Bomba In the Square will be part of the Fredericksburg Area Museum (FAM) Black Arts Festival: Revisited in historic Market Square (907 Princess Anne Street) on Saturday, June 10th starting at 3pm. This FREE event will include a bomba class with live music and concludes with live bomba session!
Bomba in the Square program is an introduction to the traditional Afro-Puerto Rican dance and music style, bomba. Dating back to the seventeenth century and practiced by the enslaved Africans brought to Puerto Rico, bomba is a percussion driven artform consisting of drums, maracas, and a pair of wooden sticks called cuás. Dancers improvise movement that the lead drummer follows and interprets simultaneously as the drum beats.
Bomba In the Square is a family-friendly event, and all are welcomed! Please wear comfortable shoes and be ready to move. Instruments are provided but feel free to bring drums, cuás (wooden sticks), and/or maracas.
The FAM Black Arts Festival- Revisited is a full day event on June 10, 2023 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Presented in conjunction with Seen: Viewing the Work of African American Artists of Fredericksburg (currently on display at the Fredericksburg Area Museum), this festival gives recognition to the rich history of the Harambee 360 Degrees Interpretive Theater, which was established in Fredericksburg in the 1970’s, and became the podium for Black artists to find support and exposure. The founder of Harambee 360, Clarence Todd, established the first Fredericksburg Black Arts Festival in the mid -1970s.