Rhythm & Power: Salsa in New York

The story of New York salsa — an up-tempo performance of percussive Latin music and Afro-Caribbean-infused dance — is one of cultural fusion, artistry, and skilled marketing. Rhythm & Power: Salsa in New York , illuminates salsa as a social movement from the 1960s to the present, exploring how immigrant and migrant communities in New York City — most notably from Cuba and Puerto Rico — nurtured and developed salsa, growing it from a local movement playing out in the city’s streets and clubs into a global phenomenon. The exhibition also looks at the role of record companies and stores in supporting and promoting the movement, and salsa’s often-overlooked ties to activism in the city. Rhythm & Power features dance costumes and musical instruments from some of salsa’s leading figures, as well as audio and video that bring the sounds and movement of salsa to life.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.