Gran parada de Comparsas

Gran parada de Comparsas (Great Parade of Groups). This parade is typically a more stylish and international version of the Great Parade. This has also been known as the “Great Fantasy Parade”.

On this parade, floats and dancing groups featuring a mixture of traditional folkloric elements with special renewing additions are seen parading. Due to their number of participants, their played music, their displayed color and aesthetic on their disguises, their designs, adornments and accessory, the fantasy dancing groups have been becoming a popular phenomena, specially among young generations, which has influenced the development of this parade with many more new dancing groups participating in it over time.

It therefore shows innovating choreographic mixtures fluctuating from the most traditional, through the local, to the international by blending international rhythms, such as samba, salsa, reggaeton, champeta and electronic music with other local ones such as cumbia, porro, mapalé and merecumbé. This event attracts renewing proposals searching for an space in the carnival. The success of a fantasy dancing group could have a renewing meaning to the carnival itself, enriching it and helping in its development. Over time, this parade has become one of the most attended events of the carnival.

Now, with an experience of 2 days already, we knew how to go about the whole process of getting the tickets and where to sit. Having already known that this day's parade was not as big as the other 2 we had seen before we decided to set a lower budget for the day's tickets. Also, it was the last day for the touts to make whatever possible for the tickets they have already purchased. They would have made their profits on day 1 and 2, so we guessed this would be more of a recover as much as possible for whatever possible, day for them. Keeping all that in mind, we set a budget of 10000 COP per person for the palcos and after haggling and negotiating for 10-15 min with 3-4 touts at the same time, we managed to get into one of the palco we wanted at that price 😊 We again managed to get a place in the front row. But, this day again, the parade started 1.5 hours late.Read more