Cuban rumba
Post-revolutionary institutionalization
### Post\-revolutionary institutionalization

After the Cuban Revolution of 1959, there were many efforts by the government to institutionalize rumba, which has resulted in two different types of performances. The first was the more traditional rumba performed in a backyard with a group of friends and family without any type of governmental involvement. The second was a style dedicated to tourists while performed in a theater setting.

Two institutions that promoted rumba as part of Cuban culture –thus creating the tourist performance– are the Ministry of Culture and the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba ('Cuban Nacional Folkloric Company'). As Folklórico Nacional became more prevalent in the promotion of rumba, the dance "shifted from its original locus, street corners, where it often shared attention with parallel activities of traffic, business, and socializing, to its secondary quarters, the professional stage, to another home, the theatrical patio."Daniel (1995\), p. 59\. Although Folklórico Nacional aided in the tourist promotion of rumba, the Ministry of Culture helped successfully and safely organize rumba in the streets.

In early post\-revolutionary times, spontaneous rumba might have been considered problematic due to its attraction of large groups at unpredictable and spontaneous times, which caused traffic congestion in certain areas and was linked with fights and drinking. The post\-revolutionary government aimed to control this "by organizing where rumba could take place agreeable and successfully, the government, through the Ministry of Culture, moved to structurally safeguard one of its major dance/music complexes and incorporate it and Cuban artists nearer the core of official Cuban culture."Daniel (1995\), p. 61\. This change in administering rumba not only helped organize the dances but also helped it move away from the negative connotation of being a disruptive past time event.

Although this organization helped the style of rumba develop as an aspect of national culture, it also had some negative effects. For example, one of the main differences between pre\- and post\-revolutionary is that after the revolution rumba became more structured and less spontaneous. For instance, musicians dancers and singers gathered together to become inspired through rumba. In other words, rumba was a form of the moment where spontaneity was essentially the sole objective. However, post\-revolutionary Cuba "led to manipulation of rumba form. It condensed the time of a rumba event to fit theater time and audience concentration tie. It also crystallized specific visual images through... \[a] framed and packaged... dance form on stages and special performance patios."Daniel (1995\), p. 65\. Yvonne Daniel states: “Folklórico Nacional dancers . . . must execute each dance as a separate historical entity in order to guard and protect the established representations of Cuban folkloric traditions . . . by virtue of their membership in the national company, the license to elaborate or create stylization . . .
is not available to them.”Daniel (1995\), p. 100\. As official caretakers of the national folkloric treasure, the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional has successfully preserved the sound of the mid\-twentieth century Havana\-style rumba.Peñalosa (2011\), p. 236\.

True traditional or folkloric rumba is not as stylized as the theatrical presentations performed by professional rumba groups; rather, "\[i]t is more of an atmosphere than a genre. It goes without saying that in Cuba there is not one rumba, but many rumbas."Carpentier, Alejo and Alan West\-Durán (2000\). *Music in Cuba*. Transition. 2000\.82\. p. 207\. Despite the structure enforced in rumba through the Folklórico Nacional and the Ministry of Culture, traditional forms of rumba danced at informal social gatherings remain pervasive.


Which institutions promoted rumba as part of Cuban culture?