Milteri Tucker Concepcion English Transcription
Interviewee: Milteri Tucker Concepcion
Interviewer: Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Where: Zoom
Date: June 17, 2023
Length: 1:01:47
Study: Puerto Rican Bomba Fashions
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Well, today is June 17, 2023. My name is Amanda Ortiz and for my research project titled “Puerto Rican Bomba Fashions: Consumption, Presentation and Meaning-Making” I will be interviewing Milteri Tucker Concepción, dancer, seamstress, teacher and co-founder of the first international brand of Bomba skirts with her mother, Mrs. Margarita Concepción. Thank you for being here Milteri, it is a privilege to have you…
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Thank you, thank you for the invitation. It’s an honor.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
The purpose of this study is to collect and document information from Puerto Rican Bomba practitioners about their experiences with Bomba and the Bomba dress to understand the deeper meanings and uses of the Bomba folkloric dress in the context of identity, space, and place. We’ll start with some demographic data questions. Again, you can decide whether or not to answer any of the questions. How old are you?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
40
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Where do you currently live?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
I currently reside in the Bronx, New York.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
And have you always lived there?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
No, I am pure Puerto Rican, born in Puerto Rico and raised there. At 17 years old, I moved to the mainland to study and try what the world of New York had to offer, but I was born in San Juan and raised in Ponce. I am Ponceña.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Super. Okay, we know that you are a founder, you are a teacher, you are a dancer… can you give me a few more details about what you do?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Well, I’m a professional dancer, here in New York, I’ve been able to expand myself as that. I have studied with great mentors who, some have already left, others are still with me and continue to give me their support. I’m a dance teacher, too. Dance is my passion and what I love and it was one of the reasons why I decided to move to the U.S because at that time in Puerto Rico there was no bachelor’s degree in dance or anything that had to do with dance. I think it was still developing, but there was no full concept, and here in the United States it was already there, specifically in New York City, which is the mecca of art. Since my grandmother was already here, I moved to the U.S., but every year, several times a year I am in Puerto Rico. My mom still lives there. We go from here to there, from here to there.
I am also the founder of the dance company and non-profit organization, Bombazo Dance Company, where I am dedicated to promoting our culture, specifically our blackness towards the diaspora community here. And not only Puerto Ricans, anyone who likes the drum and Afro-Caribbean dance. And with that, we have the adult company that is made up of professional dancers and professional Puerto Rican and Afro-Caribbean musicians. Also, we have a youth company. We give free classes for the community and we also always have the link with Puerto Rico and we invite Bomba artists from Puerto Rico or I am in Puerto Rico and I do activities with them there. I am also the author of the first Puerto Rican Bomba children’s book that was published in 2016, where the illustrations were also made by another Puerto Rican, Mia Roman, and thank God it has gone very well for us, every time our book is “sold out.”
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Great!
Milteri Tucker Concepción
And also, as you mentioned, I am co-founder of Bombazo Wear, which is the first international brand of Bomba skirts and Caribbean skirts.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
That’s great! You’ve done a little bit of everything. That’s great.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Everything connected. I think everything is connected.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Yes, and you said you moved to the United States to study. What type of education have you completed and where did you complete it?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Well, I studied my bachelor’s degree at Hunter College. There I did biology, chemistry, and dance.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Wow!
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Yes, I was there for a few years, but I liked it, I like science. I think I always saw science as…art is a science too. Dance has to do, with my mother being a doctor, I wanted to go in that direction, but my passion has always been, and my being has always been in dance. And when it was time to decide, because you can do both things at the same time but then you have to decide, I said, “You know what I moved here…to dance! Because I could do biology in Puerto Rico.” And then I had the opportunity, thank God, to work in musical theater, musicals, movies, commercials… with various organizations. I think two of the biggest areas have been with Don Omar on the Latin Billboards and also with Lin Manuel Miranda in the movie “In The Heights” dancing Bomba, I did a feature there. So, thank God it has gone very well for me. The support from here. I also have my master’s degree in Dance Education from NYU, and I am still on that track because it is a dual track also doing my PhD. And then we’ll see.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Of course, of course
Milteri Tucker Concepción
By the time this is published, I think I’ll already have that title.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Ah well, I’m going to put it up for when I publish it, Dr. Milteri.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Thank you.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Well, I wish you much success with that too.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Thank you.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
What gender do you identify with what pronouns do you use?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
She…She and her. And those are my pronouns. I am female.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
How do you describe your sexuality?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
In terms of “gender”?
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Like, sexuality.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Well, I’m female, female. And I’ll leave it there.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Okay, are you in a romantic relationship?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
I am married, I have a husband, I have a two-year-old daughter who you have already seen.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Okay, you already told me that you have a girl.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Yes.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Could you tell me a little about your family, how big it is?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Well, in terms of my family with my husband or my entire family? Well, we are a small family. It is only my husband, my daughter, and me. There are the grandparents, my mother, right. I have a brother who also plays Bomba, dances Bomba. Also, if we are talking in terms of the Bomba, my grandfather, Fabian Concepción, was also a Bomba practitioner, he played in Santurce with the Cepeda family, so he was a musician too. And my grandmother used to tell me about the Bomba dances, at the Cruz party, and all that, so there is a legacy there.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Yes… and where is your family from?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
On my mom’s side, my grandfather is from Vega Baja. My grandmother is from Carolina, from the Barrazas neighborhood, from the countryside. On my father’s side, my father is African-American from New Orleans, which is “the repeating Caribbean.” The Caribbean heritage is present. So, my dad was in the military, a captain in the coast guard, and they moved him or stationed him in Puerto Rico. There he meets my mother and from there everything is history.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
And your mom is Puerto Rican from where?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
My mother is Puerto Rican, born in New York and raised in New York, in “the Bronx”, but when she was doing her practice she moved to Puerto Rico, because my grandparents wanted to move back to Puerto Rico. My grandfather specifically wanted, his last wish, to return to his island and so he did. There, then, my mother fell in love with Puerto Rico and that’s where she stayed. She is still there!
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Of course, how can you not fall in love with this island.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Yes.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Okay, do you have any physical disabilities?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
No, thank God, not yet.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Could you share your current household income level?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Come again?
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Could you share your current household income level?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
No, I prefer not to answer that question.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Of course. Do you have any religious or spiritual affiliation?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
I am, I believe in God, I am a Christian. I grew up in the Catholic religion, so I consider myself Catholic, but the spirituality is always there.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Well, that is it for the demographic questions. Thanks for answering. Now I’m going to ask you some questions about your Puerto Rican identity.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Mhmm.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
What does being Puerto Rican mean to you?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
It is an honor. It is an honor to be from this beautiful and beautiful island. Specifically, representing the Afro-Boricua culture, because it is what defines me. People see me and that has been…I think that is part of the reasons why I am doing what I am doing…because I believe that, in my opinion…in the media and although there have been many Afro-Boricuas who have made great contributions, but we don’t see them represented all the time. Not even when I was in Puerto Rico. Not even in Puerto Rican novels. Not even in anything that has to do with cinema or anything like that, there isn’t, we are always hidden for some reason… and we know what that reason is because history dictates it.
