The International Development Bank (IDB) Cultural Center and the Embassy of Colombia presented an early evening dance performance Thursday by Compañía del Cuerpo de Indias at IDB’s Enrique V. Iglesias Auditorium in downtown DC.

The group is a professional contemporary dance troupe which emerged from El Colegio del Cuerpo (The School of the Body), an artistic, educational and social non-profit organization which uses the language of contemporary dance to teach beyond professional dancers and choreographers. It reaches “citizens of peace” who can contribute to the reconstruction of a war-torn country as it strives to better its future.

El Colegio del Cuerpo was founded in 1997 in Cartagena de Indias. Award-winning dancers and choreographers Álvaro Restrepo (Colombia) and Marie France Delieuvin (France) collaborated on the founding of the school. A space for children and the public was soon created “to approach the expressive and artistic dimensions of the human body through contemporary dance.”

Compañía del Cuerpo de Indias has performed worldwide in international dance and theater festivals in Latin America, United States, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Last night’s performance will be followed by a performance this evening, free to the public, at Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage.