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Bele of Dominica: the Creole dance that comes before bouyon

Published October 21, 2026

Before bouyon, there was the Creole ball. Bele is one of Dominica's traditional dances, alongside the quadrille and the mazurka, and it is danced to jing ping, the music that would become one of bouyon's two founding ingredients. This page follows that thread, down to Smokiller's Dominica Kultural Music playlist, which programmes the island's bele recordings and is embedded at the bottom of this page.

A Creole ball dance

Bele is one of the ball dances inherited from Dominica's Creole history. This site's Jing ping page names it among the island's traditional dances that jing ping accompanies: the quadrille, the mazurka and bele. These are ballroom dances, practised at village fairs and evening gatherings, long before the era of sound systems and carnival stages.

Bouyon would later draw its energy from that soil of traditional dance and music: when WCK created the genre in 1988, it was by fusing cadence-lypso and jing ping, the very music that made bele dancers move.

The music of bele: jing ping

The classic jing ping line-up brings together an accordion, drums such as the lapo kabwit, a boom-boom and a bamboo flute. The accordion leads the dance, the drums carry the step, and the ensemble accompanies the figures of the quadrille, the mazurka and bele.

Jing ping is, with cadence-lypso, one of the two founding ingredients of bouyon. To understand bele is therefore to touch the oldest layer of the Dominican sound: a traditional, acoustic dance music, passed down in the villages.

The recordings: the Dominica Kultural Music playlist

On his YouTube channel, Smokiller keeps an archive of that older layer: his Dominica Kultural Music playlist lines up the island's cultural recordings. The bele videos hold a central place there, in several parts (bele music dominica, parts 1 to 4), alongside long jing ping sessions (jing ping music dominica culture, parts 1 to 4) and an old school medley by Partners in Kryme with a jing ping band.

The player is embedded below. For the full context, read the Jing ping page, the Cadence-lypso roots chapter and the page of playlists this site tracks, the bouyon playlist page.

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dominica kultural music | Smokiller Selection

Frequently asked questions

What is the bele of Dominica?

Bele is a traditional Creole dance of Dominica, a ball dance inherited from the island's Creole history, practised alongside the quadrille and the mazurka and accompanied by jing ping.

What music accompanies bele?

Jing ping, Dominica's traditional dance music led by the accordion, with drums such as the lapo kabwit, a boom-boom and a bamboo flute. Jing ping is one of the two founding ingredients of bouyon, with cadence-lypso.

Where can I hear bele recordings from Dominica?

Smokiller's Dominica Kultural Music playlist, on YouTube, programmes the island's cultural recordings, including bele videos in four parts and jing ping sessions. The player is embedded on this page.

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