But, when I moved to the states, I realized that my skin spoke before I spoke. So, I decided that this has to change, and how can I contribute towards humanity or towards my culture? Within my culture, how can I make my people visible, more visible? We are all Puerto Ricans, we have a mix of everything. Our family ranges from darker skin to lighter skin, but that pride cannot be limited to just three races, we already know that there are many races and other cultures that have influenced being Puerto Rican. And from the little parts to the complete parts, we have to be proud of every part of us. So, I am proud to be black, to be Puerto Rican and to know my history that was hidden from us. And try to bring to light the history that was hidden from us through my art and through my skirts as well.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
You’ve touched on that a little bit, but has there ever been a time when you’ve felt more or less sure of your Puerto Rican identity?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Never. I have never been, I have always been, I have always known who I am. I know where my parents come from in Puerto Rico, right. And I feel proud of who I am, because I know where I come from. When you don’t know where you come from, that’s when the doubt comes, that you don’t know how to identify yourself and well… I know who I am from the beginning and that’s because, not only my parents, but my grandmothers told me. They formalized who I was since I was little and that is something that I am doing with my daughter too. I want her to feel proud of where her parents come from, we are both Puerto Rican, and proud of her roots, right. And that, that sandunga, that blackness, no matter the color of the skin, to an extent, right… but that she feels proud of that and that when she sees me dancing or when she sees me sewing, she spends time in my workshop sewing with me…she feels proud of that and that she can take it with her wherever she goes or whatever career she pursues. So, I think I’ve already answered more than enough but I think that…
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Have you ever felt good or bad about your Puerto Rican identity?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Never bad. Never bad. All good, we have to educate people who are ignorant.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
And what elements or characteristics connect you with that Puerto Rican identity and could you describe them?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Well, dance and music because since I was little, I have been dancing to everything that is Bomba, plena, salsa…in the living room, right with my grandmother, with my aunt, because my grandfather died two months before I was born but he knew I was coming. So that, that heritage, that is carried in one’s blood. There are certain things sometimes that I can’t explain well but it is something that I say is ancestral, and that my ancestors have already experienced it and it carries through generations. I am very sure of that. So, as I have always said that dance, as I say, dance is my passion and I identify myself with dance, sewing, gastronomy too, music and I have definitely always liked it because my aunt was a fashion designer too.
My aunt Maria Concepcion and I was her doll. I don’t know, she dressed me in everything, I was her daughter, before she had her own daughters, I was her daughter so she was the one who taught me everything. I was little but still stays with me. So I believe that those three elements, those elements are the ones that make me feel most proud of myself, of being Puerto Rican and of continuing to promote what is my identity and my culture and carrying it for other generations.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
I love it…music, fashion, dancing…
Milteri Tucker Concepción
And the food.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
The food, you can’t forget the food.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Yes, and within that I also really want to add literature, it is very important. And something that in my adulthood after, because remember I studied everything in Puerto Rico until the tenth grade, but it was always other Spanish literature, and I said “I’m reading so many things about Spain, Spain, Spain,” but notice, they never gave me to read about Puerto Rican authors, there were some Puerto Rican authors, but everything was like outside, foreign, never from within. And there has never been an Afro-Puerto Rican writer or one who wrote our literature… who identified as black Puerto Rican and well… and that awakening and that thirst I had when I moved to New York, because I notice there is a difference, right, from how people see me. It was something that in Puerto Rico I… I never imagined, right… we are all Puerto Ricans, we live in Puerto Rico, like the color of the skin is not like that, at least in my childhood, right.
Now my parents’ experience would be different, but I, my experience, you know, I never saw it as an impediment until when I came to New York and I noticed people when I said “I’m Puerto Rican” and they tell me, “oh but you don’t look Puerto Rican.” And I said “what, what is this?!” You know that, that, I would say, was a big difference and that has driven me and given me the thirst, right, to say “No, in Puerto Rico there are black people, in Puerto Rico there is black literature, you know the foods, the alcapurrias that you like a lot come from Black people!” You know, you have to continue educating people and then, that’s the ignorance, the lack of information. And also, as I had previously mentioned, the lack of seeing ourselves in the media. So that’s why these studies are very important, because we continue, right, making the invisible visible.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Yes and giving representation to these parts of history that have been ignored for too long.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Yeah.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Now I’m going to ask you some questions about your experiences with Bomba. Currently, are you active in your participation?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Yes, very active.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
When was the first time you got involved with the Bomba?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
I’ve been involved since I was little. And as I told you, in the living room, right, with my grandmother, my aunts, my uncles, you know. It’s always been there. Whether I identified it was Bomba or what, I don’t remember, but it has always been there. In fact, my encouragement with dance and one of the things that I love, right, about Puerto Rico, is that they always bring you folklore. They can bring you ballet and jazz and Spanish ballet, but the folklore is always there. And I have always had that folklore in mind that has been Bomba and Plena.
Even, when I moved to New York…one of the first dance companies that I decided to be part of was a folkloric dance company because I wanted to continue after that experience I had on the subway train, I wanted to continue promoting and making visible the blackness within Puerto Rican culture. And then…I don’t specifically remember; I imagine I was about two or three years old like my daughter. And I became more established to enter and do more and everything, in what I am studying in the fine arts and also here in New York.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
So you said that you are very active right now…
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Yes.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
When, where and how often do you participate in the Bomba…more or less?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
You know this is, and well, and I am going to use it because the Cepeda family says that “Bomba is life” and this is, that you never stop participating in the Bomba when you are, if the body allows you and you do not have any limitations or illness, you carry this until death, and therefore they still sing a Belen for you when you are already there if they know that you are a Bomba practitioner. Me, you know, I practice every day. I practice Bomba in different ways every day: singing the songs to teach them to my group or the singers in my group, through sewing, I play Bomba music, dance, and if it takes me long to make the skirt it is because I am dancing with it, you know I’m putting good ashe on the skirt. So, and also a lot for sewing, definitely for dancing in all facets.
Here, now in Puerto Rico, you have to understand that in Puerto Rico there was a time, and this is when I was growing up, that there were no Facebook or Instagram that told you where Bomba was taking place, I don’t remember what there was, there were many Bomba groups like there are now because now Bomba is “in”, which is something positive. You know, you had to know someone or you saw them at the festivities…or you saw them at…certain times of the year, but it wasn’t all year round or every day or every weekend. Now you go, it’s on the beach, it’s in the countryside, it’s in a corner business, it’s in businesses… and you identify with the different schools, they have formed different schools that do Bombazos and every weekend or every day they have something. When I’m there, I’m with all my people involved.
