Más allá de las caderas: el baile de la Bomba en el Valle del Chota-Cuenca del río Mira como una experiencia compartida

Abstract

In the sixteenth century, a group of jesuits introduced enslaved Africans to an Ecuadorian Valley called the Chota Valley-Mira river basin. During the period of slavery (16th-19th centuries) its inhabitants created a genre of dance, music and drumming known as bomba that is still performed today. The representations of bomba as a dance have a defined geographical pattern. In general, the representations of bomba outside the Valley emphasize on each dancer´s hip movement. However, when bomba is performed by the inhabitants of the Valley, it also includes specific interactions between dancers. This ethnochoreological study aims to propose one of these interactions, specifically the action-reaction of trying to push with the hip/trying to avoid being pushed, as an essential part of this dance. Through a qualitative research method based on
bibliographical compilations, participation-observation and in-depth interviews, this research suggests that bomba is a shared experience that emerges from the interactions among dancers when performed in the liminoid space of the Valley. The concrete action of trying to push with the hips, which arises during the dance of bomba, plays an important role on this shared experience of dancing.