The Cocolo dancing drama tradition developed among descendants
of British Caribbean slaves who had come to the Dominican
Republic in the mid-nineteenth century to work in the sugar
fields. This linguistically and culturally distinct community
set up their own churches, schools, benevolent societies and
mutual assistance lodges. Their most distinctive expressions,
however, were annual dancing drama performances. Originally
pejorative, the term “Cocolo”, which refers to the migrants
working on the British sugar plantation of the island, is now
used proudly. - Guloyas is traditional personages of the
carnival of San Pedro of Macorís. The origin of this carnival is
in the cultural miscellanies product of the migrations that were
coming in different epochs to this ground of bateyes and
ingenuities.