Interview with Rey Bermudez
IntervieweeInterview with
Rey Bermudez
Date29 October 2025
Mediumborn digital audio file
DimensionsDuration: 45 Minutes, 44 Seconds
ClassificationsInformation Artifacts
Credit LineCommunity History Project Collection
DescriptionAudio file of interview with Rey Bermudez. He was interviewed by Paola Evangelista on 29 October 2025 over Zoom.
Rey Bermudez was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History's Community History Project discussing moments of change in his life.
Rey Bermudez is a Puerto Rican–Cuban dancer, educator and facilitator based in Hartford, Connecticut. He describes himself as a family man, a long-time youth worker, and a dancer who has spent over 30 years in education, nonprofit work, and the arts. His central work revolves around “relational dance,” a program that uses partner and social dance not simply to teach steps, but to build relational skills, empathy, and cultural understanding in schools, organizations, families, and couples.
Rey’s most significant moments of change include moving from Queens, New York, to Hartford at age ten and later rediscovering his purpose after dropping out of high school and then returning due to constraints in his environment. After graduation, he worked various jobs but discovered his calling when he began volunteering as a dance teacher at Mi Casa Family Services, a Puerto Rican-serving organization. There, he learned Puerto Rican folkloric dance, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and a deeper understanding and pride in his cultural identity. These experiences later shaped his adaptability and commitment to community work through art and education.
Today, Rey leads “relational dance” programs in schools, organizations, and faith communities, using social dances like salsa and merengue to build relational skills, empathy, and cultural pride. He emphasizes that life and careers are rarely linear, and his story invites listeners to think about change as an ongoing, meaningful process of learning, adapting, and finding one’s unique way to flourish.
Rey Bermudez was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History's Community History Project discussing moments of change in his life.
Rey Bermudez is a Puerto Rican–Cuban dancer, educator and facilitator based in Hartford, Connecticut. He describes himself as a family man, a long-time youth worker, and a dancer who has spent over 30 years in education, nonprofit work, and the arts. His central work revolves around “relational dance,” a program that uses partner and social dance not simply to teach steps, but to build relational skills, empathy, and cultural understanding in schools, organizations, families, and couples.
Rey’s most significant moments of change include moving from Queens, New York, to Hartford at age ten and later rediscovering his purpose after dropping out of high school and then returning due to constraints in his environment. After graduation, he worked various jobs but discovered his calling when he began volunteering as a dance teacher at Mi Casa Family Services, a Puerto Rican-serving organization. There, he learned Puerto Rican folkloric dance, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and a deeper understanding and pride in his cultural identity. These experiences later shaped his adaptability and commitment to community work through art and education.
Today, Rey leads “relational dance” programs in schools, organizations, and faith communities, using social dances like salsa and merengue to build relational skills, empathy, and cultural pride. He emphasizes that life and careers are rarely linear, and his story invites listeners to think about change as an ongoing, meaningful process of learning, adapting, and finding one’s unique way to flourish.
Object number2024.79.90
NotesSubject Note: The Connecticut Museum of Culture and History’s Community History Project (CHP) is a public-facing initiative, focused on contemporary collecting, gathering items of the recent past as well as from events happening today. This program developed community historians to identify, document, and preserve their experiences as residents of Connecticut, and to share these experiences during a series of community presentations. The project focused on the theme "Redefining Moments of Change." Conneticans share stories of people or events who have changed their lives or how they have sparked change in the lives of others.Cataloging Note: Digitization and access to this collection is supported by a Congressionally Directed grant through the U.S. Department of Education.
Subject Terms
- Hartford
- People of color
- Oral history
- Interviews
- Oral narratives
- Men
- Dance
- Education
- Relationships
- Community
- Performing arts
- Dance Instruction and Physical Culture
- Puerto Ricans
- Cubans
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- Born Digital Audio
- Community History Project U.S. Department of Education grant
- Redefining Moments of Change Collection
On View
Not on view
Raquel Figueiredo
2005 June 19