Extraordinary LIVE Arts & Culture!
Stage Garden Rumba is back in South Bronx community gardens!
Your favorite multi-disciplinary performance series resumes on Juneteenth!
Presented in partnership with We Stay/Nos Quedamos, Stage Garden Rumba is an open invitation for all New Yorkers to experience the cultural riches, green spaces, and vibrant Casitas of the South Bronx! Our 2021 series comes at you in pumped-up hybrid mode, with both in-person performances throughout the summer and new digital episodes for online and public access television broadcast! The series will again feature extraordinary ARTISTS—actors, singers, dancers, writers; ACTIVISTS with the pulse of local, national, and international struggle and social justice; and COMMUNITY MEMBERS, just like you! Hyperlocal and universal, Stage Garden Rumba brings together voices of joy and revolution to fuel our collective imagination and propel us into the future.
“We’re emerging from pandemic with caution and child-like wonderment,” says Jorge B. Merced, Pregones/PRTT Associate Artistic Director, “and it feels like going back to the horn of plenty! The stewards of our community gardens are ready to show off the new fruits of their green-thumbed labor, to greet visitors of all ages, and to roll out the welcome mat for live theater, music, dance, poetry, and the empowering wisdom of our social leaders. We have never been so grateful and so thirsty for Stage Garden Rumba as this year!”
“The care, generosity, and talent of everyone responsible for Stage Garden Rumba are a constant,” says Rosalba Rolón, Pregones/PRTT Artistic Director. “Our general public can continue to count on each program in the series to offer artistry and conscience in equal measure. Our award-winning acting and music ensemble is preparing exclusive previews of scenes from our forthcoming musical production Torched! — exploding myths about the Bronx fires of the ’70s with real stories from the people who lived them. I can’t wait to share it and to experience what other makers and shakers have in store for us.”
Curatorial team:
Julia Gutiérrez-Rivera, Edwin Pagán, Caridad De La Luz, Oscar Oliver-Didier, Omar Pérez and Jorge B. Merced.
The joyous return of Pregones/PRTT’s Stage Garden Rumba to Bronx plazas and community gardens in 2021 was part of Con Edison’s new Arts Al Fresco Series.
SIGN UP HERE to receive our email newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get notice of artist lineups and themes. Dates of broadcast on social platforms and public access cable network of BronxNet Community Television will be announced later this summer.
10 different 30-minute episodes, each packed with talent and passion!
Pregones Garden airing on September 27
Rincón Criollo airing on October 4 and October 25
Willis Avenue Garden airing on October 11
Bronx Sunshine Garden airing on October 18
La Finca del Sur airing on November 1
Brook Park on November 8
Yolanda García Park on November 15
Bruckner Mott Haven Garden on November 22
Crotona Park Amphitheater on November 29
María Solá Green Space on December 6
SEE BELOW FOR ARTISTS LINEUP PER FILM LOCATION
Tune In to Digital Episodes Mondays at 7:30pm Eastern
Pregones/PRTT
—Facebook Live: www.facebook.com/pregonesprtt
—Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/pregonesprtt
—YouTube: www.youtube.com/pregonesprtt
BronxNET TV
—Cable: 69 Optimum
—Cable: 2135 FIOS
—Web: www.bronxnet.org/watch/Ch4
Special thanks to DominiRican Productions and BronxNet Community Television.
3:00 pm – Los Pleneros de la 21 – LP21 is the premier music group of Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba & Plena music in the U.S., giving arts learning programs in NY & touring worldwide since 1983. Founded by National Heritage Fellow, Juan Gutiérrez.
3:40 pm – Bámbula Project – Alex “Apolo” Ayala’s Bámbula Project is a vibrant and dynamic fusion of Afro-Puerto Rican “Bomba” rhythms with Jazz. A unique musical celebration of Afro-Boricua heritage and culture.
4:15 pm – Pafincar Afro Boricua Jam – Practitioners, lovers, and followers of Boricua music and culture convene to partake in this new group. Homegrown in the Island, seasoned in the Diaspora, with hints of urban delight, serving bomba Pafincar! With Victor Pablo Gaetán, Clara Díaz, Fernando García and Gabe Globus.
