THE YAMULEÉ EFFECT: SOCIAL DANCE, PEDAGOGY, AND PERFORMANCE OF AN AFRO-DIASPORIC SALSA DANCE COMPANY IN THE BRONX AND BEYOND A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE TEXAS WOMAN’S UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF DANCE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES BY MILA THIGPEN, BA, EDM, MFA DENTON, TEXAS AUGUST 2020 © 2020 by Mila Thigpen DEDICATION For my mother, Cassandra. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the many people and places that have supported during my research. I would like to thank My advisor Dr. RoseMary Candelario for her enduring support. I aM deeply indebted to my comMittee MeMbers. Dr. Matthew Henley and the late Dr. Linda Caldwell who started me on this journey; and for Mary Williford Shade, Dr. Priya Thomas, and Dr. Thomas DeFrantz who have ushered me towards completion I cannot begin to express my thanks to Dr. Anna B. Scott for guiding me through a holistic, generative writing process. I aM also grateful to my editors, Alexandra Hoerl and Meghann Ridley. I extended my sincerest thanks to the generous mentors, colleagues, and friends across disciplines and institutions who have lovingly challenged, encouraged, and engaged with me and My research. I aM grateful to my teaching and learning comMunities at CaMbridge Rindge & Latin School, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Boston Conservatory at Berklee/Berklee College of Music. I want to thank the Texas Woman’s University Dance DepartMent for their continuous support and for honoring me as the first recipient of the Linda Caldwell iii Scholarship. I also want to thank my cohort meMbers and fellow TWU dance graduates and candidates. A special thanks is in order to EMily Wright who has become a dear peer Mentor, editor, and friend. I also extend thanks to Karina Donald from the TWU Center for Research Design and Analysis for her vital feedback and guidance in my coding and analysis process. I wish to extend a heart-felt thank you to YaMuleé Dance Company, YaMuleé Project Boston, and YaMuleé Ladies TeaMs for accepting and nurturing Me. I have grown not only as a scholar, but also as an artist. In the words of OsMar Perrones, “Thank you very mucho!” Lastly, thank you to my faMily for your unconditional love and support. Cassandra, Kyle, Travis, Tricia, AMy, Zaidyn, AMira, Gavin, and CoCo: Even when you did not understand my process on this doctoral journey, you knew how to love me along the way. iv ABSTRACT MILA THIGPEN THE YAMULEÉ EFFECT: SOCIAL DANCE, PEDAGOGY, AND PERFORMANCE OF AN AFRO-DIASPORIC SALSA DANCE COMPANY IN THE BRONX AND BEYOND AUGUST 2020 Popularized comMercial representations of salsa have shaped faMiliar stereotypes of this Latin dance form as well as of the people who participate in it. In doing so, these comMercial representations of salsa often erase the Africanist roots of salsa. However, there is a realM of salsa dance with its own history, culture, and practice that is understudied in the literature, which disproportionately focuses on salsa as experienced through Anglo-AMerican bodies. In this dissertation, I address this gap by highlighting the overlooked practices of New York-style salsa in its cultural context. To do this, I exaMine YaMuleé Dance Company, a Latinx dance company based in the Bronx. Through an ethnographic study, I reveal how YaMuleé continues to preserve salsa’s African roots, while also locating the Bronx as a global mecca for salsa dance innovation. I argue that this dance company has had such a profound iMpact —which can be called "the YaMuleé Effect" —because it connects pedagogy, performance, and social dancing; v thus recognizing African and Latin roots, as well as creating an essential comMunal space for Dominican cultural affirmation. YaMuleé utilizes multiple dance modalities that centers the narratives of New York-style salsa’s social and African genealogies, creating a dynaMic archive of Africanist aesthetics. Through specific pedagogical and performance strategies, the company also invites personal dance style development for salsa dancers. All of these factors have allowed YaMuleé to develop an exceptional extended comMunity grounded in a shared history and dance vocabulary. YaMuleé has created a unique, self-sustaining dancing comMunity that not only develops individuals' dance skills, but deepens MeMbers' social bonds and cultural wealth. Because of this holistic and unique approach, YaMuleé Dance Company is iMportant, not only because of its respect for salsa history, but also because of its role as a significant innovator of salsa. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................................ ix Chapter I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 1 So You Think You Can Dance Salsa ................................................................................................ 1 The Need to Re-focus: Responding To The Commercial Representation Of Salsa .......................... 4 African Roots, New York Branches: Yamuleé Dance Company ...................................................... 7 My Introduction To Salsa ................................................................................................................ 14 Literature Review: Salsa Music, Dance, And Identity .................................................................... 18 Theorizing Salsa Through Critical Race Theory And Latinidad ..................................................... 27 Overview Of Chapters ..................................................................................................................... 31 II. NEW YORK STYLE SALSA: AFRICAN AND SOCIAL GENEALOGIES ......................................... 35 Cuban History In Motion ................................................................................................................. 35 African Sacred Dance In Cuba ........................................................................................................ 36 Rumba ............................................................................................................................... 36 Danza/Danzón ................................................................................................................... 38 Son .................................................................................................................................... 40 Afro-Cuban Migration Prior To The United States Prior To 1918 ................................................. 42 Afro-Latin Jazz In The Interwar And Post World War II Periods .................................................. 44 Mambo At The Palladium ................................................................................................. 47 Salsa Music And The Emergence Of A New Dance Form ............................................... 50 The Impact Of Eddie Torres ............................................................................................................ 52 Salsa Congresses: An Introduction .................................................................................................. 54 III. METHODOLOGY: COMBINING EBX WITH ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH ............................... 56 Qualitative Research With A Critical Ethnographic Focus ............................................................. 57 Entering Community ....................................................................................................................... 60 Building Community ....................................................................................................................... 61 Participant Observation At The Yamuleé Studio ............................................................................ 64 Performing With And “Exiting” Yamuleé ...................................................................................... 64 Interviews ........................................................................................................................................ 65 Artifacts, Symbols, And Documents In Ethnographic Inquiry ....................................................... 68 vii A Special Note On Circularity ........................................................................................................ 68 Data Processing And Analysis ........................................................................................................ 69 IV. YAMULEÉ SALSA CULTURE: AN AFRO-DOMINICAN FAMILY THAT DANCES TOGETHER IN THE BRONX ........................................................................................................................................... 72 Welcome To Yamuleé ..................................................................................................................... 75 Yamuleé As Family, Village, And Home ......................................................................................