Here then, I try, we try to do Bombazos every month, every day… I mean, rehearsing with my company, practicing, we do it with the youth company too. For example, today we have a presentation, presentations are very important to continue revitalizing and educating people outside of our community, mine are the ones I love…because you are educating other people who don’t know what it is, or who have never seen this genre…or they can associate with their own genre depending on where they are from and a connection and some curiosity to really continue learning. We give free classes on weekends here, because the cost of living is very expensive and so we want money not to be a, a limit for people, because in reality education can be free, what one is paying for is the person’s time and that favors us in that people continue to know our work, so, I would say that this is something that every day I get up and it is like the dance that I eat, sleep, dance, I wake up, eat, drink, Bomba, every day.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
And just to confirm when you say here you mean New York.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
It’s New York, yes.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Okay…do you have a Bomba region in which you are a part of or identify with?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
I am from the south. I love the south, but I also believe that my education in la Bomba, like many, has been in the Cepeda school, right. One of my first teachers was a student of the Cepedas, Jose Manuel, and also outside of my family, right. So, and I have been gifted there to know all the regions and how the Bomba is danced in all the regions, because it is danced differently in all the regions, that is, in the south, the north, the east, the center, the west, so on…and there are people who want, right, to continue with that tradition of how they dance, true to its genre, sorry in their space, where they are from, their region, sorry that’s what I mean, their region so this, and I want to be very aware of those, right, of those… different regionalisms, both in singing, in playing, and in dancing. So…Puerto Rican but I like the one from the south…I identify with the one from the south.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Okay.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Oh with the one from Loiza too because I like sandungueo.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
What does Bomba mean to you?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
What does the Bomba mean to me, the Bomba to me is joy, it is resistance, it is communication… and above all I think it is freedom, because when I first said joy, this comes from the suffering of our enslaved people, of our ancestors and It was for them to connect to their, where they came from so as not to possibly forget… but sometimes I kind of position myself in that time and say, “if I were enslaved which my ancestor was, and I was living in that time, I would be desperate for a Bomba dance to happen so that I could meet another, another person who works on another plantation so that I could, right, have that freedom of, like, breathing, of not having to work hard on those plantations or in those houses,” right. This is why I first said joy, because being at that time I would be like, “I can’t wait for the Bomba gathering.”
We don’t have much information from that time, the time when we begin to document Bomba and its clothing which was imposed. But if I had been there during that time, if I close my eyes and I place myself in that time, I would be crazy for Bomba time to arrive, that it would be Sunday, that it would be 3 in the afternoon so that maybe I could meet my boyfriend or my husband or one, or you know with someone who was separated from me in those times, right, that they were living. Resistance because it has been able to persist all these years, thanks to the various families of Bomba. And also freedom because, as I told you, after that joy it is like, as if it were a liberation. And always connecting, it is always connecting to the previous ancestor or connecting to the tribe or connecting, right because the rhythms also have their different, they have changed the Bomba that we make today, I am more than sure that it is not the same, nor the same one that was done in those times, and Bomba has been evolving and continues to evolve by the people who practice the genre because each person also wants to search for their identity within the Bomba and we see it with various musical groups, and I also believe this is also the case with the female dancers. That, right, my skirt line, which is me, is like the youngest because there have always been seamstresses, there have always been people who have made things. I believe that each dancer wants her individuality within the batey, and wants to stand out within the batey, wants to look beautiful within the batey. So, that’s why I say freedom too.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
And what does your participation in Bomba mean to you?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
An innovative, restoring, and essential contribution.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Do you have a Bomba rhythm that identifies you more than others or…?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Well, I really liked Cuembe. I don’t know why it’s fast but it’s not too…I mean, it’s not slow, I meant, it’s not so slow, it’s not so fast, it’s warm, it’s a southern rhythm, too and it’s like it’s enjoyable. I like Yuba a lot, Yuba calls me. When I go out dancing or go to Bomba gatherings, both in Puerto Rico and here, I don’t dance, I’m not one of those that I’m dancing to every rhythm. The rhythm has to call me…or the song has to call me, a song that I like or sometimes I’m going to go support them and they take me out, they give me the, they call me “Milteri…I know that you dance .” And there’s no way to avoid looking bad, then I’ll throw myself into the batey, but I like to wait. I like it, I am very observant and I also like to enjoy other dancers. Dancing is a personal expression, and one does not know what is happening with the person, and you have to let that moment of liberation, right, so for me Bomba is not to show off when one dances, it is not to stop and show off, and I am the one who knows best if I do this or whatever, no… that is why I say liberation because sometimes one is going through some personal things that when one meets the Bombera family one forgets about those things, right, for a moment and starts enjoying people, and they learn, there are ideas that grow and come out and those encounters are beautiful. And then, well, I like that because of that, it’s not because, not because, sometimes one sees and because of the… I am more or because of the opportunities that come that now everyone is recording themselves, I don’t like it…if I record myself it’s for me to see myself, to see what I did because sometimes I and it’s not, I have to, I’m going to say it publicly, Bomba, yes there was part of religion …no one, no scholar can tell me that the Bomba is this, that it is connected with this, you know, with some type of Afro-Caribbean religion because we don’t sing it like that or practice it like that within my experience. And I have sat down with various elders to talk and they also tell me that. Be careful because there are many people, as I told you, well, for me, La Bomba, you don’t have to belong to a religion to be able to practice it or not, because Bomba is communal, and I believe that it is one of the most beautiful things and what this generation has been able to do is include children so that they grow up with this and take it to their next generation.
Something that in Puerto Rico they did not want the children to do, there are various investigations that the children were not present or not remembered as part of the Bomba gatherings or some adults said, “I would sneak out to go see those dances because of the bad opinion that many Puerto Ricans also had towards the Black community, “that’s a black thing,” those things are like that. And for me dance is not a trance, it is not something that you go out, because I have seen and I have been in, remember that I am a dance professional, I am dedicated to the Afro dance community, Afro-Caribbean, and in many places the dance has to do with religion or with the rhythm that is being played or with the deity that is being honored. And I have seen the trances and in Puerto Rico…I do not lose control of my body. In those other situations, they lose control of their body, in Bomba no, one is in total control as a dancer, and I think it is wrong for members of the community to use words like a trance or like this, as it is called, there are other words that they use, and they are not the correct ones, in my personal opinion they are not the correct ones. When I dance, I focus, I don’t lose control of my body, I focus on what I am doing because it is my expression, it is something that happens there automatically and cannot be explained, it is something organic that happens, and if the primo subidor is good they are going to feel that energy, it’s a transfer of energy, and you’re going to feel it and everything sort of wraps around itself, right. Sometimes I get so involved that I don’t know what, it’s not that I don’t remember what I’m doing because I’m aware of what I’m doing, but it felt good, and I like it, I’ve, I like it. I like to evaluate myself, I don’t throw everything I record out there. I’m not that kind. I like to self-evaluate how I felt, because every time I go out I try to do something different, something new, I really like to challenge myself, as a dancer. And I said “ah wow, for me to repeat it”… some movement with the skirt, I said, “hey, wow that was good, I’m going to repeat it,” because it happens at that moment, and it won’t be the same when it’s repeated again.
That is why the Bomba steps that you see that everyone, that these cultural managers teach is going to be the same step but the person can do the same step but the intention is not going to be the same. And where that energy comes from is not going to be the same and the rhythm and everything, I mean… the intention is not going to be the same as another male or female dancer, right, unless it is a folkloric field, something that is already choreographed, right, to denote what I believe has also contributed a lot to the conservation of the movement of the skirt and the movement as such of the Bomba. So I answered more than the question but that’s what I wanted to say.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Of course, this is a space for you to, right, if you feel comfortable, to express yourself…okay, you have touched on this next question, but I want to ask it again to reiterate it and obviously if you have anything else to add but what things or what you have obtained with your…what has your participation in Bomba given you, emotionally, culturally, socially…what have you received through your participation in Bomba?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Personally, it is for me… I am carrying on my shoulders the work of many people who came before me, so for me first of all it is a responsibility… it is an honor to have, to truly be able to do what I do within the Bomba, because… Thanks to my, my ancestors and my teachers who were also my teachers in Bomba, I can do what I am doing today. And to be able to impact this genre in a more global and international way. And for me I take that very seriously, and as I told you, it is a responsibility, a pride, an honor, and also having the support of the Bomba community. Especially the elders and the people who are doing it for life, these families, who see seriousness in me, it’s not that I’m doing it for my 5 minutes of fame.