5:00 pm (Indoor & online) – “Pintando Figuras” Puerto Rican Visual Artists’ take on Bomba and Plena – Artist dialogue organized by Julia Gutiérrez-Rivera. Moderated by Mariana Reyes with Martín García, Güillo Cruz “Króniko Arte”, and Agua, Sol y Sereno. Co-presented with Bomplenazo and Hostos Community College CUNY. Required RSVP above.
ALL DAY – Exhibition: S(OBRAS) capturing the unseen – A new art exhibit by Bronx artist David Hernaíz Concepción, created in collaboration with performer Julia Gutiérrez-Rivera, exploring the fleeting and nuanced expressions of a dancer’s performance of Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba music. Free admission. 
4:00 pm – Poets Paul La Torre and Caridad de La Luz. Featured dance company: Mazarte Dance Company – Inspired by traditional Mexican dances, Mazarte Dance Company brings folklore back to life by combining dance, research and indigenous art.
5:00 pm – poet Brandon Wright, DJ José Torres. Featured musical group: Jorge Vazquez Bomba y Plena – a crowd favorite, mixing popular Bomba and Plena rhythms with poetry, great singing and lots of sabor.
3:00 pm – Poets Caridad de La Luz and Mariposa Fernández, DJ José Torres. Environmental activist Melissa Barber. Featured musical group: Grupo Bámbula – New York-based Afro-Puerto Rican group is dedicated to the preservation of Puerto Rico’s oldest musical traditions – Bomba and Plena. Founded in 2004 by percussionist, singer, songwriter and dancer Norka Hernández Nadal.
3:00 pm – Poets Caridad de La Luz and Freida Grace Jones. DJ José Torres. Activist Emanuel Padilla. Featured musical group: Palo En Cuero – Founded by master Dominican percussionist Jonathan “JBlak” Troncoso, this New York based group celebrates Afro-Cuban and Afro-Dominican traditional rhythms, and the sacred music of Dominican Palo.
4:00 pm – Poet Jane Grenier. Featured dance group: Bombazo Dance Company – Founded by dancer and choreographer Milteri Tucker Concepción, Bombazo is Bronx drum and dance company that celebrates traditional Afro Puerto Rican Bomba and Afro Caribbean folklores, fused with classical, contemporary and social styles of dance.
3:00 pm – Poets Caridad de La Luz and Amanda “La Tormenta” Villanueva. Social and environmental justice activist Esperanza Martell. Featured performer: Legendary Palladium-era dancer Carlos “Charlie Mambo” Arroyo, aka Cha-Cha Taps, who dedicated twenty years of his life to professional dance, traveled the world, and collaborated with some of the best Latin and North American musicians of the ’50’s and ’60’s.
5:00 pm – Featured music group: Jainardo Batista y Cuarteto Guataca – Powerful and elegant singer and percussiont Jainardo Batista in a set of Puerto Rican-Cuban-Nuyorican melodies. Poet Luis “Brother North” Cañada. 
3:00 pm – DJ KS360. Poets Caridad de La Luz and Espada de La Luz. Food and immigrant rights activist Yajaira Saavedra. Featured performer: Full Circle Souljahs and Rokafella. Inspired by the street and brought into theaters, Full Circle Souljahs is a hip-hop collective that celebrates a wide spectrum of approachable and straight-from-the-heart Hip-Hop Culture. The group is helmed by celebrated hip-hop dance artists Ana “Rokafella” Garcia and Gabriel “Kwikstep” Dionisio.
4:00 pm – Poet: Dawn Díaz. South Bronx housing activist: Harry DeRienzo. Featured multidisciplinary performing artists from Dancing La Botánica and Pepatián’s Bronx Arts ColLABorative: Leenda Bonilla, REDi Dance Co, and Curet Performance Project. Dancing La Botánica: La Tierra Vive! is a collective of Latinx/a/o dance and visual artists that has been co-led since its 2019 launch by dance artists and educators, Beatrice Capote and Alicia Díaz as a platform for Latinx choreographers, dance makers and visual artists to support the development of new work.
