At around 3:30 pm, we all brought the chairs back into the space, and sat happily and sweaty, still getting out of the trance that the experience of dancing and singing in unison produces. The maestras were given microphones, and asked questions that I tried to type as fast as I could. These are  some of the answers, which were open and profound. Like the feminists they are, they constantly intertwined with their bringing up, and what communities helped them become who they are. They all emphasized the importance of creating spaces like these for mothers and children, so they can be participants of the artistic process, and have the children learn as they grow up. What does art mean to you? That was a question whose answers I will not forget:

Some mentioned how art means to heal and to decolonize themselves: Amarilys Rios commented: I make music and music is my therapy. I don’t know how else to explain it. Music is your spirit, the universal language. What better connection is there than this one?

Denise Solís commented that art is the creation of spaces where 2 spirt folks like herself, feel welcome to come in. It’s a space where folks can come in however they need to come. This is what bomba is to me.

One of the maestras, explained how she had been practicing bomba since she is 5 years old. “Bomba is what I live, what I breathe… it’s where I am the proudest. My main thing in bomba is singing, touching souls, messing with energies.”- I personally found this very true, and something that every artist I have ever known has shared when I ask about the purpose of art. Being able to touch other people’s spirits, to see them heal and heal with them is a kind of magic that only art can create. That is why at the Womxn’s Action Commission, we want to bring as many artistic forms as possible!

Iris Viveros shared her experiences when it comes to art, in relation to Fandango from Veracruz, and the “zapateado”. For me fandango is family, because people in Fandango come from different backgrounds. I don’t want to romanticize the language and the space, but I find it to be a zone where we can find solutions for a more productive, egalitarian society.” – I found Viveros’s reflections very interesting, because we started discerning the individual dance, and focusing on the community, as well as how it helps carry on social movements.