I’m doing it because it satisfies me, it fills me, it completes me and it identifies me, and it completely fills me with who I am. Because as I told you one of the reasons that has always been, has always been present since my first dance choreographic theses, right, I did them in Bomba and everything. But I was always a little afraid of going public, I said “No, because I still don’t consider myself ready to do this.” If it weren’t for one of my mentors who told me, “mija, you’re ready, all you have to do is put yourself out there.” Right, he who supports you, supports you, he who doesn’t, doesn’t… but you are going to be impacting more people and if you don’t it will be a loss. And I said “okay, well, I’m going to jump in.” And so, so that’s what, right, I think I’ve gotten from Bomba. And also confidence in myself, confidence in myself, in being able to embark on everything, the goals that I have decided to make within this genre to continue elevating and making the genre visible.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
And you have undoubtedly inspired many people along your path. Thank you for sharing a little bit of your experience with Bomba. Now I’m going to ask you questions about Bomba’s outfit. When you participate in Bomba, what clothing or type of accessories do you typically wear?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Well you have to divide it, you have to divide it, this one, the one that is for presentation which is as a folklore group and then there I use the costumes that are mostly given from the 17th century, 18th century around there. And you already know what the sleeves are, the high collars, puffed sleeves… the apron, the sash, everything, the turban, everything. If I’m going to go to a Bombazo now in 2023, I’ll just take my skirt. We are no longer, right, because that, as you already know that was the clothing of that time and people went dressed from that time. Me, I like to play, I like to cut through space, so I take my skirt. Now I am, which was something that I didn’t know, that I didn’t know that I was going to go to a Bombazo, that I was going then I will dance more corporeally, that’s why it’s important not to dance with imaginary skirts, but to know dancing the Bomba corporally, and that means also learning the steps that also denote being masculine…or a rhythm like the Seis Corrido, you already know that that is Loiza, well, knowing how, that’s why I said that as a dancer one has to know the different rhythms and regions, it’s not that I learned with so-and-so and I’m leaving, not this is something that is, that takes time and not everyone is going to open the doors to you. You know that you have to continue, right, investigating a little, being permanent so that people see your seriousness in this. And then… as I define it, right… of presentation or well, since I know that I’m going for a Bombazo… and I’m taking my skirt.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Oh, okay…And what materials are your skirts and that presentation costumes are usually made of?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
The general material of Bomba is normally cotton. And I like to use various fabrics, if I like the fabric that is not too heavy, because you have to pull it… there are different light fabrics, it can’t be very light either because later it won’t give the flowery look that the skirt gives, that you want the skirt to give, so you can use any type of fabric that is accessible, right, one…two that does not have much weight, because we know that depending, and that is depending on the person, the dancer, generally, remember that these were European dresses, revitalized by the European image and the truth was those were those floor-length suits. So, within my own research, the skirts were not that wide either, so when you become a folkloricist, you notice that other international folkloric groups have a lot of volume, so we begin to add more yardage to the skirts, more things. So, if you’re going to add more flare to that skirt, the fabric can’t weight much, right. And then sometimes the fabric can be cotton but it can be mixed with other fibers so that it is not so heavy either, because cotton is heavy. But I would say what is accessible or what the person likes as well and what can be done because not every fabric can be used for what a Bomba skirt entails… there are certain characteristics, that’s all depending on each seamstress and every dancer who designs her own, or who falls in love with a fabric too…”no, I don’t want this one,” because one tries to make it to the client’s taste, because they already have that fabric in their mind and that is the fabric they want to use either because of it, because of what is printed on the fabric, or because of whatever it is, the color or whatever it is going to be…
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
And you talked about color, do you have a favorite color or do you feel that there are some colors that are more appropriate than others?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Like overall in Bomba or my personal style?
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Whichever.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Or the two…honestly, the color depends on the dancer or director of the group, how they want to identify themselves…personally my colors when I dance I always like red or violet, they are my favorite colors. I try to look for ones that match my skin color too. So lately, in recent years, African fabric has been incorporated that was not used before, and I like to give those touches too. Depending, the thing is that, just like the rhythm speaks, my fabric has to call me. The fabric calls me, I think many fabrics call me but…
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Yes, they call you…like you said.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Mhmm…
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
And you, those clothes that you wear, do you design them or make them yourself or do you have others that other people make, where do you usually get them from?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
The clothes that I make, I mean that I personally use, I make them. This is one, there have been four people who have encouraged my sewing and how I learned, obviously my grandmother, my aunt, my mother who was the first to teach me how to use a needle and also the one who polished me with sewing because I didn’t, I mean you know, I didn’t go, I didn’t study sewing, I have always liked fashion, I have seen it, I liked it, but I am a seamstress from Bomba, of Bomba skirts, not about making wedding dresses and things like that. There are people who take care of that. I dedicate myself to Bomba and dancing because these are my elements and it is what I, I know very well. And the fourth person was Doña Paula who worked with my grandmother in the sewing factory when my grandmother was part of those first immigrations of Puerto Ricans to New York who worked in the sewing factories and I met her later on, I was teaching Bomba classes in a senior center where she is the sewing teacher at that senior center. So we started talking and it just so happened that she knew my grandmother and I was like look at this. My grandmother had already passed away by the time I met her and well, I told her, “look, I’m making my little skirts and my things for myself,” I mean, this was before making my company. This was for me and I want, I want something different when I went out to the batey and she said “come and I’m going teach you,” Oh Lord, I think that, I think that not even any sewing school could have given me the experience that that lady gave to me, specifically, for what I wanted. And I already knew and she made me break the textile again… I sat down once, my first time in an industrial machine. I said “Oh Lord…this is it.” It was her, you know, she told me, one of the things that she, right, instilled in me is that when you do something for another person, you do it as if for yourself. You have to like it, it has to look good for you, before doing it to someone else. And my mother has always said things are done well or they are not done at all…she taught me how to cut, the different ways of sewing and how to use the machines. So I finished what my grandmother, my aunt and my mother had started, well she kind of finished it, that was like, that was like my doctorate in sewing with her in Bomba skirts…And you know no one is born, no one is born knowing. There are things that are passed down but they need teachers to help you and those were my four teachers. And thanks to them I have been able, right, to start. Then, during my dance classes people asked me, “ah I want a skirt like yours.” And I said, “well, I can do it for you,” and then I started like that little by little. And then we were already there, imagine since 2009 with this brand and thank God we continue to grow.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Of course and I hope it continues to grow and impacting lives.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Mhmm.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
This question may be a little obvious but why do you get your…why do you design your own dresses? Why do you get them from yourself instead of buying them from someone else…?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Because I like to be different…I like to be original. And within this research that I am also doing, I have helped and cooperated and supported other seamstresses, but I know that mine are mine, that they are my creation, they are what I saw here. And I know that no one else is going to have it, I know that no one else is going to have it and that’s why I like to use what’s mine. It’s not that I don’t use another one, because if I’m dancing with someone else and this is the costume, well that’s the costume, I’m not going to object, right, because it’s someone else’s vision, but if I am going out to the Batey, it makes me proud that I made these skirts, they are not made in China, I said them, I sewed them, it’s my time, but it’s also, you know, it’s part of preserving this culture. I mean, it’s not that I design them and take them to another seamstress to make them, no, I said “I’m going to make everything,” we have to learn to make everything, because remember our grandmothers made everything. They sewed, they ironed, they did everything. I feel proud when it is something done by me.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
How many Bomba dresses do you have?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Oh, I laugh like that because look, I have a full closet and I already started one for my girl, she is asking me for another skirt, she already wants another skirt… And forgive me, this was my original reaction, but I’m telling you that I have quite a lot.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Don’t worry, I believe you, I believe you.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
I have, look, I’ve lost count, I’ve lost, I’ve lost count already.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Too many…
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Once you start making your own things, because, “oh I like this idea, or this idea,” comes to mind, “I like this fabric,” and that, my mom tells me, you know that the idea of the exhibit was my mom, because “girl, you have so many…” Look, I have a room full of Bomba dresses with my Bomba skirts. So with that, enough is said.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Wow, I love it. Your mom told you, “girl, exhibit them you have so many.”