5:00 pm – Poet: Frantz Jerome. Featured music group: New York Peace Officers American Warpipes – a Celtic bagpipe band that celebrates the spirit of first respondents, honoring those who have laid down their lives in protection of life and property of the city and state of New York. The multicultural band is comprised of law enforcement officers from different departments and agencies who volunteer their time and efforts for band practice and events.
4:00 pm – Poet: María Aponte. South Bronx activist: Francely Flores. Featured musical group: Jarana Beat. Jarana Beat is an award winning contemporary Mexican folk band that incorporates both music and dance of Mexican folk and Afro-Amerindian traditions into its vibrant performances. Led by Sinuhé Padilla-Isunza, this 10 piece ensemble brings in artists from all over the world to create unique sounds that balance styles from Son Jarocho, to Salsa, Cumbia, Samba and Rumba.
5:00 pm – Poet: Luis “Brother North” Cañada. Featured music group: The Mona Passage – based in The Bronx, this Latinx rock group is a reinvention of self, a love letter to The Puerto Rican Diaspora, a protest for independence. Their music is described as a reflective anthem, an epic poem, a rock & soul, new wave space folk, electric dream of patria y libertad. Their recent international tour included Konvent Zero (Spain), Fabrica Chocolate (Spain), & Buchhändlerkeller (Germany).
Don Bienvenido “Benny” Ayala was one of the most prolific and active of the pleneros and bomberos in The Bronx. The late José Manuel “Chema” Soto, founder of Rincón Criollo, acknowledged him as the most accomplished traditional composer of his time.
3:00 pm – Ahora Es Tiempo – contemporary bomba and plena practitioners, including Jorge Vázquez, Juan Gerena, Carlos Espada, Jenny Morales, and more, pay tribute to Don Benny. Under the direction of Nelson Matthew González (Benny’s grandson), the group will play songs from the upcoming album Matthew has been producing – Ahora Es Tiempo – the first album exclusively featuring the late maestro Don Benny Ayala’s original inspirations and compositions. The album is expected to be released in 2022. Guest speaker: Fernando Ponce Laspina
4:00 pm – Don Benny’s Legacy – this second collective of musicians will bring together voices and drumming of pleneros who were inspired by Don Benny and played alongside him, often sharing songs and memories at La Casita. The group is also directed by Nelson González and will feature practitioners Mildred Cruz, Jay Rivera and more. Their repertoire will be songs written about or inspired by Don Benny. Guest Speaker: Princeton University scholar César Colón Montijo.
5:00 pm – Vente-Tú – The third and final collective will be led by José “Joseito” Rivera, another preeminent NYC plenero, and long-time member of El Rincón Criollo. As a long time member of La Casita, Joseito and Don Benny shared many days and songs together throughout the years. In spirit of the kinship, and true to Bomplenazo format, Joseito brings together various Casita pleneros to play, sing and drum in Casita style, as he does every Festival year, to warm up the stage and help kick off the Vente-Tú.
3:00 pm – DJ DeLaCeiba. Poets Caridad de La Luz and Joeski Sea. Activist: Marilyn Reyes. Featured performer: Jainardo Batista & Cuarteto Guataca. Singer and percussionist Jainardo Batista brings in the commanding elegance of his Cuarteto Guataca in a set of Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Nuyorican classic melodies popular around the times of The Bronx fires in the 1970’s and 80’s.
4:00 pm – Poet: I AM (Iris A. Morales). Featured dance performance: Alethea Pace’s Here Goes The Neighborhood. Bronx-based choreographer, performer, and BRIO award winner Alethea Pace returns with an excerpt from her latest work, Here goes the neighborhood. Performed with Richard Rivera and Holiday, the work is informed by a practice of walking, moving, collecting stories and reimagining spaces with Bronxites including Arthur Aviles, Rodrick Bell, Malcolm Betts,Trevon Blondet, Joan Bradford, Alexander Diaz, Alicia Grullon, Mychal Johnson, Nic Kay, Urayoán Noel, Richard Rivera, Carmen Vega-Rivera, Yosara Trujillo, Charlie Vazquez and Karen Washington. Photo Kathryn Butler.
