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Built from the brief
Each program starts with the client's brief. The studio develops concept, venue, choreography and production around that audience, adapting an existing Happening when it fits.
The Happenings Methodology
The artistic moments
nobody else is engineering.
A Happening is what we call the surprises placed inside a program — the ones a group will still describe to colleagues a year later. Concept, art direction, choreography and execution. All under one roof. All by the same four people.
Four operating principles
What makes a Happening a Happening.
There is no Happenings template — that would defeat the purpose. There are four operating principles the team applies to every single program.
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One emotional objective per moment
Every Happening starts from a single feeling the group should leave with: arrival, contemplation, discovery, catharsis. The venue, the sound and the performers are chosen second. The emotion is chosen first.
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All disciplines, one room
Our Bogotá studio brings together concept, art direction, choreography and on-site production. The same team follows the work from the first idea through rehearsals and delivery.
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Colombian culture as raw material
We don't import experiences. We work with the country's living artists — bullerengue groups from Palenque, Andean musicians from Nariño, contemporary chefs, Carnaval de Barranquilla performers, the Medellín ballet — to surface what only Colombia can offer.
The catalog
9 Happenings, already in production.
These are Happenings the in-house team has designed, rehearsed and delivered. Each one scales to your group and is re-staged from scratch for the program at hand.
Cards marked Film open a short clip of the Happening in action.
Show
Film
Happening 01
Caribbean Vibes Show
Champeta, salsa and bodypaint — the Caribbean walks into the room.
Cartagena · Caribbean Coast
From 6 to 22 artists
A welcome of dancers in traditional cumbia costumes, tambores echoing through the entrance, then a central performance built around the Caribbean rhythms of champeta and salsa. Make-up artists move through the crowd painting faces, arms and hands. A tribute to the identity and flavour of one of the most vibrant regions of the country.
Feeling · Vibrant · sensorial · tribute to the Caribbean
Happening 02
Welcome with Cumbia Rhythms
A street of honor of cumbia, tambores and joy.
Cartagena · Caribbean Coast
From 6 to 10 artists
Fifteen minutes of dancers in vibrant cumbia costumes accompanied by drummers, who form a street of honor at the door of the venue. The group is greeted with a warm embrace of rhythm before they step inside.
Feeling · Arrival · ceremonial joy
Show
Film
Happening 03
Tribute to Africa Show
A bullerengue cantadora, a wheel of drums, and the Mapalé.
Cartagena · Caribbean Coast
From 9 to 15 artists
A bullerengue cantadora and a drummer open the reception with ancestral songs. Later, a wheel of African drums anchors a central performance of the Mapalé — the traditional dance representative of Afro-Colombian heritage. The cantadora threads the night with songs that pre-date the country itself. A tribute to the African roots that shaped the Caribbean.
Feeling · Ancestral · roots · cultural depth
Cultural night
Film
Happening 04
Magical Universe Blast
García Márquez and the Farotas, danced into the same room.
Cartagena · Caribbean Coast
22 artists
Twenty-two dancers in vivid bird-like costumes welcome the group, evoking the freedom of flight. The central Happening is a contemporary dance piece that draws from Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude and the traditional Caribbean Farotas dance — a celebration of poetry, cultural heritage and authenticity in a single fantasy universe.
Feeling · Poetic · magical realism · contemplative
Happening 05
Violin Beats
One violinist. A universal repertoire. The room moves.
Movable · Cartagena, Medellín, Bogotá
1 artist · 45 minutes
A solo violinist plays a forty-five-minute set drawn from a captivating repertoire of universal hits — built to move people from listening, to dancing, to singing along. A single performer holding the entire room.
Feeling · Surprising · intimate · universal
Show
Film
Happening 06
Fair Day Celebration
A symphonic band, a batucada and a circus — in the town square.
Medellín · Guatapé · town squares
From 15 to 47 artists
The reception unfolds in the town's main square: musicians from the Guatapé Symphonic Band perform a selection of traditional Colombian songs and international hits. The central Happening adds a seven-piece batucada and a circus troupe of up to eight performers, who present amazing acts to the rhythm of the drums. A tribute to the identity of the towns of Colombia — joyful, colourful, communal.
Feeling · Festive · communal · cinematic
Parade
Film
Happening 07
Flower Fair Parade
Silleteros, a classic silleta, and a flower placed by every guest.
