PURPOSE

To promote and share music and dances from Venezuela and the Caribbean region with the North Carolinian community.

HISTORY

The Folklore and Dance group was born to contribute to the mission of the Venezuelan Cultural Association of North Carolina (ACVNC), which is a non-profit organization with 20 years of participation in cultural events. ACVNC Folklore & Dance group’s mission is to "preserve and share Venezuelan cultural values through music and folkloric dances". The Folklore & Dance group and ACVNC are honored to represent the rich Venezuelan culture and maintain strong bonds within Venezuelan families.

Our dance group started performing in 2018; however, several members of this group have been participating in dancing cultural events for more than 16 years. The Venezuelan Cultural Association formed this group with the intention of including dance performances in all of the events they organize.

Since 2018, the Folklore & Dance Group has performed in approximately 8-10 events per year, from Public School presentations to larger events as La Fiesta del Pueblo and Ritmo Latino in 2019. This group also performed in the ACVNC annual Christmas events of 2018 and 2019 in Durham, in the annual event ‘Atardecer Llanero’ in Spring of 2018 and 2019 in Graham, and in the ‘150 City of Durham Anniversary’ in the Durham Arts Council theater.

DANCERS

All of our members are volunteers who devote time from their busy lives to share their passion for Venezuelan music and dances. Most of our presentations are complimentary; however, donations are always welcome, these help us with costs for new dance costumes, transportation, dry cleaning, and other expenses.

Our current dance team has eight members, and it is always open to receive new talent. If you are interested in participating, please contact Meralis Bile (Coordinator) for more information.

Contacts: Meralis Bile Info@acvnc.org

Artistic portfolio provided upon request.

Los Tepuyeros play a variety of popular Latin music. The group also plays music in English.
The name Tepuyeros originates from the indigenous word tepui. This is the name of the table-top mountains found in western Guyana, and the mountainous southern region of Venezuela called La Gran Sabana. Incidentally, in the aboriginal Pemon language, the word tepui means “house of the gods”.