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Sell them or display them, “mom, they are all made by me when I die they will be worth a lot.”
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
That’s right, okay…what meanings do you give to the different styles of Bomba.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
In terms of, of skirts. The meaning of each skirt?
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
What does it mean to you, what meaning does the traditional dress bring to you or what they wear today or the different ones, the different styles?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Well, what we call traditional of the time is that, the time that we are in, as I had explained to you that we are documenting a time that the Bomba began to be documenting and that dress and that clothing was the daily life of those people and that was what was used, I mean it’s what I’ve seen in the archives, right, and throughout the Caribbean and both in Europe and then, and for me that clothing means that, obviously, as we’re already saying, as you saw in my exhibition “Resistencia y Libertad” that we then see the different dancers, we see already forming the history of that dancer and that legacy. The ones we use today, which is the skirt as such, for me, the skirt is only a skirt or a skirt, it is something more that adds to the Bomba, it is like another dimension and since we are in a moment of socio-activism, I believe that the skirts must also be socioactivism, that’s why in the “Resistencia y Libertá” collection, the colors, the design, the flag of Puerto Rico, right, I believe that we are the only country that changes our flag with whatever social issue there is, we take the flag and we change the colors to highlight the social theme, right, well that was an inspiration for me, well, if the dancer wants to represent herself, it’s true either with the Puerto Rican skirt as such, that I was the creator of the Puerto Rican flag as a Bomba skirt, which was you see painted there by an artist from Chicago, because I wanted to represent that Puerto Rico is everyone, not only as I had told you before, it is not just a facet of a single person, that I felt proud to be Afro Boricua. See yesterday I had a presentation that I have a skirt that is Afro Boricua, with the colors of the Afro American, Puerto Rican style flag, and with my details. So and because the event was more noticeable the Juneteenth celebration that is held and well I wanted to represent that, in fact, the director tells me, “it’s good that you wore that skirt I didn’t want to say anything to you because it was more Afro representative that you didn’t use the one you always use, which is the flag of Puerto Rico,” and then… I mean, every skirt really has something for every event or every social issue. Now, in general for the Bomba it is what the dancer decides that she or he wants to express herself, because now we see that in the LGBTQ+ community the man also puts on the skirt and now it will also take on another meaning because now it is the meaning of that person’s identity.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
And with these, the different skirts or colors or designs, do you think that the meaning that each skirt has changes in the context or in the place where it is? For example, do you think an Afro Puerto Rican skirt has the same meaning in a protest as it does on a catwalk?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
I think so…Again, if I’m at a protest and I want to wear this skirt because I want to protest, I don’t know if it’s something about racism or something like that, for example, well, I wear that skirt, because I, my intention, is true within the Bomba, within the genre that I practice and that I am supporting that protest, because I am going to wear this color or this skirt. The catwalk is a “look”, it’s a, what’s it called, what they call it… like a lookbook but in person it’s really a catalog of what the designer likes. And for me, the catwalks that we have been to are important because we are carrying, not only the visibility of the skirt, not only the visibility of the genre, but the social cause. So and each, remember, each collection has its meaning and that collection of “Resistencia y Libertá” is that the constant themes that we are still seeing in Puerto Rico and that we are still, that have not been, are themes that unfortunately have not been improved and they continue, and are very present and very visible. So that is a way of my socioactivism through the Bomba and through fashion to make this visible to people and create in them that question and why this color? And why did you change this flag? So then we start talking about issues that continue to affect our island.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
As a means of, not only getting attention, but starting conversations that are necessary to have…
Milteri Tucker Concepción
And also create awareness for the non-Puerto Rican public. Because not everything can be one-sided. So there have to be different facets and why people take their position on what they want to take, without having to talk directly about politics because that is always, always divisive, but we are going to see more, we are going to make this visible and because of that I think that clothing identifies a culture or a genre, really, for example in the case of Bomba, the dance genre as such. And continuing with the discussion of the meaning of the skirt, for example, the new collection “Representa tu Pueblo” starts from when I made “Resistencia y Libertá” I said, “I’m going to make a Ponce skirt because I feel very proud,” because we Ponceños are like that. So I said, oh, I said, “oh, I’m going to do one of Carolina, I’m going to do one of this,” and then I said, “No, I’m going to do it,” and then when I did the opening in Ponce in 2022…I said , “No, I’m going to make the 5 or 6 towns most notable for Bomba, which represent Bomba, the different families.” And from there the idea arose because we are going to be the, all the municipalities, and there I noticed that when I began to publish on social media the Ponce skirt, different people both in Puerto Rico and in the diaspora began to say “oh I want a skirt from Fajardo, I want one from Bayamon, I want…” So now it is has to do with the identity of where your parents are from or where you grew up or where you are from. So the skirt, the contribution that I am making to Bomba’s fashion is very important because then we are talking about identity, it no longer has to do with just that it is from Bomba, that it is imposed by the people, now we took it, I took control of that narrative and changed it…And I changed it like our ancestors did, those seamstresses who began to add their own truth, resistance, their own details to change that style. Well, I completely changed it. And now that represents, because there was a time inside the Bomba and it is very true and I am going to say it publicly that some Bomberos were rejecting the Bomba, sorry for the skirt. Not Bomba, they were rejecting Bomba’s skirt. “Yes, that’s European,” that’s why, at my exhibition, I said, “No, this skirt is not European.” Yes, it has an European accent because we were colonized whatever, whatever, but this comes from a civilization older than all of those, that they all learned and they burned down the oldest library in Africa, in Egypt, right, because they wanted to, to be, no, I mean when I went to school I learned more about Greek and Roman and Italian culture, than Spanish, than about my own culture, Africa, right, that’s why that window, as you saw in the exhibition, is very important, taking away this idea from people that this is only from Europe, not that they got it from here. People don’t see that.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Africa is the root…
Milteri Tucker Concepción