Medellín · Antioquia
From 2 to 12 artists
Silleteros in traditional attire welcome the group at the entrance, alongside a classic silleta. They greet, pose for photos and hand each guest a flower to place inside the silleta — filling it with colour as the night begins. The central Happening becomes a parade inspired by Medellín's Feria de las Flores, culminating in a heartfelt speech that honours the silletero tradition.
Feeling · Warm tribute · tradition · colour
Happening 08
Urban Artists Show
Hip-hop, BMX, graffiti and breakdance — Medellín, on its feet.
Medellín · Antioquia
From 6 to 22 artists
The reception brings together hip-hop singers, BMX and skate athletes, graffiti artists, roller skaters and breakdancers. The central Happening tightens the focus to a high-energy performance by up to ten breakdancers, bringing the rhythm of the streets to life. A Happening that highlights one of Medellín's most powerful chapters: its urban culture and its role in transforming spaces once marked by violence and inequality.
Feeling · Raw energy · contemporary Medellín · transformation
Happening 09
Chivas Urban Show
A chiva, a nightclub door, and the city wide open.
Medellín · Antioquia
From 2 to 4 artists
At the end of the chiva tour, the group arrives at a major nightclub in the heart of Medellín's most vibrant party district. A neon LED show, a reggaeton crew or a breakdance troupe — chosen for the night — kicks off the close of the evening with fifteen minutes of pure urban energy. A finale built for the city that never goes home early.
Feeling · Catharsis · nightlife · the last memory
* Every Happening is re-staged for the audience and the night — choreography, scale, venue and narrative arc are designed from scratch by the in-house team for each program.
The methodology in action
Seven nights. One program. Three Colombian cities.
Bogotá first: graffiti culture and Andrés at night. Medellín next: Comuna 13, Guatapé, the valley that tells its own transformation. Cartagena last: rum and salsa on a private catamaran, African Heritage in a colonial house.
A note on craft
“What we don't outsource is the moment that lands. Everything else is logistics.”
VAOVA Happenings Studio
Other programs designed around the methodology
4 nights · Cartagena + Barú
Cartagena · Las Islas Barú
Cook the coast and meet La Boquilla, then sail to Las Islas for mangroves, bioluminescence, stargazing and an African Heritage farewell on the sand.
5 nights · Cartagena + Coffee Region
Cartagena · Coffee Region
Cartagena's kitchens, artists and rhythms, contrasted with Cocora, a five-course lunch above the valley, Salento and one night in a coffee hacienda.
Frequently asked
The methodology, plainly explained.
- What exactly is a VAOVA Happening?
- A Happening is an artistic experience inside an incentive program. VAOVA's four-person in-house team develops the concept, art direction, choreography and on-site production for the group and the occasion.
- How is a Happening different from a 'gala dinner with local entertainment'?
- A Happening can sit inside a gala dinner as a performance, an entrance or a cultural moment built for the group. The methodology starts from a single emotional objective the program must achieve (catharsis, contemplation, arrival, recognition) and reverse-engineers the venue, sound, performers, lighting, narrative arc and entrance from there. The result is something the group describes to colleagues a year later — not 'we had a nice party in Cartagena'.
- Who is on the in-house team?
- VAOVA's creative core is four people: a concept lead, an art director, a choreographer/movement director and an on-the-ground production lead. They work together inside our studio. They do not subcontract the creative work to agencies. They subcontract talent — musicians, actors, dancers, chefs — but the design always belongs to the team.
- Can a program have more than one Happening?
- Yes — and the strongest programs have three to five. The 4-night Bogotá program that won VAOVA the SITE Crystal Award 2026 had three signature Happenings spaced strategically across the trip. Each one resolved a different narrative thread. None of them were repeated.
- Are Happenings only for large groups?
- No. The methodology scales freely — from intimate executive retreats to large-scale incentive programs. Smaller groups often allow more intimate Happenings (a private chef's monologue, a solo musician at altitude); larger groups allow more cinematic ones (privatized boats, after-hours museums, full Carnaval finales). The discipline is the same; the canvas changes.
- How long does it take to design a Happening?
- From kickoff to a fully designed program with Happenings: 3 to 6 weeks for a boutique retreat, 8 to 12 weeks for a large-scale incentive program. Most of that time is spent interviewing the client until we know the group well enough to design something honest about them.