Mastering Cumbia Turns: Dance Patterns and Techniques

Cumbia! This Afro-Indigenous dance and music tradition began on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, blending Indigenous rhythms, African percussion, and Spanish melodies. The sound centers on three drums—the llamador, tambor alegre, and tambora—and the long flute known as the gaita. In New York City, cumbia continues to evolve. New generations of musicians and dancers have made the city an epicenter of the cumbia movement—remixing tempos, layering electronic sounds, and bringing new life to a centuries-