It is the root, and…that is why I titled it like that because it is the root. And there was a time when there were many Bomba practitioners who were not wearing skirts, “oh no, we don’t wear skirts anymore,” it’s jeans and this and that, but then they started dancing with scarves and scarves… Well, you know, and that’s why it gave me a thirst for research… “Hold up, hold up, hold up, this is what I know about Bomba” and I said, “let’s go, hold up, hold up, stop, let’s investigate this well,” because there are things that they didn’t tell us and we can’t keep repeating things for the sake of repeating them because you don’t like them. If you don’t want to dance with a skirt, then don’t put on the skirt, don’t put on the skirt and that’s it, and if you want to dance with a skirt, you put on your skirt. So you know, within my investigations I have also spoken with other Bomba practitioners and it is like a rescue, we are rescuing the use of skirts and why the skirt is important in Bomba and for me it is what I took, that I took that narrative and I changed it, I said, “now the skirt, at least those who use my line, go… they use the skirt because they identify with this skirt.” Because these skirts represent, these skirts, when you put them on and go to dance with them, they represent the identity or the social cause or some personal cause that the person has, right, and in Puerto Rico, because I also make them for the Caribbean and so, and there is, well, that’s another conversation. We entered with different identities and meanings, but…and that is why “Representa tu Pueblo” is so important and has taken on that cause of “I feel proud of my town, I feel proud to be from San Juan, to be from …Las Piedras, to be,” right, and then specifically the Puerto Rican in the diaspora who always longs for Puerto Rico because it comes to him, he feels identified, right, and well, it is something to share, and even if you didn’t know, and if you do want to make it part of your investigation “Almas Way” I believe it, I mean her, I’m not going to say her full name now because we are recording but Maria, I forget her last name, but she created “Alma’s Way” is a Puerto Rican girl, it is a Puerto Rican series that lives in the Bronx and she knows Bomba through her family through her uncle who teaches Bomba. And then, they made an episode now, that my students went, they used them for the “live shorts,” in which they travel to Puerto Rico. But in the first episode, the mother gives Bomba’s skirt to her and she dances with the mother’s Bomba skirt, and that is the case of many Bomba practitioners who are dancing with their, their mothers’ Bomba skirt. And then she goes to Puerto Rico, or Loiza and they give her another skirt, right, and that meaning of also, I think it is very important to pass the Bomba skirt from one generation to another, it is what I am also doing with my daughter and then well it is another part of the way of identifying the importance of that.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Yes, I think I’ve seen that video online and I love it, I love that representation.
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Beautiful.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Mhmm, so I’m going to ask you some questions about the authenticity of Bomba and you can interpret what authenticity means as you wish… do you think that some styles of Bomba are more authentic than others?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
This depends on the region, the…what region are we talking about? That also depends, this is like saying the traditional costume, we are generalizing it but in truth, as I explained before, each school of Bomba, each group of Bomba, is going to have a dress that represents where they are from or meaning in the mission of their school or as a group. So…we cannot say that this is more authentic than others because otherwise we would be doing a…we would not truly be honoring the mission of that other cultural manager or that other family. My opinion, sorry, my opinion is that…it depends…the authenticity of the costume is, obviously, I come back and repeat about the region and the families. We always consider two families when discussing Bomba, the Cepedas and the Ayalas. The Ayalas have their own print that is distinctive, colorful that they have, that they have, we saw it this past July 4th, right. The Cepedas also have their own style, right. Doña Caridad also had her style, she passed those styles on to Tata Cepeda and then Tata Cepeda also because Caridad’s dresses are not very wide, she did not dance with very wide dresses. Then her granddaughter, Tata Cepeda started to widen them a little more and now we have the skirts that look like Mexican skirts, or Venezuelan skirts or whatever. Right, they are to create that magic in space in the presentations…I believe that with that, that is how I define authenticity, because we do not want to devalue another person or another family, I believe that each person is authentic, for example my skirts are authentic and original. If you see a skirt, it is in Milteri’s style, in the style that she makes it. Making the box here is not Puerto Rican as such, that is, it comes, because I have seen it, I have traveled, doing the research, the Garifona community has it, the Mexican community has it, it has everything, everything, you know, other communities have it, so not only is it authentic for Puerto Ricans to make the box here or something like that, if, for example, that designer or seamstress does it that way, why, because that’s how the client asked for it, or because that’s how they want to identify, right, that if you see, if we see what the sewing was like at that time, it didn’t have that lace, that was more used like the sashes, it’s true that that little box gave the silhouette to the person with the clothing, more like the skirts are the…the, oh my God, the…
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
You can say it in English…
Milteri Tucker Concepción
The belt, right, the belt from there comes the skirt. I like that style because why not, I have had others, I have used other styles with other companies that have it, I call it the Mexican style that they put on at the back and then tie the other side. Because when I went to teach classes in Mexico, they make their skirts like that and I have spoken with seamstresses and to make sure they fit or because of the width or the meter they use, it is easier to hold all that fabric but I don’t like it. I don’t like it because it falls and every five minutes you have to fix yourself. If I do it with the waist, the word came to me, the waist in a single installment not like a little box, front and back or double well, I, I, I know that I’m not going to fall dancing because of the movement. I think a lot about the movement of that skirt, and as a dancer I don’t want to be embarrassed by it opening or something like that, and one also has to know how to use Bomba’s skirt, it’s not that I want it very wide, super wide and if it’s super wide, you have to know how to handle the skirt because if not the fabric, it eats you up, I mean you wrap yourself in it and you can’t handle it, the skirt handles you, not you the skirt. So there are techniques that you have to know as a dancer and seamstress and know that movement, and I think that’s why for me that has really helped me, that knowledge.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
And I ask you this example again about authenticity because you said that about families and it makes me curious, the materials you use, where you get them from, who wears the dress, do you think that those factors do not take away or add to the authenticity of the dress?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Yes, that’s why I said, we can’t say that one costume is more authentic than another, because, for the same reason that you just mentioned, that you yourself just mentioned, the style that the family or group wants to give it, from where the fabric comes from, right, remember there is no fabric, I mean there is no fabric that is purely, clearly Puerto Rican Bomba, because everything is imported in Puerto Rico and it is what is available at the moment, or what, or what is coming, the fabrics that were available. So that’s also why I mentioned the families, authenticity everything, I think that all costumes have authenticity because of the importance of the family or cultural manager who is using it, it already comes from the type of fabric they use or the one that is most accessible to them, how they sew it, the style they want to sew it, and the person who is using it. For me, as I told you, I don’t want to give less value, to say that this costume, and even from this era, has more authenticity than this other era because they are, they have different meanings and they have, another, they have another…they also carry information of the person that we do not want to diminish anyone. For me, all costumes have authenticity. Mine have authenticity, those of the Cepeada family, the Ayala, the Albizu…they all have that burden and they are all contributing to the genre that is used.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Okay, but let’s say a costume for example from teatro centro or a costume from Amazon, do you think there is still authenticity there?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Ah well… is teatro centro still standing?
