Research
The proposal, questions, vocabulary, music, books and people behind the journal.
Research focus
I propose to examine how Afro-Cuban cultural traditions are preserved and transmitted within the United States diaspora through immersive dance study in New York City and Miami. My Fellowship will combine structured Afro-Cuban technique training at Ailey Extension with intensive workshops, performances, and cultural programming at the Teranga Conference and at the Koubek Center.
Through sustained study of Yoruba/orisha dance, rumba, Cuban modern, and Afro-modern forms, I will investigate how embodied movement functions as a living archive of African diasporic identity. While Afro-Cuban dance originates in Cuba and West Africa, its continued practice in the United States raises compelling questions about cultural preservation, adaptation, and authenticity within diaspora communities.
Throughout this experience, I will document my learning through reflective journaling, movement analysis, and interviews with instructors and musicians. I will examine how technique, rhythm, musical structure, and ritual context are taught in diaspora spaces, and how cultural meaning is maintained outside the homeland.
Guiding questions
Open questions that shape the journal, not conclusions.
Traditions & movement vocabulary
Terms encountered in classes and conversations during the fellowship. These entries reflect how each idea was taught or described, they are a student's working notes, not authoritative definitions of living spiritual traditions.
The orisha of wind, storms, and transformation. In class with Jinae Suire, Oyá was honored through sweeping arm movements and fast turns that mimicked powerful winds and tornadoes, movements that honor both nature and the ancestors. In conversation, Marisol Blanco described Oyá as a female warrior orisha who discovered and mastered the secrets of forging and using the machete, knowledge that, in some traditions, had belonged exclusively to Ogun.
From the journal: June 24 (World Arts East) · July 14 (Miami)
The orisha associated with iron, labor, and warriors, described in class as the divine blacksmith. The movements taught for Ogún felt strong, grounded, and repetitive; some gestures resembled holding a machete, symbolizing both protection and hard work. Dancers were reminded to keep serious facial expressions, because every part of the body, including the face, contributes to the story being told.
From the journal: June 24 (World Arts East) · June 27 (recognized on the Broadway stage)
Studied in the workshop "The Ochun and Ogun Edition" with Jinae Suire at World Arts East. The source journal does not include a written description of Ochun's movement vocabulary, so none is invented here.
From the itinerary: June 24 & July 1 (World Arts East)
Dances that originated with the Yoruba people of present-day Nigeria and were brought to Cuba through the African diaspora. Each movement carries symbolic meaning rather than simply being choreography; drummers sing while playing traditional rhythms, and dancers and musicians work together as one.
From the journal: June 24
Social, celebratory forms emphasizing footwork, hip movement, arm gestures, and musicality, dance done with and for one another. Arms open outward with relaxed, expansive gestures that convey enjoyment and confidence; the goal is social connection rather than spiritual devotion.
From the journal: July 14 (Koubek Center)
In Cuba, a popular dance known as Casino was marketed abroad as Cuban-style salsa (Salsa Cubana) to distinguish it from other salsa styles when the name was popularized internationally. (The description on the original site was truncated mid-sentence; see the linked reference.)
From the journal: July 14 · Reference ↗
A Cuban dance inspired by the action of pounding coffee or grain in a mortar, daily labor transformed into dance, preserving cultural experience through rhythm and movement.
From the journal: July 7 (Koubek Center)
A Cuban dance that imitates the process of grinding coffee. Its "Kah-Chang" footwork slides the foot outward while keeping it connected to the floor ("Kah"), then transfers weight with a subtle hip drop ("Chang"), deceptively simple movement demanding control, coordination, and groundedness.
From the journal: July 7 (Koubek Center)
An Afro-Cuban folkloric dance tradition combining rhythmic footwork, expressive upper-body movements, chanting, and community participation. Rooted in African cultural practices preserved in Cuba, it often emphasizes a connection to nature, spiritual cleansing (limpio), and collective celebration through movement, music, and call-and-response.
From the journal: July 9 (Koubek Center)
A social dance originally developed in Cuba with strong Afro-Cuban and Congolese influences, carrying stories of resilience, celebration, and cultural memory. Danced in columns, one for the male part, one for the female part.
From the journal: July 16 (Koubek Center)
An Afro-Cuban dance tradition introduced during Noibis Licea's Modern Afro-Cuban class. The source journal notes the introduction without a fuller description, so none is invented here.
From the journal: June 28 (Ailey Studios)
West African Dance, a broad category of dance traditions originating from the diverse cultures of West Africa, emphasizing rhythm, community participation, grounded movement, and the relationship between dancers and live musicians.
Mali Dance, traditional dances from Mali, often performed during celebrations, ceremonies, and community gatherings, emphasizing rhythmic precision, grounded movement, and cultural storytelling.
Guinea Dance, traditional dances from Guinea, known for athleticism, powerful movements, and a close relationship with live drumming traditions.
From the journal: June 14 (Teranga Conference)
As Marisol Blanco explained: enslaved Yoruba people, pressured to abandon their beliefs and adopt Catholicism, hid sacred objects behind or beneath Catholic images as a way of preserving their faith. This practice allowed many Yoruba traditions to survive despite intense oppression.
