Learn about Puerto Rican bomba dancing, figures, and movement from one of our youngest bomba educators and leaders, Marién Torres López. The workshop will include brief historical explanation, instruments, social functions, basic steps, and piquetes (dance improvisation). Be ready to move and learn!
Limited spaces available.
Sunday, October 3rd, 2021
1pm to 2pm ET
University of Mary Washington Chandler Ballroom C
University Center
1301 College Ave
Fredericksburg, VA
Mask required.
*Marién Torres López is a choreographer, percussionist, composer, director, and founder of Taller Tambuyé Inc. (2003) and also of the female bomba group Ausuba (2012). Her inquisitiveness for the recognition of African and Indigenous heritage within the Puerto Rican identity made her dedicate all of her efforts towards the investigation, education, execution, and promotion of the autochthonous Puerto Rican bomba music genre. She has been working professionally within the cultural sector since 1998 and has been one of the principal dancers and percussionist in diverse groups. She has coordinated and produced various events within the bomba genre that contribute to diversity within the bomba community. She also developed a university-level course regarding the history and dance of Puerto Rican bomba through its various regions and styles; which has been implemented in the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, Metropolitan Campus since 2011. The annual cultural event El Encuentro de Tambores, created in 2010 by the cultural agent and folklorist Norma Salazar (RIP 2014), is produced by Marién Torres López, along with Taller Tambuyé Inc since 2015 giving continuity to the legacy of who was her mentor and cultural mother. Regarding El Encuentro de Tambores, it is an event that unites diverse cultural bomba communities in Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican diaspora, with professional performers, students, and aficionados within the same batey to unite, create alliances, and educated by exposing diverse styles, regionalisms, and tendencies within this ancestral practice. What was achieved by Norma Salazar and continued by Marién Torres López has created a uniting historical precedent in Puerto Rican culture.
Watch this video to learn more about bomba, and our organization Semilla Cultural:
For more information, email us: info@semillacultural.org and don’t forget to invite your friends!
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*This project is partially supported by funding from the Fredericksburg Arts Commission, the Virginia Humanities, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Rapp Arts and Culture. We thank the following entities for their partnership and support: the University of Mary Washington, the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc., the Fredericksburg Area Museum, and CLAVES UNIDOS.
