Rueda de Bullerengue

Bullerengue is brought to life through drums, other percussion, singing (lead voice and choir), and dance. These elements all interlace as a ritual, involving everyone who joins the rueda (Engl. “wheel” or “circle”).

Over the past years, Bullerengue enthusiasts based in Berlin have started coming together to practice and continue learning, initiated, amongst others, by a series of ongoing workshops and ruedas at HKW. It is time they found a space to build a second home at Spore Initiative.

The Rueda will take place every first Sunday of the month. 

The first two sessions are open for all who want to join, get to know us, and esing and dance together. We aim to establish a community around Bullerengue that continues to evolve together and will share means to stay connected and participate during the first encounters. Everybody is welcome!

Please bring comfortable clothes for dancing; with socks/slippers (barefoot is also fine).

Carolina Riaño (she/her)  is a Colombian singer/musician  and facilitator of Latin American oral musical traditions. Based in Berlin, she has been nurturing collective singing, community processes, and ancestral musical memory with Berlin-based and Latin American musicians for many years. She has facilitated workshops on collective singing, bullerengue, and other traditional music practices in spaces such as the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. She is a mother of three and a bridge between cultures.

Renata Puelma (she/her) is a Chilean director, actress and educator, with a career focused on the exploration of different body languages. She has participated in various performing arts projects that explore the relationship between the body and historical memory, opening spaces of encounter and social participation with communities.

Séraphime Reznikoff is a cultural manager with a focus on music and a background in social sciences. She was first introduced to bullerengue by the Medellín-based group Travesía. Since then, bullerengue has become a daily companion and teacher, transmitted to her by young and old practitioners in Colombia. Her aspiration is to build bridges for bullerengueros to self-representbullerengue around the world.  

Cristian Betancourt was born in Bogotá, Colombia. He studied percussion at the Conservatorio Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela, where he was part of the social music program El Sistema, working as both performer and teacher. Since 2011 he has been based in Berlin, where he completed his studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK). In 2015 he received scholarships from the Ad Infinitum/DAAD Foundation and the Richard Wagner Scholarship Foundation.

Dante Parraguez is a drummer, percussionist, and producer whose work explores the intersection of Afro-Latin rhythms, contemporary jazz, electronic club culture, and urban sound aesthetics. He studied music in Hamburg, Barcelona, and Latin America and is now working as an independent musician and producer. Recent projects include: Sonic Interventions (German Jazz Award Winner, 2025); Calle Mambo – European Tour 2021–2024; Solo Project – Double Album Production (ongoing). He has collaborated in numerous studio sessions with various artists. Parraguez lives and works in Berlin.

Leo Mejía is a Colombian dancer and musician. She teaches traditional Afro-Colombian dances and collaborates with various music groups in Hamburg and Berlin.