Torrents: Dance Bomba

Songbyrd Music House

540 Penn Street NE, Washington, DC, 20002

Interdisciplinary artist Amber Robles-Gordon will perform with Isha M. Renta and Semilla Cultural in an interactive Bomba performance featuring live drums.

1 PM | Doors Open

1:30 PM -2:30 PM | Performance

2:30 PM - 2:45 PM | Q&A

Amber Robles-Gordon is an artist of Puerto Rican and Caribbean descent residing in Washington, DC. Her creations visually represent her hybridism—a fusion of her gender, ethnicity, and cultural, political, and social experiences and concerns.

This performance is part of Amber's project, Reclamando mi tiempo, reclamando lo mío (Reclaiming My Time, Reclaiming What Is Mine). CulturalDC has has supported this project by funding Robles-Gordon’s Bomba dance technique acquisition and is fundraising to support a trip to Puerto Rico, expected to embark in 2025. This venture is intended for Robles-Gordon to experience intentional, in-person instruction by local Bomba educators and explore her roots—a journey that will undoubtedly enrich and expand her work and artistic perspective.

With Reclamando mi tiempo, reclamando lo mío (Reclaiming My Time, Reclaiming What Is Mine), Robles-Gordon navigates the connections between place, heritage, and culture by immersing herself in the traditional Afro-Puerto Rican dance, Bomba.

Isha M. Renta López is the founder and director of Semilla Cultural, a non-profit operating across Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia, promoting and preserving the Puerto Rican heritage through bomba music and dance. Isha, born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, having moved to Washington DC for schooling and a meteorology career, began her studies of bomba in 2007 with the local organization ‘Raíces de Borinquen’. Since then, Isha has dedicated herself to the preservation and propagation of the Puerto Rican arts and culture. Throughout her journey, Isha has studied bomba percussion, dance, and songs from multiple bomba masters from Puerto Rico and the United States. Having founded Semilla Cultural in 2014, Isha now teaches, performs, provides seminars, and builds community throughout Washington DC, Virginia, and Maryland. Isha is fully committed to preserving and disseminating her culture to empower the communities while she continues her growth in this field.

Presented by CulturalDC in partnership with Umbrella Art Fair, Torrents: New Links to Black Futures is an interdisciplinary program series exploring paths in creative future-building through visual arts, technology, music, film, and performance.

Learn more about Torrents: New Links to Black Futures on our website.
Culturaldc.org/torrents

Host or Publisher CulturalDC