Holly Tumblin

Holly is an ethnomusicologist, dancer, and clarinetist from Lexington, Kentucky. She is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Florida, where she focuses her research on Latin American and Caribbean music and dance genres, particularly within multicultural and diasporic communities.

Her dissertation centers on the development of sensual bachata, a sensualized version of bachata dance that is practiced around the world in bachata dance congresses. She uses sensory and movement-based methodologies to explore how sensuality informs notions of ethnic identity and community building through music and dance practice. Holly completed her Master’s in Musicology at the University of Tennessee in August 2020.

Her thesis on bachata music and dance examines how aspects of gender, embodiment, and code switching challenge and perpetuate binary gender roles in bachata dance communities at selected sites in the southeastern United States. An active musician, Holly also completed her Master’s in Clarinet Performance at UTK in 2019. Her performance activities and her ethnomusicological interests continue to shape and enrich one another.