Entertainment Arts

A well seasoned and versatile group of all female performers, ¡Retumba! offers a wide repertoire of cultural performances, concerts, educational programs and special presentations for corporate functions and other social events, especially designed for your particular needs.

For 26 years ¡Retumba! has been reaching wide and diverse audiences with dynamic and exciting presentations and programs, engaging and exciting young and adult audiences alike.

Corporate Events

¡Retumba! will liven your special event with traditional, popular, and contemporary world and tropical music with participatory dancing and singing. These special presentations for corporate functions and other social events will be especially designed for your particular needs. You tell us what you want and we will bring it to you!

Education Programs

Our Educational Programs range from the informal to the highly technical and formal presentations in which audiences of all ages and backgrounds are introduced to history, tradition, and participate actively in the performance of traditional and contemporary African and African-based rhythms, music and dances from Latin America and the Caribbean as well as theatrical and storytelling programs.

Collaborative Projects

¡Retumba! 's personnel has extensive experience in the design, production and implementation of special multi-media community, collaborative, and theme-oriented projects. We will design your project according to your audiences and organization's needs. These projects range from general audiences and community-based endeavors; to specialized projects and productions for professionals and students in the field of the performing arts.

Lecture Demonstrations

In a combination of theory and practice, accompanied by live music and complemented with props; ¡Retumba! brings lecture-demonstrations on Dance, Music, and Percussion in which audiences learn not only the songs, dances, rhythmic patterns and melodies of traditional African and African-based expressions. Contemporary expressions such as modern dance, tap, hip-hop, salsa, cha-cha, merengue, samba , storytelling, drama, and more are also part of the groups repertoire; all complemented with the history, background and technical elements of such expressions.

The group draws its sound from the folkloric roots of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti and Santo Domingo as well as Africa and Brazil. ¡Retumba! offers dance and percussion workshops, lecture demonstrations, a program for children as well as a program for general audiences and venues of all kinds such as entertainment clubs, colleges, theaters and corporate functions.

Lecture/Demonstration for Children and/or Adults 
¡Retumba! has been educating and exciting audiences with its warmth and power of performance for more than a decade. ¡Retumba! interweaves the dynamic power of polyrhythms while combining beautiful ancient melodies along with the drama and excitement of African dance traditions that bring to life their own creative expression.

	Movement Movement provides the cultural context of various dances; correlation between dance and rhythm; and improvisation within traditional dance forms.
	Introduction to percussion instruments An introduction is given on percussion instruments, how they are made, their history and their role within the ensemble.
	Participation We encourage participation in the singing, improvisational movement, and rhythmic participation with percussion instruments.

Residencies

All ¡Retumba! programs are especially designed for traveling. You can choose and combine a long-term residency or a single presentation from the various programs that we offer. We can design a residency appropriate for any audience and/or age group: children, teenagers, adults, senior citizens, intergenerational and professionals and other populations (HIV individuals, Domestic Violence Survivors and others) at any level of proficiency.

Staff Development

The skilled and experienced artists of ¡Retumba! can teach educators and other professionals how to integrate cultural and creative expressions into their work with the purpose of enhancing educational, emotional, social and cognitive skills.

  We can also assist professionals in the design of culturally competent programs and curricula to celebrate the diversity and commonalities of cultures and nationalities.

Workshops

In an engaging informal setting and accompanied by live music, participants will learn the fudamentals and techniques of traditional African and African-based expressions as they combine in ensemble playing. Participants will perform dances, rhythmic patterns, and melodies from the African Diaspora and contemporary expressions such as modern dance, tap, hip-hop, salsa, cha-cha, merengue, samba , and more. As part of our drama and storytelling program participants will create stories and theatrical presentations also complemented with music and dance.

Dance Classes/Percussion 
Workshops for Children and/or Adults

In dance ¡Retumba! offers: folkloric dances from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Haiti, Brazil, and Africa as well as ballet, modern dance, tap, hip-hop, salsa, cha-cha-cha, and merengue.

Dance Classes: Warm-ups, stretches, dance techniques using African, Caribbean and Brazililan movements.

In music ¡Retumba! offers: Latin percussion, Bomba and Plena rhythms from Puerto Rico, religious and secular music from Cuba and Haiti as well as popular and salsa rhythms.

Percussion Workshops: Fundamentals of hand techniques, rhythmic parts as they combine in ensemble playing.