Carmen Sofia Dence is a Colombian-American folkloric dancer, choreographer, founder and Artistic director of the St. Louis-Based dance troupe Grupo Atlantico.

Grupo Atlantico performs at festivals, celebrations and other venues in St. Louis and throughout Missouri. She has taught dance and traditional dance costume making as a Master Artist of the Missouri Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (MAC).

Through performance and educational programs, Mrs. Dence shares the rich tri-ethnic heritage (African, Indian and Spanish roots) of the Caribbean and Pacific coastal regions of Colombia, South America. She is especially knowledgeable in the different music, rhythms and percussive instruments as well as the symbolism of costumes, dance steps and body movements. Her demonstrations of the joyous earthy dance traditions of Latin America offer exciting glimpses of authentic Colombian Carnival, Native American roots and African and Spanish artistic influences in the New World.

Carmen Dence was a researcher and Associate Professor, Department of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. On her Research.net profile, she posted:

"Dear friends, colleagues, I would like to inform you that after 37 years of scientific research, mainly in the area of PET radio-chemistry, with the department of radiology at Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis, MO, I decided to retire. I am now pursuing my life-long interests in cultural studies, enrolling in a graduate program in Cultural sustainability (MACS) at Goucher College, north of Baltimore. Wish you the very best."