BIOGRAPHY

She was a great dancer, folklorist and renowned teacher. He founded the dance company Ballet Folklórico Delia Zapata Olivella and on several occasions worked with the Pipers of San Jacinto. He developed an extensive work as promoter of folklore of the coasts of Colombia for audiences in our country and the world, along with his brother Manuel Zapata Olivella. Delia Zapata was an authority of the music and dances of the Caribbean and Pacifica coasts of Colombia, she carried out an impeccable research and dissemination work that turned her into an essential source of information about these cultural traditions. He taught at the National University of Colombia and at the Central University and created a career in traditional dance and theater -along with Rosario Montaña- at the Antonio Nariño University in Bogotá. When he was in Côte d'Ivoire (Africa), investigating the roots of Colombian folklore, he contracted malaria and this caused his death in 2001. taken from http://www.entrelasartes.org/secciones/familia/maestros.html