ASSOCIATION OF DOMINICAN
CLASSICAL ARTISTS (ADCA)
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Copyright 2011 Association of Dominican Classical Artists (ADCA) ®
Cathedral Station, P.O. Box 350636
New York, NY 10025-1389
Iván Domínguez
Dominican researcher, musician, dancer, agricultural scientist, and scholar, Leonardo Iván Domínguez, has worked for more than thirty-eight years teaching Dominican folk traditions. Maestro Domínguez was born in a working-class neighborhood in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and was raised by his Dominican-Haitian grandmother who passed on her knowledge and love of folk religion, music, and dance. In the 1970s, Domínguez co-founded Convite, the renowned research-musical group whose members traveled to remote regions of the island documenting traditional rural dances, a significant point of departure for the acknowledgement of Dominicans’ African heritage. Convite’s legacy is still relevant and influential today.
After moving to the United States in 1995, Maestro Domínguez continued to share his knowledge of diverse dance and music traditions by teaching Dominican youngsters in Washington Heights, New York as part of the Conjunto Folklórico, a dance and music program at Alianza Dominicana Inc. which just celebrated its 15th year. He maintains a strong connection with his native Dominican Republic, bringing the Conjunto Folklórico members to Dominican festivals to experience rural culture. He has reinvigorated the Dominican transnational community by bringing the field to the classroom. Maestro Domínguez’s contribution to Dominican culture—both on the island and in New York—is invaluable. He remains a true source of knowledge for understanding
the roots of today’s Dominican culture.
