Dance Club
The Colombian Dance
The Colombian Dance is part of the rich Colombian Folklore and of Latin-America. There is such a variety of them with such diversity that they distinguish each and every one of the geographical regions of Colombia, transforming the Colombian culture into one of the riches in the world.
Colombia is not just one of the world’s most bio-diverse countries in the world, recognized as having the largest numbers of amphibians and birds and one that always occupies first places in natural resources, but also one that counts with a rich cultural heritage of which dancing is an important component.
The History of Casa Cultural Colombiana’s Folkloric Dance Group
Is October of 2009. For sometime we had cultivated the dream of finding a way to teach our youth our beautiful typical Colombian dances thus perpetuating the influences of our culture here in Canada.
With a lot of luck and after asking many people we had the opportunity of meeting Mr. Mario Tobón through Mrs. Isabel Cuellar (Colombia En Mississauga). Mr. Tobón was a Colombian who coordinated the Multicultural Integration of the Salvation Army in Mississauga. We presented to him our desire to teach our dances but did not have a place to conduct them. He received the idea with enthusiasm and offered the temple’s gym so we could teach the classes. He had a 13 year old daughter who was also very interested in learning and had not had an opportunity to do so. He also mentioned that approximately 200 Latin Americans took part in the temple’s services and that 90 % of them were Colombians.
Now that we had a place to teach all we needed was a teacher. The director of the musical group Latin Expressions connected us to Juan Carlos Zuluaga, an ex member of the famous ballet groups Ballet de Antioquia (Antioquia’s Ballet) and Sonia Osorio’s Ballet. We spoke to him and He accepted enthusiastically.
Classes commenced May 9th and went on to July.
The temple’s Colombian community was planning a celebration of the Colombian Independence day the next July 26. Despite the short period of learning that had transpired 11 students, 3 boys and 8 girls between the ages of 8 and 16 presented a beautiful Cumbia dance that was very well liked and much admired. The choreography planned by Juan Carlos was precious and the girls, some with the tri-colour flag and some with the typical checkered dresses of various regions made for an spectacular presentation.