From the journal: July 14 (conversation with Marisol Blanco)
The cleansing of the body, mind, and spirit, expressed in class through handkerchief movements representing leaves and branches, with dancers embodying trees, plants, and the natural world.
From the journal: July 9 (Koubek Center)
An Afro-Cuban tradition in which leaders and participants communicate through voice, music, and movement, experienced in class through chants like "Sá-yá!" and playful calls of "Mucho Muchacho."
From the journal: July 9 (Koubek Center)
Music & instruments
Four traditional West African drums created the rhythmic foundation of the Teranga Conference workshop, each contributing a unique voice, creating layered rhythms that guided the dancers. Some are played entirely with the hands, others require sticks.
A hand-played West African drum. In the workshop, the pressure and placement of each fingertip strike changed the quality of the sound.
A stick-played bass drum providing the underlying rhythm the dancers respond to.
The smallest drum of the dunun family, holding a steady timeline inside the layered rhythms.
The middle drum of the dunun family, carrying the defining melody of the rhythm.
Descriptions reflect what was observed and taught in the June 14 workshop with Maguette Camara; the drum-family details follow common usage in Guinean drumming instruction.
Books & resources
Works consulted during the fellowship, including archival research at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
People & organizations
The fellowship exists because these teachers and institutions opened their doors. Descriptions come from the original journal and the linked official pages.
Dancer, master instructor, and Afro-Cuban dance educator and historian. Her weekly classes at the Koubek Center span the history, songs, steps, beats, passion, mysticism, and intensity of Cuban folklore and culture, from danzón, mambo, cha cha chá, pilón, mozambique, son, and casino to Afro-Cuban folkloric forms. Recipient of a Florida Folk Heritage Award.
Official site ↗ · Folk Heritage Award ↗West African dance instructor at Ailey Extension, teaching movement rooted in the dance traditions of Guinea and West Africa, always with live drumming.
Ailey profile ↗Teacher of Cuban modern dance at Ailey Extension, blending Graham technique and arabesques with Afro-Cuban movement vocabulary.
Ailey profile ↗Afro-Cuban folkloric instructor at Ailey Studios whose classes revealed the precision, groundedness, and rhythmic accuracy beneath movement that looks effortless.
Teacher of Afro-Cuban and Orisha dance workshops at World Arts East, including "The Ochun and Ogun Edition."
Dance educator and scholar whose work explores the intersection of dance, culture, and education, drawing from Horton and Dunham techniques, and speaking on lineage, institutional context, and decolonizing pedagogy.
Adjunct professor at NYU Steinhardt teaching Afro-Caribbean Dance and Choreography, and a New York City Department of Education dance educator and teacher leader.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was founded in 1958 by dancer, choreographer, and visionary Alvin Ailey, to bring African-American dance to all audiences. Ailey Extension hosted much of the fellowship's technique training.
Ailey Extension ↗A Little Havana cultural center and home of "Baila Little Havana" with Marisol Blanco. Phase 2 of the fellowship.
koubekcenter.org ↗The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, a Brooklyn-based museum dedicated to showcasing contemporary art, culture, and ideas from the African diaspora through exhibitions, performances, and community engagement.
mocada.org ↗The NYC studio hosting the Afro-Cuban dance workshops with Jinae Suire, including the Ochun and Ogun Edition and Orisha dances.
Sponsor of the Junior Summer Fellowship 2026 that made this research possible.
Outcomes
A three-minute choreographic work synthesizing Afro-Cuban vocabulary with classical ballet, contemporary, West African, and Korean dance, to be taught at Harvard-Westlake through a lecture-demonstration.
Written after interviewing 36 people in Central Park, only five knew who Alvin Ailey was. Read the full op-ed →
Published by JSR JoongAng Daily, one of the largest Korean-American newspapers.
Published by JSR JoongAng Daily.
Movement as Cultural Memory: Investigating the Preservation and Adaptation of Afro-Cuban Dance in the U.S. Diaspora. Working outline below.
Teaching the finished piece to upper- and middle-school dance students, contextualizing the cultural origins of the movement and the ethics of cross-cultural choreography.
Two articles from this fellowship ran in JSR (J Student Report), the student-reporter section of the Korea Daily / JoongAng Ilbo, published in the Thursday print edition and online. Each headline opens an archived copy of the printed page; the issue index is linked alongside it.
Dance & Culture
When most people think of dance, many think of TikTok trends, perfectly timed choreography, or the intense grace of a stage performance. But at the Teranga Conference, held at the iconic Alvin Ailey Studios on June 13 and 14, dance was reframed as something much bigger: a living, breathing archive of who we are.
Reported from the same conference that opens this fellowship journal.
Dance & Culture
Buena Vista Social Club is a story of music, memory, and diaspora. The production is inspired by a legendary group of Cuban musicians whose songs reflected everyday life and Cuban culture in the 1940s and 1950s.
A Broadway review of the Cuban repertoire this fellowship studies in the studio.
Published Journal of High School Research, Vol. 3, No. 1 (2026) · DOI 10.70671/w9zcxx67
Movement as Cultural Memory: Investigating the Preservation and Adaptation of Afro-Cuban Dance in the U.S. Diaspora
Participant observation in New York City and Miami comparing how instructors transmit movement alongside rhythm, history, spirituality and communal participation. It argues that adaptation is not necessarily cultural loss.
