Sankofa means " back to the roots”; more than a word, it is an African philosophy that proposes discovering the past as a condition to understand the present and be able to size up the future. This thinking has guided the path of the Sankofa Afro-Colombian Cultural Corporation, founded by Rafael Palacios in 1997 as a space devoted to dance training and creation. Through different educational projects and staging, the Corporation aims to create a differential and intercultural framework through dance between Black Communities in Colombia and other populations whose human rights have been violated.
The work of Sankofa is geared towards the pursuit of poetics that stem from the roots of African dance, developed within the framework of the everyday, the traditional, and the contemporary, as an option for a social bond, personal growth and the positioning of local cultures in the national dynamic.
Some Sankofa events have obtained important distinctions like the National Dance Prize in 2008, awarded by the Ministry of Culture, the National Arts Prize in 2017, by the University of Antioquia, the Anti-Racist Artistic Practices in Latin America, University of Manchester- England 2021. A mention from the United Nations for Good Practices for Afro-Descendant Social Inclusion in Latin America in 2010, with the Steps on Earth project, which was implemented with devotees of dance in the regions of El Chocó, Buenaventura, Puerto Tejada, Urabá Antioqueño and the Archipelago of San Andrés and Providencia, in collaboration with the Training Programme for Instructors of the Ministry of Culture between 2008 and 2016.
The Corporation has an extensive repertoire of works and a performing background that includes countries such as Kenya, the Congo, France, Spain, Jamaica, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Uruguay, Canada, China, Panama, Mexico and the United States.