Bomba Dance Performance by Lydia Pérez
SubjectPortrait of
Lydia Pérez
(Puerto Rican)
Datec. 1999
Mediumslides
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.342.1-.2
DescriptionPhotographs of Lydia Pérez performing bomba at a Flechas Inc. event.
(.1) Lydia Pérez dancing bomba with her music group Yoruba II.
(.2) Lydia Pérez dancing with musicians behind her.
NotesBiographical Note: Lydia Pérez has been a teacher in the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in 1999-2000 to student Maria Perez Colon, and Menen Osorio in 1998-1999, both in Puerto Rican bomba dance. Lydia has been an apprentice in the program three times: with mentor Angel Ortiz in vejigante making in 2006-2007, and 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 with mentor Carlos Santiago Arroyo in santos carving. Lydia is a longtime arts activist and practitioner of Puerto Rican bomba and plena dance and music with her family joining her in the group Yoruba II. She has developed the Puerto Rican Institute for Arts and Advocacy, an organization for education, performance, and advocacy for Puerto Rican arts and culture, and gives performances and teachings all over New England. (.1) Lydia Pérez dancing bomba with her music group Yoruba II.
(.2) Lydia Pérez dancing with musicians behind her.
Subject Note: Flechas Inc. was a long running Puerto Rican arts, culture, and advocacy organization based in New Haven, developed in 1977 by Menen Osorio and others who came from Loiza, as do many in the New Haven Puerto Rican community. They organized an annual festival beginning in 1978 – Fiestas de Loiza En Connecticut Honor al Apostol Santiago - celebrating the festival held in Loiza, Puerto Rico, that commemorated St. James (Apostol Santiago) defeating the Moors in Spain. In this festival, both in Loiza and in New Haven, folk dances featuring costumed vejigante dancers were a major element of the presentation. Many of the most prominent Puerto Rican musicians in Connecticut and nearby performed over the years. Loiza is a town on the north coast of Puerto Rico with strong African-influenced traditions from its roots in the sugar cane industry and the culture of its enslaved people. Flechas devoted its work to educating audiences about the African heritage of Puerto Rico.
Flechas also held educational events throughout the year in New Haven, such as the Commemoration of the 1873 Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico and performances by the group’s Folkloric Bohio Dance Troupe. Lydia Pérez of Yoruba II bomba y plena group also performed often at the Festival, and she was a mentor to Menen Osorio’s dance troupe in 1998-1999 under the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program.
Additional audio, video, and/or photographic materials exist in the archive relating to this event and these artists.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
Status
Not on view
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2005 June 19
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