Many people flock to the Mitchell Park Domes as Milwaukee’s winter chill sets in, but they might not be aware that a small, vibrant space awaits them just across the street.
Bembé Drum & Dance, a community-based, cultural arts organization, at 611 S. Layton Blvd., offers a warm and inviting space to escape the cold and embrace Afro-Latino traditions.
The organization, which began as an extracurricular program for children in Milwaukee Public Schools, now offers dance and music classes and hosts cultural events for the Milwaukee community at its first physical location, which opened in June.
Liana Domena, a 46-year-old product manager, is the mom of four Bembé students.
“My kids love it. They love drumming and I love the music. But also, I love the social aspect,” she said. “It’s something my kids like doing after school . . . and they get to be around friends and we know the families.”
A homegrown initiative
Johanna De Los Santos, the founder and director of Bembé Drum & Dance, is a Milwaukee native. Her children, however, were born in New York City, a community where she said they felt completely accepted.
“When my kids were born, they were surrounded by all different types of Latinos, and also they’re Black, so they were also surrounded by Black Latinos so it was never really ‘a thing,’” said De Los Santos.
After moving to Milwaukee, and enrolling her kids in a predominantly Hispanic school in 2015, De Los Santos felt there was more that could be done to make sure they had the cultural connection they were used to in New York.
“My background is in arts administration and nonprofit management so I thought, let me see if a small little music program will fit in here, and the principal at the time was Puerto Rican and was, like, ‘let’s do it,’”said De Los Santos.
Then, Bembé was run through different MPS programs and alternative schools, such as Escuela Verde, 3628 W. Pierce St., with practices and classes being offered in rented spaces like classrooms.
Now De Los Santos’ children are among the more than 150 students throughout Wisconsin who participate in Bembé’s activities.
Ancestral traditions live on in new home
Bembé hosted a bombazo at its new location late last year. A bombazo is an Afro-Puerto Rican tradition, where a community comes together to dance and perform bomba, a traditional song and dance that involves singers, dancers and percussionists all making music and moving in harmony.
“The inspiration for all of this was to see how this can be a normal part of their (children’s) lives from the very beginning. They’re having fun and playing music but the rhythms are centuries old,” said De Los Santos.
Classes are offered on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays for children from the ages of 6 to 10, along with pre-teens, teens and adults.
On these days, there’s also a community meal provided by the center and prepared by Alana Rivera and Mario Morales. The couple moved to Milwaukee about 20 years ago and their three children take classes at Bembé.
“Finding Bembé was like reconnecting with a part of us that we thought we left in Puerto Rico,” said Morales.
While there are fees for taking courses at the center, most events the collective hosts are free and include complimentary cultural foods.
There is also a fee waiver for households that have people of different generations taking classes. Usually, the center’s courses come in a semester bundle and cost roughly $70 dollars.
Building bridges
“We work with everything that is Afro-Puerto Rican, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Colombian, Afro-Mexican, etc.,” said Beto Torrens, Bembé’s resident artist in Spanish.
Bembé brings in artists from all different parts of Latin America and the United States, including Torrens.
In 2020, the percussionist, singer-songwriter and educator began teaching virtual music classes through an MPS program linked to Bembé.
Torrens did not really know what to expect, especially after he first met his co-teacher.
“He told me that this job was basically talking to a computer screen because the kids don’t even turn their cameras on. I was prepared for that,” said Torrens, recounting the uncertainty he felt on that day.
But once Torrens began to speak, there was an instant connection between him and the students.
“When my turn to talk came up in that first class, and these kids heard my accent, and that I was from Puerto Rico and heard me say words in Spanish, slowly I saw their cameras turn on,” he said. “By the second class, there were people participating. They felt identified.”
A home away from home
That connection is what motivated Torrens to come to Milwaukee.
Now Torrens is a recurring character in the lives of Bembé students, offering classes in Afro-Puerto Rican music traditions throughout every fall semester. He also comes to the end-of-year concert that is produced every summer.
Bony Benavides, the center’s music director and one of the city’s most acclaimed percussionists, says there’s nothing like Bembé around.
“I’ve been working with MPS since 2016, but Milwaukee has not had a cultural environment like this until Bembé came around,” said Benavides, who is originally from Colombia and also teaches music for MPS.