The article “Corporeal Sounding: Listening to Bomba Dance, Listening to puertorriqueñxs” (Jade Power-Sotomayor, 2020) explores the danced sounding practice of Afro Puerto Rican bomba, the oldest extant music and dance form from the archipelago. This centuries-old practice that both celebrates the sacred and registers the quotidian comprises improvised drumming, dancing and singing that takes place in the batey—the Taíno word used to denote ball courts as well as the ceremonial space of the areito and today commonly used in Puerto Rico to refer to a space that is communal nonetheless separated from the outside world.
In this Reading Group organized by the Artists of Color Council (AoCC) at Movement Research (Core members: Megan Curet, Rebecca Gual, and Shawn Rawls; Coordinator: Jelani Taylor) participants will have the opportunity to read excerpts from the article and discuss the role of drumming, communing, and sounding as a form of resistance both in Puerto Rico and the diaspora.
“The big barrel drums, representative of not just conduits to memory and ancestral knowledge but also the lifeblood of the many ancestors who made possible their survival through generations of brutality, sit at the centre of the batey, awaiting the flesh in whose service they will sound.”- Power-Sotomayor.
Facilitated by AoCC Core member Megan Curet, the Reading Group will involve intervals of reading and discussion. Participants will be given printed copies of excerpts and the full article will also be shared via a QR code.
Accessibility Notes
- This event includes auditive guidance.
- This event includes text/images/video shared on a large screen tv.
- This event includes printed materials and digital readings.
To request ASL interpretation or Audio Description, please email accessibility@movementresearch.org, subject line “ASL/Audio Description Request, MELT Reading Group ” at least three (3) weeks prior to the event date.
For access-related questions and requests, please contact accessibility@movementresearch.org, subject line “MELT Reading Group.”
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In-Person
This is a FREE event, donations are welcome.
Please ONLY register if you plan to attend. Each person wishing to attend must register individually.
Once RSVPs have reached capacity, a waitlist will become available. Entry from the waitlist will be according to the date and time each name was added.
