‼️ Venue change: City of London Academy Islington, Prebend St, London N1 8PQ
This workshop is part of our ongoing work to honour and re-centre the Afro-Latin roots of the dances we love ❤️🔥
While we often celebrate these rhythms through Salsa, this session offers a unique opportunity to learn an Afro-Colombian folkloric dance with Issa and Arianna from Yuruparí Grupo Folclórico, a Colombian Folklore dance group founded in 1988 to preserve and celebrate the rich traditions of Latin American culture in the UK.
In this workshop, we’ll explore Puya, a powerful Afro-Colombian rhythm born in the 1880s on Colombia’s Caribbean Coast. It’s vibrant, fast, and full of life, featuring sharp hip movements, energetic footwork, and the sounds of traditional instruments like the flauta de millo. Rooted in African and Indigenous traditions, Puya is an expression of resistance, joy, and unity.
💛 During this 2-hour workshop, we will
- Learn the cultural roots and history behind Puya
- Be introduced to the key movements of Puya like hips, footwork, posture, and flow
- Explore how rhythm and body come together in Afro-Colombian folkloric dance
- Close by dancing everything we have learnt together
💛 Level
This workshop is open to everyone—no dance experience needed. It’s also perfect for salsa dancers looking to deepen their connection to the musical and cultural roots behind the dance.
💛 Tickets & Pricing
We are offering low-income (£8 plus booking fee) and free tickets for those facing financial barriers. Please DM us to claim.
💛 About the Practitioners
Yuruparí Grupo Folclórico is a Colombian dance group based in the UK, founded in 1988 to preserve and share the diversity of Latin American culture through dance, music, and tradition. Yuruparí is the name of an Amazonian ritual that brings different communities together—and for us, dance is just that: connection through rhythm and movement.
Issa is a British-Colombian singer-songwriter and now one of Yuruparí’s main organisers, carrying on the legacy her mum began.
Arianna grew up deeply connected to London’s Latinx community and has spent years dancing, teaching, and training in both Cali-style salsa and Colombian folkloric dance and is also one of the main organisers of Yuruparí’.
💛 About the Organisers:
Queer Salsa is a community-led collective, nourishing queer connection through the joy of dancing. Across Latin America and the Caribbean, Black and Afro-descendant communities have long used music and movement as forms of resistance, healing, and celebration, yet these traditions continue to be exploited by the very systems they’ve helped challenge. As queer dancers, we honour this legacy by deepening our understanding of its history, uplifting Latinx, Afro-Caribbean, and Black cultural practitioners, and ensuring they are consistently represented and materially supported in what we build.