Plus more search tips . The intermingling of Spanish and English banter grows quiet as two conga drummers strike up a powerful rhythm in a small studio off West Fifth Street. The dancers are being summoned. Men don their straw hats. Women open their fans.
Chins go up, shoulders fall back.
The members of Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance start to move. As they launch into rehearsal, their bodies become joyful, then serious, their gestures stylized and then improvised, revealing a series of styles unique to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The group has gathered for a weekly rehearsal at the Tapestry Dance studio, and the atmosphere crackles with vitality and laughter and genuine studiousness. Dance and music tell the story of a people, Maynard says to her colleagues, who come every week not only to dance but to learn more about the culture they represent on stage. Remember, this is like a 19th-century barn dance.