CUNY Dance Initiative Announces Juan Usera y La Tribu del Juey: "Caribeando"
Company:
CUNY Dance Initiative
Juan Usera y La Tribu del Juey Sambuco (The Sambuco Tribe)
Caribeando
Saturday, May 10 at 2:00 p.m.
Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture (Bronx)
$12 general / $10 senior / $5 youth
The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), an expansive program providing New York City choreographers and dance companies with creative residencies on CUNY college campuses, presents Juan Usera y La Tribu del Juey: Caribeando on May 10th at 2pm at Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture.
Juan Usera y La Tribu del Juey (The Sambuco Tribe) celebrate the Caribbean in an all-ages show that combines music, dance, and storytelling. Caribeando features traditional Caribbean rhythms and dances such as bomba, plena, guaracha, jazz, and changüí, including present-day variations like bomba-reggaeton, all of which trace their origins back to West Africa. The event will showcase choreographed dances as well as traditional solo and couple performances, offering a vibrant celebration of Caribbean culture and its rich artistic heritage.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Juan Usera is an Afro-Puerto Rican artist and cultural bearer, a fourth-generation practitioner skilled in dance, percussion, teaching, and community education. He holds degrees in Education, History, and Dance from the University of Puerto Rico, as well as a Master’s in Performance Studies from NYU. His academic work focuses on Puerto Rican, Caribbean, and Latin American music and culture, with research interests that include history, race and ethnicity, performance, music, dance, and belief systems. Usera founded and directs La Tribu del Juey Sambuco (The Sambuco Tribe), an Afro-Caribbean music and dance ensemble offering performances, workshops, and residencies. The ensemble has performed at notable venues such as Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing. His work has received support from the Bronx Council on the Arts and the NYSCA Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant.
ABOUT THE CUNY DANCE INITIATIVE
In 2024, the CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI) marked a decade of supporting the NYC dance field. The program was developed in response to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s 2010 report, “We Make Do,” which cited how destabilizing the shortage of affordable rehearsal space in New York City is to the dance sector. A successful pilot supporting residencies on four CUNY campuses in 2013 led to CDI’s formal launch in 2014. Since then, CDI has become a key player in New York City’s performing arts ecosystem, leading a consortium of 13 CUNY colleges and three arts organizations to host 20+ residencies for NYC choreographers and dance companies each year. In the past 10 years, CDI has granted 247 residencies to emerging and established choreographers, providing invaluable resources to artists, while enhancing CUNY students’ education and cultural experiences.
The CUNY Dance Initiative receives major support from The Mertz Gilmore Foundation and Howard Gilman Foundation. Additional support is provided by the SHS Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s Charles E. Culpeper Arts & Culture program, and the Harkness Foundation for Dance. CDI is spearheaded by The Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College. www.cuny.edu/danceinitiative
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