In 2025, HKW hosts a new series of Ruedas de Bullerengue, the participatory dance and music format in which the maroon Afro-Colombian communitarian art form that is Bullerengue unfolds. The series takes place in the frame of the ongoing programme Politics of Rhythm, which stimulates dance and music practices—such as Bullerengue—to cultivate and preserve communitarian knowledge.

The ruedas in 2025 are led by Berlin-based vocal folklore facilitator Carolina Riaño, drummer Dante Parraguez, percussionist and chorister Leo Mejía, dance practitioners Renata Puelma and Séraphime Reznikoff, and other enthusiasts and experienced practitioners. Through these efforts, they aim to form the first local ensemble working solely to deepen the roots of this ancestral art Berlin. Emphasizing the importance of strengthening networks inside Germany and Europe, some of the sessions feature the presence and contribution of Hamburg-based music practitioners and facilitators Camilo Angola and Ámbar F. Álvarez. Both lead the traditional Colombian-Caribbean music groups Tambores del Diablo and Cantares del Elba. 

During the first part of the session they introduce and rehearse the basics of Bullerengue, while the second part is the practice of the rueda, requiring everyone to join in with dancing and chanting, and for those with more experience to take part in singing and drumming. Through these actions the rueda is enacted, imagined as an ever-renewing circle that holds at its centre a ‘fire’ that both feeds and is fuelled by the energy and resistance of all partaking.

HKW regularly offers internal rooms for use by a self-organized group of Bullerengue practitioners; anyone interested in taking part in this internal practice can meet members of the network at the public rueda workshops.

In, around, and associated with HKW there is no space for, nor tolerance towards, hate speech or hate actions of any kind. HKW welcomes anyone interested in taking part in the emancipatory practice of Bullerengue, particularly those undertaking anti-racist, intersectional, feminist, queer activism. Join in with clapping, singing, dancing, or playing (bring your own drum or maracas if you wish). It’s open to all!