juxtaposition of growing up in an Italian neighborhood in a predominantly Spanish-speaking country is just one of many paradoxes that define Viviana’s life. With most people, what you see is what you get. With Viviana, you can’t necessarily count on that. In many ways, she’s as unpredictable as she is happy, charming and affable. But every time you make a guess, stab at a supposition or ponder some tidbit you might think is predictable about her, you quickly find that she defies every norm. In fact, if you think you might know something about her, just toss that idea out. Better yet, go the opposite direction - and you might land closer to reality.

For example: “I grew up studying classical piano,” she says. “I played Brahms, Mozart, Schubert - my favorite is Fantaisie-Impromptu in C♯ minor, by Frédéric Chopin. I still play the piano whenever I get the chance.” But lamenting the fact that pianos aren’t easy to tote around to play for friends, Viviana also took up the guitar, which she still plays. “I’m not necessarily a melodic picker, but more of a hummer and a strummer.”

And what does she strum and hum? From the ‘not-what-you-might-expect department,’ she says “I really like heavy metal from the ‘80s and ‘90s. I find that music can change our moods no matter what or how we are feeling,” adds Viviana. “My big goal growing up was to study Music Therapy - using rhythms and melodies as a way to overcome the stresses and strains of daily life.”

Heavy metal pretty much defines the ‘80s and ‘90s - unless you count Flock of Seagulls, George Michael or Kenny G. So which bands does she love to thrash to?

Metallica? “Yes.”

AC/DC? “Absolutely.

Dokken, Quiet Riot or Iron Maiden? “Um, they’re okay. But I’m a Guns N’ Roses girl at heart."

Okay, so what’s your Paradise City? “I love Dallas. My husband is from here but he grew up in Buenos Aires and that’s where I met him. Didn’t speak any English at all when we moved back here, so I had to teach him - or at least I'm trying.”

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door? “Hopefully not anytime soon. I like ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ much more. That’s got a beat that’ll change ANY mood,” she says, whipping out her air guitar and hammering to the groove.

What about Sweet Child O’ Mine? “Yes, I have two - twins, a boy and a girl, 15 years old,” she says. “They and my husband are the most important people in the world to me.”

Not that Music Therapy wouldn’t have been practical, but Viviana went on to study education instead, graduating with a teaching degree from the Escuela Normal Superior in Buenos Aires and also earning a certificate to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) from Cambridge´s affiliate university in Argentina. After teaching for a few years, she moved north with the family to Dallas, where she again studied music at Brookhaven College (who would have guessed playing violin?), before heading to the University of North Texas in Denton to complete an undergraduate degree in Spanish. “I had studied English and picked up all the basics,” she says. “But I really didn’t begin to learn the finer nuances of the language until I started my Spanish program. A bit ironic, isn’t it?” Maybe, but not for Viviana.

Viviana, who teaches Spanish to students in grades 5-12 at the DIS Waterview campus again stepped outside the box (recall that for Viviana, there are no boxes) to pursue a master’s degree in Spanish Literature, also at UNT, which she received last year. “I was a non-traditional student, which really means that I was a lot older than my cohort in grad school,” she says. “But they are all so mature and beyond thinking about that by that time that I fit in naturally with them and I still have all of them as friends. Nobody cared about age at that point.”

Viviana’s love of teaching, particularly in a multilingual environment filled with bright students from all around the world is what originally drew her to Dallas International School. “Growing up speaking one language and then learning another and then really studying the first one all over again has made me a really good teacher,” Viviana says. “At this point, I can teach Spanish to a piedra (rock). So having the chance to teach students who are already so bright makes that extra especial.

Outside of DIS, what makes Viviana’s life equally especial? It is family, friends and music, of course. But also spending time with her beloved dog, who she swears is bi-lingual. “If I say ‘let’s go for a walk’ she just sits there. But if I say ‘vamos a pasear,’ then she’s standing by the door ready to go. On the other hand, she responds to ‘sit’ in English. It’s not what you’d expect, but whatever we do or however it works, it gets the job done.”

For Viviana Calles, getting the job done - and done well - is what it’s all about at DIS.

And we know we can expect that.