5:00 pm – Poet: Dyverse the First. Featured music group: Circa’95 – Hailing from New York City, Circa ’95 is an Afro-Latino rap group comprised of Patty Dukes and Reph. Puerto Rican & Dominican by way of The Bronx and Washington Heights, they rhyme seamlessly through English and Spanish. They’ve performed at Carnegie Hall, SXSW, International Festival of Arts & Ideas and the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. Their latest music project “Problems & Bills,” features a collection of songs reflecting the struggles many face coming of age uptown.
3:00 pm – DJ DeLaCeiba. Poets Caridad de La Luz and Zayda Rivera. Activist: Lillian Jiménez. Featured performer: UpBeat NYC String Ensemble – Established in 2009, UpBeat NYC provides free musical training for South Bronx children and youth who have limited access to high quality arts education. Their multigenerational String Ensemble includes their top string students ranging in age from 11-17. Music will include works by Bach, Ponce, Mozart, Hernandez, and Piazzola .
4:00 pm – Poet: Anthony Morales. Activist: David Galarza. Featured performers: UpBeat NYC Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble – This ensemble was created to explore and represent NYC’s great cultural heritage of Jazz and Afro-Latin music, and often features works by composers such as Duke Ellington, Tito Puente, and Ray Santos. UpBeat’s Jazz Band has been invited to perform at venues around NYC including Carnegie Hall, City Hall, Loisaida Festival, as well as multiple local community events in the South Bronx.* Remembering the Bronx Fires: For for these dates our series curators and guests pay tribute to the history of the South Bronx fires and the people power and joy that helped overcome them! Featuring scenes from new Pregones/PRTT musical TORCHED!
** Special Program in honor of composer and longtime Rincón Criollo / Casita de Chema champion, the late Don Benny Ayala. Curated by his grandson Nelson Matthew González, Julia Gutiérrez-Rivera and Jorge B. Merced. Presented in collaboration with Bomplenazo and Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture.
STAGE GARDEN RUMBA is two-time winner of The Lincoln Center Cultural Innovation Fund. This FREE arts program is made possible, in part, by Con Edison and the J. L. Greene Arts Access Fund in The New York Community Trust, and by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. For full list of our funders, visit www.pregonesprtt.org.
Online and Cable TV!
Locations
Online and Cable TV:
Facebook Live
Vimeo
YouTube
BronxNet Ch4
69 Optimum
2135 FIOSDate & Time
Mondays @ 7:30pm Eastern
Featuring
Advocate of Wordz
Agua, Sol y Sereno
Amanda “La Tormenta” Villanueva
Bámbula Project
Bombazo Dance Co.
Bonafide Rojas
Brandon Wright
Caridad De La Luz
Carlos “Charlie Mambo” Arroyo
Curet Performance Project
David Hernaíz Concepción
Dawn Díaz
Emanuel Padilla
Espada De La Luz
Esperanza Martell
Fitzroy Christian
Freida Grace Jones
Full Circle Souljahs
Grupo Bámbula
Harry DeRienzo
Jainardo Batista y Cuarteto Guataca
Jane Grenier
Jorge Vazquez Bomba y Plena
Julia Gutiérrez-Rivera
Kroniko
Kwikstep Dyonisio
Leenda Bonilla
Los Pleneros de La 21
Luis “Brother North” Cañada
Mariana Reyes
Mariposa Fernández
Martín García
Mazarte Dance Company
Melissa Barber
New York Peace Officers
Nieves Ayress
PaFincar
Palo En Cuero
Pregones/PRTT Ensemble
Ray Jane
REDi Dance
Rokafella
Rosalynn Díaz
Yajaira Saavedra
Sam León
and more!