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
I think so…
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Would you look at that. That’s good…generally because Teatro Centro I remember once they started marketing the dress, the dress for this, but it’s made in Puerto Rico, right. This is not done, not yet, and this was an option that was presented to me, and I said no because I think that people in the culture, inside and outside the culture, are going to put more value on something done by a person of the culture that if it is produced in large quantities outside of… And in that sense, in that example that you give, we are going to make a dress made, I don’t know, in… the West… we are going to say, you know that everything is made, “Made in China”, let’s say one “Made in China” compared to a dress that I make or another seamstress that is, there, I don’t think that dress will carry the same weight that ours is going to carry. And I consider that in that example, in that example, the one made by the seamstress is going to have more authenticity than… than one made in large quantities in, I don’t know, somewhere else because the labor is less. In that aspect, right, I don’t want it to be left out of context, to be taken out of context, I think that if a costume made by us is going to have more weight, more charge, more authenticity than a costume made outside to represent, or because the value is less, because then we are depreciating due to the price, we are truly despising the value of the person who makes it or the designer of the culture or of what is done in Puerto Rico… right, not everyone has the same budgets, but it is given value and this is in any area, if you are going to, I don’t like to haggle with the artisans, when it is a group that is folkloric whatever, what they ask of me I give it to them, because I understand that it is that person’s time, this person’s experience, right, and also the good energy that the person gives you is to be conserved. A dress that is going to be made…at least from now on and you tell me, if someone is making it “mass produced” outside…for me, it has to do with that, that the price is set, that for me my prices they are quite modest and accessible…to one that is not, because it is a little cheaper so to speak…I really want to…maybe it can be authentic to the culture, but it is not going to be authentic, so authentic, if I can explain myself, for the weight of those who do it and that same energy that they put into it, right, and more than that it comes from Boricua hands, that is why I am proud that this is done by me, by my mother, by Boricua hands, and that we continue to represent. The opportunities have come to me to make them mass produced, but I said, “No, not yet, I don’t want to release that, because I know that people, more than investing in the skirt, are investing in me.” And the money is then staying within the community to continue, because these skirts have missions, these skirts give back to the community, and I believe that is what people value most, I think that in my opinion it makes them more authentic, versus one that is made for 0.99 somewhere else, right, and the material is not going to be the same, maybe, you know, it’s not going to be the same…
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
With those feelings, with your knowledge, with your love that is so visible with your responses to what this part of the Afro-Puerto Rican and Puerto Rican culture, how do you feel when you put on a dress, a skirt, the headwrap, like you, what are those feelings that you experience when you put on this outfit?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Well, just like, my commitment to culture, right, when I wear my Bomba skirt… it’s a pride, pride… it’s always an honor to do something carried by me or by another hand, right, and… I feel… happy and happy because it continues to be preserved and seen and so we are contributing to the evolution of this skirt, and that is important to me. When I go out to the batey I know what it’s going to look like and I know it’s going to be a topic of conversation, and that’s what I like the most too…
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
And do you think that then these feelings have, and your experiences with clothing affect how you feel as a Puerto Rican?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
With the Puerto Rican identity, well, I think so, I think that when we use this it is to identify that we are Puerto Ricans, to identify what the Puerto Rican Bomba is, and for me…as I said, the dress does identify a culture, and the clothing itt identifies a culture, and we see the resistance within that of what we’re doing. I am aware that I am not the only one and that I am inspiring more people. So…in that sense, yes.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
And do you think other parts of your identity play a part in that response, in that they affect your relationship with Bomba, with Bomba’s clothing?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Like which? An example…
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Well, you mentioned as a Puerto Rican, which was the previous question, but you can also speak, if it is relevant to you, right, on your identity as a woman, as a black woman, as Ponceña, among others…
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Definitely, I mean…the skirt is something, in certain cultures, right, in the culture that we have created, which has mostly been like the European one as well, it is feminine, it is a power, and it continues to represent…it continues to represent my identity as a mother, as a wife, as a daughter, as, right, as such it is important, and always, traditionally they taught us, the woman with the skirt, the man with the hat, but it is something that now we are with the gender-fluidity and then it also represents other people. I remember that, since we have it in San Juan, when I did the choreography for “Como Eres” it was very important for me… to speak your truth, which are true things that I do with my team, that are also from the community, that we sat down to talk, I mean those, that’s a little bit, we made an evening length, that skirt that you saw is because it represents what happened among the community that a boy wore the skirt in the 2000s and this was when Facebook was “in” and I remember this Bombazo and this boy wanted to dance with the skirt because he saw the girl with the skirt and he hanged with the girls and he put on the white skirt and went out to dance, and many of the traditionalists criticized him, that a man should not dance with a skirt, because we also have people from the LGBTQ+ community who, in order to preserve the masculine appearance, have had to hide their truth, to be able to truly carry out the masculinity of the Bomba, and this, this gesture that the boy made who was that, well maybe he didn’t do it because he felt the call, I’m not doing anything bad and he took the skirt and did it, I remember there being, I didn’t see it in person I saw it because it already went viral at that moment, it had gone viral… and then, fast forward to 2019 in New York, in a Bombazo here another boy comes out with a black skirt dancing Bomba, it wasn’t so much the community, but it was more the gesture and the face of those who were playing. And I said, “but what is this? We are in New York of all the places…and, because, and I felt, it felt like that in community and I said, “me being that boy going out dancing,” or however he identifies himself, I say boy because what I see is masculine, right, I said, “how would he feel with that energy, even the primo drummer making a face,” and I said, “this can’t be.” So I talked to Sedric and I said, “Look at this, we are at the forefront here in New York with this and this can’t happen, this can’t keep happening.” I am very aware that in my company I have people who are LGBTQ+, and he and he had a deep conversation, myself and with my others, the other members, because even though I do not identify as them or have that same sexual orientation, but they are humans who also have the same right to dance and not have to hide, and we decided together as an organization to carry this message, which I believe has helped a lot, because the video also went viral, it is the video I have there, has supported that community that feels that you can dance with a skirt or you can dance without a skirt and you can be yourself, that’s why that message is, and… if that, the person, I mean again with the Puerto Rican identity also affects them, I mean it is identity so it changes from my perspective, but for me, on my part it is the help, the support, sorry, the support towards them, and they also feel included, the inclusion of saying, “ah that’s good, because Milteri is telling me, I don’t have it, I have to be me, I have to be me, I have to feel how I dance,” and always [inaudible]…I remember Bomba salitre and this boy he asked me for the skirt and I told him, “Take it, take it, go away, it’s new, use it, take it out to the batey,” you know, it’s important to have that support because it’s part of the identity, I mean, does the skirt identify, yes, If you identify as Puerto Rican, yes, you identify as Puerto Rican, yes, for me, yes, and I don’t see anything wrong with that. If other countries are proud to have a national dress, why not us?
