Venezuelan dance

The tradition & historical record

Most of Venezuela's dances originated in the Caribbean and integrated African and European styles into indigenous culture. They include the national dance joropo, Venezuelan salsa, Venezuelan merengue, and the Baile de San Juan, also called tambor. One of the pioneers of contemporary dance in Venezuela was choreographer Sonia Sanoja who received the National Dance Award in 1998 for her artistic career and contributions Venezuelan dance. Other major figures include Irma Contreras, who founded the National Ballet of Venezuela with her sister Margot Contreras. Other well known figures who have helped popularize Venezuelan dance include Yolanda Moreno, who toured with her dancing troupe across the United States in 1962 and performed on the Ed Sullivan Show. ²

Prior to Spanish colonization of the Americas, dance in what is now Venezuela was used predominantly in religious ceremonies. ²

The Spanish fandango was danced widely in Venezuela during the colonial era. ²

After the Venezuelan independence in the early 19th century, dancing for entertainment became more common. These dances included the zarzuela, sainete, and musical comedies. ²

In 1917, Anna Pavlova and her touring ballet company visited Venezuela; it was the first time ballet had been performed in the country. Later, in 1930, Gally de Mamay began teaching ballet in private Venezuelan homes. One of de Mamay's students, Nena Coronil founded the National School of Ballet in 1948. This was followed in 1957 by the founding of the National Ballet of Venezuela by Irma Contreras in 1957; the company disbanded in 1968. One of the students of the National Ballet was Zhandra Rodríguez, who left the National Ballet to become the principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre. Other troupes, including Ballet Internacional de Caracas and Ballet Nuevo Mundo de Caracas, directed by Rodríguez, were successors to the original company. In the 1950s, singer Yolanda Moreno formed the group Danzas Venezolanas, which adapted traditional Venezuelan dances for the stage. The troupe was known in English as the Venezuelan Folklore Ballet and toured across 18 American states in the early 1960s. ²

Baile de San Juan, also known as tambor, is a dance of Afro-Venezuelan origins. ²

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Dance in Venezuela”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ²

Venezuelan dance is type of dance, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ¹