Danza Ritual: A Caribbean Overture

DANZA RITUAL (Ritual Dance) came to be when I was preparing for the Miami Summer Music Festival Composition Institute back in 2015, under another name. Regardless of how I felt about the work back then, I knew I would come back to it at some point in my life.Now, almost three years after, I was given the opportunity to look back at this piece and re-connect with the impulse that prompted the creation of this work –a need to establish and continue to search for my expression as a Dominican-American composer, and the exploration of elements that make the musical culture of the Dominican Republic beautiful. DANZA RITUAL, then, is inspired by the Afro-Caribbean religious dances that can be found in the "bateyes" (villages next to sugar cane fields) in the Domini-can Republic. These musical manifestations feature a heavy use of drums and ostinati that, more than serving a musical function, have the ritualistic purpose of getting participants into a trance of sorts, allowing the participants of these manifestations to come together in praise and celebrate parties dedicated to the saints. (EB, February 2018)