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Of course, and you are touching a little on this, and these are the last questions I am going to ask you, about the messages that society as such has about Bomba’s dress, obviously, I know that you have learned from your family and that has been a great influence on the clothing, the knowledge of Bomba and you also just said a little, or hinted that many people still think that skirts are just for girls, boys wear pants, What other types of information have you learned about clothing, how society views the Bomba’s clothing from your interactions with other people?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Well, there are some people within the community and maybe outside who, as I mentioned, see the element of the skirt or clothing as something European, yes it is, I mean we can’t ignore or cover that, they imposed them on our ancestors. That was Paris, and I think it’s still true, but what they said was the fashion, what was used in Paris…they…I almost lost track of what I was saying, but you know, they began to see how this is imposed by the colonizers, you know to make it political. I can’t really make it political, we, not only Africa, also the, our indigenous people had the sallas, the petticoats, the word “petticoat” is Indigenous, you know they had that too, so we can’t say that it is …that the clothing is not, you know, it only comes from the Europeans, no, we are already in 2023, we are in the 21st century and we cannot say that anymore, we have to change our orientation of how it is, from my two experiences, what that is like, they teach you, the boy is this, the girl is that and so, other communities that have felt, well, “oh this is an element of the colonizer, we don’t want to use it, to go with this, to go with the that,” and what happens is that it continues to erase part of our identity and our history. What do we have to do? What I and others are doing, taking control of the narrative and doing our thing, I mean that… within my research is what many seamstresses have done, many dancers that I know, who want to make their costumes, who want to do something different , and that’s what I’m doing, innovative in that part. Those are basically like the two personal experiences that I have seen at least, and then now those who said they didn’t want to wear skirts are now wearing skirts. I mean, you know, everyone has the right to change their opinion, to change, to educate themselves more, and to have, that…right…more information, to continue transmitting better information to our next generation.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
What types of messages do you think society promotes about Bomba? Whether it is Puerto Rican society, the diaspora, other audiences…
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Well there are different types of information, I think that the most generalized that you can, we can say, it is part of our cultural heritage, it is our Africania, it is ours, our African ancestral legacy… the history as such where it comes from, the families and the reason, you know, also thirst, creating a thirst and an educational consciousness. I believe that since I started there have been more cultural managers and more women leading this, this, the Puerto Rican Bomba. I consider from here the diaspora, I remember that before it was only the men, mostly it was the men who were leading right, but now you see the leader is the woman who is having this call to, to have this, to follow, This… my words are getting stuck, but I will continue… this mission, to continue educating. I think this comes because we are mothers, and I believe that oral history, I remember that I used to sit down a lot and talk to my grandmother in her time, in the countryside, when she ate and since I was little I told asked her questions, I was sitting with my mother when I lived in Puerto Rico as she grew up in New York, and I told her, “and what was New York like?” And she was talking to me about this number and that number, and I didn’t understand, now it makes sense, now it’s like, I believe that oral history comes from our fathers, but I lean more towards mothers and grandmothers, because they are the ones who tell you the stories, they are the ones who tell you too, we learn from our mothers, our aunts, we are in the kitchen when we talk, we talk about ourselves, “oh, in my times, my times,” right, and every profession has something that remembers its times. Well, I think that what we are seeing now that is very beautiful is that women are freeing themselves more in the Bomba, in positions where men used to be more , it is very beautiful, because in general the oral tradition and the stories and all, never discarding the father or the grandfather figure, it is more maternal, and… We pass that on to our children and well… then we really see more… these managers in these positions that are something beautiful and wonderful and well we are seeing more. Since I remember when I started with the skirts I couldn’t find anyone who made the skirts of Bomba. We had to have another Hispanic lady that they did but they didn’t do it to the extent that I wanted it, that I needed them, and I said, “no, no, I have to take care of this matter, because if I need it, I have to understand what I’m doing with my hands,” and then in terms of identity I think that in general, about the Bomba in general. Each one gives it their own, their own mission, and their own story.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
And my last question, does your participation in Bomba and your experience with Bomba clothing really affect your daily style?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Well, no, because I’m not, no, I’m not going to be like my ancestors who had to go out with a skirt, I go, if I want to go out with a skirt or whatever, well depending on what I feel that day or what I want to wear. We are in a society, that is like, and you also know, as part of the industrial revolution and with all the wars and everything that women go out to work and in these factories with the jeans, it makes it accessible to women, because before, women, even my grandmother, told me that we never wore jeans and we never wore tennis shoes, it was heels, heels from here to there…well, we are, we live in a society where we wear, to put it that way, colloquially, pants and we go with them from here to there, and all that. In certain occasions we dress up, we have our dresses. Yesterday I, it was hot and I didn’t want to wear any pants, jeans. Well, I went with a dress…and so, I don’t think that Bomba’s clothing would affect my daily style in any other negative way, the daily is what society in general has. I think and that’s why for a moment it was true, certain members of the Bomba community, in my opinion, did not wear, they wanted to reject skirts because it was not that we went out with long Bomba skirts every day… but as I told you, personally, I wear my skirt, I wear my sandals, my jeans, my heels, I’m going to a Bombazo, but I’m going to have my, yes, if I know I’m going to go, I’m going to wear my skirt, I’m aware I am a dancer who dances with a skirt because I like to create dimensions, I like to create space, I like it, well I am going to go with a new skirt that I want to show off and I am going to take it with me. See, that’s the difference now versus, in my opinion, right, at that time, because at that time it was what you had on, but today, well, we already know, we understand, there is more truth, variety, We have more options and we can therefore dress, it is easier to put on a skirt, we are not going to put on a complete outfit now nowadays, remember that not all regions dance with a skirt…an example, the Ayala use the skirt or the dress for their presentation, right, because they are representing an era, that was danced like that in Loiza, and if you dress very well, we don’t use shoes and I was like, “look, at this guy,” we don’t use shoes, right, they are certain characteristics of that dress, in that region, but there are also dancers who have told me about Loiza “no, we dance it without a skirt,” right, but they also know how to dance with a skirt, because they put it on and want to wear it, you know, you have the option today if you want to wear the skirt or not, I don’t think it affects our daily lives in any negative way…and then take the skirt, I have my little backpack and I’ll take it, right. My daughter tells me, “mommy my Bomba skirt, my Bomba skirt, I want my Bomba skirt,” because she knows she is going to dance and she is going to go to Bomba and she asks for her Bomba skirt. So for me, that is my opinion in which I don’t think it negatively affects daily life, and if you look at the folkloric groups or people who practice other cultures that have or genre that have dance primarily with the drum, in my opinion it is like that also from what I have at least been able to observe. They have their daily lives and then they go and put on their clothes. If they know they are going to a party or something, they put costume if they know they are playing or dancing there, right, and that has been my observation and my experience.
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Well those were all the questions…
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Yey!
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Thank you for responding, thank you for your willingness, I have learned a lot, I am inspired and I know that everyone who sees this video will be equally inspired. Before we finish recording, do you have anything, right, anything you want to share?
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Well, I am very honored that you have selected me and invited me to be part of your project and your research…and also that the exhibition is not lost. I don’t know when this is going to come out, but if you are still in Puerto Rico, look for it, “Resistencia y Libertá: Exhibition of the evolution of the Bomba skirt” that if it is not in Puerto Rico, it will be in Chicago, when this recording comes out or it will be in some state, town near you. It’s going to be somewhere! And to follow us at Bombazo Wear, Bomba Caribbean Skirts, made purely by Puerto Rican hands, proudly, and that it is an investment in culture, and I believe that we have to learn as a community to invest in our culture, we cannot go away the bargain all the time. Some things are cheap, other things we have to put the value on what they are making and value them, because if we ourselves do not value our culture, no one else is going to do it. So we have to understand and educate other people that if this is worth 300 dollars, it is worth 300 dollars, and they have to think about everything that goes into making a Bomba skirt because these Bomba skirts are not made quickly, right, everyone and each seamstress has her style and her process of how to do it and that takes time, time, we can never gain time back, so time is highly valued and we are all proud… but, I said that wrong, it makes us all proud those of us who have dedicated ourselves to this, please continue valuing us and don’t haggle with us…don’t haggle!
Amanda Ortiz Pellot
Well, thank you very much Milteri, I appreciate it very much…
Milteri Tucker Concepción
Yes, yes thank you…
