Bembé Drum & Dance Debuts BEMBÉ! JOURNEY THE ATLANTIC This Month

Bembé Drum & Dance will debut “Bembe! Journey the Atlantic” at the Todd Wehr Theater at Marcus Performing Arts Center on Friday, June 20 and Saturday, June 21, 2025. The cast includes over 70 Milwaukee area youth and community artists, supported by award-winning international cultural guest artists from across Afro-Latin America.

From West Africa to the Americas, this immersive celebration honors the spirit of the drum as celebration, resistance, and healing. With some theatrical monologues, the heart of the show is its vibrant music, featuring a variety of drumming styles and songs performed in multiple languages, with narration in English. Follow Doña Tierra, the spirit of the land, on a journey where she shares her secrets, pains, and joyful awakenings through ancestral rhythm, movement, and song. The storytelling comes alive through an international, intergenerational cast that invites the audience to clap, sing, and celebrate comunidad – community!

Performances will take place at the Todd Wehr Theater at the Marcus Performing Arts Center on Friday, June 20 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, June 21 at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. A post-show Q&A with the cast will take place directly following the Saturday 2:30 p.m. performance. Tickets can be purchased at the Marcus Center Box Office or online at https://www.marcuscenter.org/event/bembe-journey-the-atlantic/.

Additionally, community members can register for a Community Workshop on Sunday, June 22 from 2-3:30 p.m. With a meet and greet, discussion, and workshop, this is a special opportunity to further understand the traditions and experience the power of music and movement. Register to attend at https://www.bembejourney.com/dialougue.

Since January, Milwaukee artists and international cultural bearers have worked together to create direct representations of their ancestral culture, and will join their students on stage for this electrifying performance of intergenerational Afro-Latino musical culture.

Karl Michael Igelsias, Associate Director and Script Writer, states: “In creating the script, I watched footage of the performers and heard the lead artists talking in depth about their vision. What excited me most was crafting a script that breathes with the rhythm of live collaboration. I tried to meet in between my collaborators and the truths that I was inspired to explore; those of ancestry, family, home, and erasure.”

Johanna De Los Santos, Founder and Executive Director of Bembé Drum & Dance, states: “This project illustrates the power of ancestral traditions to stand the test of time, building and healing communities, weaving a tight fabric of social connection, family resilience, and practicing joy as a means of resistance. These traditions are not just folklore, they live and breathe today in the communities that preserve and continue their purpose - to connect us all to one another. Our Bembé youth make Milwaukee proud, for their dedication to preserving and continuing these traditions. Our guests for this show are talented, dedicated culture bearers known throughout the Diaspora, some of whom have spent years pouring into our community through artists residencies with Bembé. They have come to know Milwaukee as a welcoming place that honors and centers their cultural practice.”

Starring Milwaukee-based actress Raná Roman (Milwaukee Repertory Theater, First Stage, Skylight Music Theatre), the show is produced by Bembé, and Associated Directed by Milwaukee native Karl Michael Iglesias, who has been working in theater in New York for the last decade.

Additional cast members include:

• Grammy-nominated Beto Torrens (San Juan, Puerto Rico);
• Founders of musical ensembles Bulla en el Barrio and Combo Chimbita: Carolina Oliveros (Barranquillas, Colombia) and Camilo Rodriguez (Bogota, Colombia);
• Julia Loiza Gutierrez Rivera, NYC-born Puerto Rican cultural artist and producer;
• Jose Luis Utrera of the multi-generational Utrera family Son Jarocho lineage (Veracruz, Mexico);
• Brazil's Unidos da Tijuca Samba School Artistic Director Pablo Guerreiro;
• Percussionist and Groovosity founder Marcus Santos (Bahia, Brazil);
• Karlies Kelley, Panadanza Dance Company Founder (Pesé, Panama);
• Ko-Thi Dance Company, led by Artistic Director, Ferne Caulker-Bronson.

“Ko-Thi Dance Company is thrilled to be a part of Bembé! Journey the Atlantic. This is a moment in history in Milwaukee when cultures from the African diaspora will be represented as a cohesive community. The time could not be more profound. Our artistic expressions are deeply rooted in our history and cultural legacies. We are proud to be a part of such a beautiful offering to our community,” said Ferne Caulker-Bronson, Founder of Ko-Thi Dance Company.

“I've never seen young people play our traditions with such passion and skill like the Bembé youth. It's an honor to call them my students. They are not just the next generation - they are the current generation!” exclaimed Beto Torrens, Puerto Rican percussionist.

The show is produced by Bembe's Executive Director, Johanna De Los Santos, and features over 70 local cast members, including youth and their parents as cultural artists, directed by Bembe staff Artistic Directors Imani Jalil, Bony Benavides, and Linda Serna. Stage and technical direction is led by Kiran Vedula's Flutes at Dawn.