Ritmos, Raíces, y Ramas is a drumming program I developed in 2021 as a response to the collective disconnection felt after COVID-19. As a high school teacher in the New Jersey public school system, I saw my students fatigued, anxious, and depressed from excessive screentime and time indoors, and social isolation. I created Ritmos, Raíces, y Ramas as a way to reconnect young people to themselves, the Earth, and each other.

Using bomba rhythms, communal singing, and talking circles, I guide students in connecting through rhythm. In the sessions, my students and I use drumming to ground our minds, hearts, bodies, spirits; we dialogue about and reflect on the critical issues we face in our individual lives and in our communities - listening, crying, and laughing as we do so; we collectively imagine solutions for these issues, encouraging each other to dream as big as possible; and we create music that reflects our intentions, imprinting our abstract plans as emotional maps on our hearts. In this way, we co-create healthier, more grounded, and more connected individuals and communities, in service to each other and to the Earth.

Ritmos, Raíces, y Ramas has been hosted at diverse spaces such as the Urban Farm at Grow It Green: Morristown, Passaic County Arts Center, Rabbit Hole Farm in Newark, and Guttenberg Arts.

If you would like to bring the program to your space, please send me an email at crodriguez.educator@gmail.com.

**It is important for readers to note that Ritmos, Raíces, y Ramas is not a bomba class. Many traditional bomba classes generally incorporate song, dance, and drumming in a holistic practice that centers bomba elders as community mentors and that focuses exclusively on Puerto Rican history. Out of respect for my maestros and bomba community, I encourage you to seek bomba classes specifically if you want to become a student of bomba.