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Playing Primo
Drummer playing the primo, or lead drum, which interprets the moves of the dancer in sound.
Baila Bomba
Bomba dancer at 5th Encuentro de Tambores dancing before the drum.
Piquetes
Piquetes, or picoteos, are movements made by the bomba dancer before the drum. These movements challenge the drummer who must respond to the piquetes with the sounds of the drum, matching the pattern being played to the movements made by the dancer.
Bomberos
Playing the bomba drums at the 5th Encuentro de Tambores, surrounded by hundreds of participants in the town plaza in Juncos.
Bomba drummer
Bomba drummer at the 5th Encuentro de Tambores in Juncos, Puerto Rico.
Bombazo
Bomba singers, dancers and drummers representing the town of Aguada at the 5th Encuentro de Tambores in Juncos, Puerto Rico.
Directora
Directing a bomba number using hand signals and song.
Dancing Before the Drum
Bomba dancer dancing before the drum.
Bomba Dancer
Bomba dancer executing picoteos, or piquetes, before the primo, or lead drum. The drum responds to each of these movements with sound. This exchange between dancer and drummer is one of the defining characteristics of bomba.
Singing Bomba
Jariksa Valle Feliciano sings the lead while playing maraca at the 5th Encuentro de Tambores in Juncos, Puerto Rico.
Bailarina
Bomba dancers often use their skirts when dancing before the drum to execute the picoteos, or piquetes, that call on the lead drummer to respond to in sound.
Picoteos
Bomba dancer execuing picoteos, or piquetes, before the lead drum. The motion of the skirts add to the grace, style and movement of the bomba dance.
Bomba Dance
Bomba dancer moving to the sound of the barriles de bomba. When in the circle, before the lead drum, the dancer has the creative power of expression, calling on the drummer to respond to their movements with sound.
Passing Down Traditions
Children are encouraged to participate in bombazos from a young age, from the drum to the dance to the song. This child is playing the cuá which accompanies the barriles de bomba in the rhythms.
Que Bonita Bandera
Even outside of the bombazo circle, participants at the 5th Encuentro de Tambores were inspired to dance, sing and celebrate their cultural traditions and heritage.
Bombazo
Participants of the 5th Encuentro de Tambores playing, dancing and singing bomba surrounded by a crowd of thousands in the town plaza in Juncos, Puerto Rico.
Bomberas
Bomberas Melanie Maldonado and Kelly Archbold preparing to sing with the delegation from Guayama at the 5th Encuentro de Tambores in Juncos, Puerto Rico.
Bomba Dance - Partners
Partner dance before the drums featuring Don Miguel Flores Lopez, bomba dancer for over 75 years, and Melanie Maldonado, dancer, singer and researcher. This was a demonstration of an older style of bomba dance from Guayama and was a dance…
Dancing Before the Drum
Don Miguel Flores Lopez and Melanie Maldonado dancing before the drum in the plaza of Juncos, Puerto Rico at the 5th Encuentro de Tambores.
Melanie Maldonado
Melanie Maldonado dancing bomba at the 5th Encuentro de Bomba.
Bomba Dance - Guayama Old Style
Don Miguel Flores Lopez and Melanie Maldonado dancing an old style of bomba dance from Guayama at the 5th Encuentro de Tambores. A video of this dance can be seen at this link: https://youtu.be/zqGMpXmDDsI?t=363
Don Miguel Flores Lopez & Melanie Maldonado
Don Miguel Flores Lopez & Melanie Maldonado dancing old style bomba dance from Guayama, Puerto Rico.
Bomba Dancer - Don Miguel Flores Lopez
Don Miguel Flores Lopez from Guayama, Puerto Rico dancing the old style Guayama bomba dance. Having danced bomba since 15 years of age, and being 90 at the time of this photograph, he was one of the last dancers of the old style in Guayama.
Conversation with the Drum
Don Miguel Flores Lopez dancing in the old style of bomba dance from Guayama at the 5th Encuentro de Tambores in Juncos, Puerto Rico in 2013.
Dancing Before the Drum - Don Miguel Flores Lopez
Don Miguel Flores Lopez was a bomba dancer from Guayama, and was the last dancer to preserve and share the old style bomba dance from his town, having danced bomba for over 75 years.