Karla Flórez Albor

Mission Statement:

I believe that creative learning processes begin when we channel our own personal feelings and intentions into cultural forms. Using movements and musical patterns from traditional expressions; I retell and pass on Caribbean and Colombian folk tales to Colombian and different cultural communities in New York. I believe that dance offers the possibility for each body to realize its expressive capacity in every moment of our daily lives. I work to make this statement visible in my life.

Performing artist, born in La Sierrita neighborhood, Barranquilla, Colombia. Dancer with a trajectory of 35 years as an artist of the performing arts, focused on the folk dance of the Colombian Caribbean coast and Contemporary dance technique. Choreographer, teacher, researcher and writer of children's stories inspired by traditional dances represented at Carnaval de Barranquilla. Journalist of the Autonoma University. Master in Teaching Spanish as a Second Language from Jaen University, this has allowed her to develop a bilingual teaching project to teach Spanish and English, through the arts, inspired by Colombian culture.

Certified as a Teaching Artist 101 from the Center for Arts Education (CAE) of the city of New York (2005), Student in the Summer Programs with Dr. Bob Abrahamson Dalcroze methodology at the Juilliard Institute in NY (2005). Fitness Instructor Certified by ShapeUp New York (2016). She has given workshops and conferences related to dance and storytelling in libraries in the United States, Colombia and Greece. Among her stories are: The Green Inchworm, Tamarindo, Children are a nuisance, My home is where I am, Cumbia en gajos de corozo.

She has been a member of Palma Africana Folk Dance School, Kore Danza-Teatro, Member of the International Dance Center of Unesco CID, Co-Founder of Ombligo'e Kazabe Danza Contemporánea Bogotá, Teacher at Tejedores de Sociedad IDCT program in Bogota, Col, and recently been academic director of FolkColombia School of Dance and Music in New York, Spanish Teacher at Diocesis of Broolyn, NY. Her most recent project is Karla Flórez School of Dance.

WORKSHOPS GIVEN:

I have taught reading workshops, storytelling and dance at libraries, schools, cultural and educational centers, events and conferences around the world.

●    2016 - 2018 We are Family We are Cumbia, Ongoing Research Project. Barranquilla,Col / New York, USA.

●    2018 De Luz y de Agua, International Dance Day. Casa Moreu. Barranquilla, Col.

●    2018 De Luz y de Agua, Macondo Fest. Barranquilla, Col.

●    2018 Improvisation Contemporary Dance Platform, PatEganso Barranquilla, Col.

●    2017 Cumbia Tempo in NY, Queensboro, NY

●      2017 “Oral expression: more than words”

Video conference Universidad Autónoma del Caribe, Colombia.

●      2017 Women to drums and words, International Women Day, TIC´s application. interactive platform B/quilla-New York. Colombian Consulate NY, University Rafael Núñez and Karla Florez Dance School NY.

●      2016 - 2015 Christmas Lanterns. Candles, Cultural Workshop cultural traditions to colombian diaspore in NY, Jackson Heights Community.  Colombian Consulate NY and Newark New Jersey.

●      2016 International Festival of Folklore, Summer Fest. Budapest, Hungría. With Palma Africana School.

●      2016 Queens Museum, NY.  FolkColombia, Colombian School of Dance and Music, Academic Director.

●      2015 Narrating in Family to reconcile. Charlie and the chocolate fabric, video-forum, family values. San José School, Barranquilla.

●      2015 Narrative Workshop, Fiesta de la Lectura 2, Círculo Abierto Foundation.

●      2014-Winged Reptile, Artistic Collaboration with Kike Olaya.

●    2013 The Green Inchworm ,Waukegan Library, Chicago, Illinois.

●    2011 The Green Inchworm. Peck and Long Island Central Library.

●    2009 Day of the Book, United Nations School, Queens, N.Y.

●    2009 Cumbia. IATI Theater New York.

●    2009 The Map is not the Territory, D.U.M.B.O. Brooklyn, N.Y.

●    2009 Mother-Mother, Exhibition. Air Gallery Brooklyn, N.Y.

●    2008 The Green Inchworm. Theater Dora Stratou. Dance International Congress, CID UNESCO. Athena’s, Greece.

●    2008 Adaptation of “Light is like Water” written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, UNIS, Queens, N.Y.

●    2008 The Green Inchworm, Long Island Library, N.Y.

●    2008 The Green Inchworm. Middle Country Library and Long Island Museum.

●    2008 Hispanic Heritage Month, Long Island Public Library.

●    2007 Yonkers, Public Library.

●    2007 Adaptation of “Light is like Water” written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, UNIS, Queens, N.Y. Hispanic Heritage Day, Queens, N.Y.

●    2007 The Green Inchworm. Forest Hills, Corona, Lefrak, Queens Library.

●    2007 The Green Inchworm. NY Book Fair. Astoria , N.Y.

●    2006 The Green Inchworm. Evansville University and Library, Kentucky.

Publications:

1. Recounts and Reflections, Contemporary Dance. Bogotá, 1997.

2. The Green Inchworm / El Gusano Verde, children’s book New York 2005.

3. La rama del tamarindo, Children’s Book. New York, 2011

4. Spanish Interactive Syllabary, New York 2013.

5. We are Cumbia We are Family. Barranquilla, Colombia, 2018