Ritmo Conference on Dance and Music of the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora - 2027

Salsa, son, bachata, merengue, rumba, and the scholarship that takes them seriously. Your pass includes Thursday at The BIG Salsa Festival. Many Rhythms, One Diaspora This conference gathers the musics and dances of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora as one connected field. Salsa alongside son and son montuno, mambo, cha cha chá, casino and rueda de casino, timba, Cuban rumba, danzón, Latin jazz, bachata, merengue, and bomba and plena, together with the instruments and rhythms that carry them and the bodies that move to them. Dance is studied here as seriously as sound. Your registration includes Thursday at the festival The BIG Salsa Festival San Antonio opens Thursday in this same hotel, and your conference pass covers all of Thursday. • Beginner classes built for people with no background in the form • The afternoon poolside social • The evening opening performances • The Opening Social that night Every pass also carries 15% off the hotel restaurants all week. Thursday only. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are the festival's own weekend and require a festival pass, which is a separate purchase. Conference registrants get a discounted rate on it, and your access code arrives in your registration confirmation. Thursday night's theme is After Hours at the Office. Wear what you presented in, and bring shoes you can dance in. Spend Tuesday in a paper session and Thursday night on the floor with the people whose practice you have been writing about. The three days Tuesday and Wednesday Full conference days. Panels, roundtables, paper sessions, the poster session, and hands-on movement workshops where scholars and dancers share the same room. Thursday morning The conference closes where both audiences finally overlap. The Ritmo Academic Awards Breakfast at 8:30, honoring people whose work has kept these traditions visible, documented, and taught, followed by a plenary panel at 9:30. Then the last session block at 10:45, and running opposite it, the morning social. Coffee, music, and social dancing in the Cascade Room, which is either the best or the strangest idea we have had, and you are invited to help settle it. Take the panels or take the floor. The conference ends at 12:15. Thursday afternoon onward The festival takes the rest of your day. Call for papers The call opens September 1, 2026 and runs in three rounds. Earlier rounds mean earlier acceptance letters, which is what university travel funding actually requires. 1 - Round one closes October 15, 2026. Acceptances sent November 5. 2 - Round two closes January 15, 2027. Acceptances sent February 5. 3 - Round three closes April 15, 2027, posters and lightning talks. Acceptances sent May 5. Aim for round one or two if you need university travel funding. Most programs require written proof of acceptance and many run on quarterly deadlines a May letter cannot make. Round three suits local participants, faculty with discretionary funds, and independent scholars. Paper sessions, roundtables, posters, and practice-based presentations are all welcome. Registering and submitting are separate steps and neither requires the other. Accepted presenters register by a date given in their acceptance letter to be confirmed in the printed program. Rates rise on a published schedule and never come down, so registering now and submitting later is the cheaper order. Registration and payment Departments and institutions Departments, libraries, and research centers can pay by invoice rather than card. Select Pay by Invoice at checkout, or write to us and we will send a W-9, the IRS determination letter, and whatever else your purchasing office needs. RISE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 81-1800086. Questions [email protected] Produced by RISE, the Ritmo Institute for Salsa Education, which has run community programming in this tradition since 2013.