This October, the tenth year of the Artists-in-Schools program initiative in Chatham County Schools, began with a flourish of Flamenco, led by four multi-talented artists from the Durham-based Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana Dance Company!
Interactive Performances :: North Chatham Elementary and Margaret B. Pollard Middle School
Two schools–North Chatham Elementary and Margaret B. Pollard Middle School–transformed as the rhythmic sound of Flamenco echoed from the dancers’ skilled footwork, captivating students from third to eighth grade.
The performing artists were from all over the world–Puerto Rico, Texas, Argentina, and California–and all came together to present a strong and captivating Flamenco team. Bianca and Patricia danced, Nico played guitar, and Daniel sang.
The team of artists shared the rich, multicultural heritage of Flamenco through an interactive performance, bringing its pieces to life–palmas (claps), castanets, guitar, footwork, and song.
Dancers invited students to participate and practice Flamenco’s powerful poses and claps from their seats.
Using a small platform to amplify each step, the dancers introduced students to Flamenco’s unique emotional dancing–sad, joyful, powerful.
Questions wrapped up the performance, with students eagerly asking the dancers about their practice schedules and how famous they are. And one student—“Do you like doing this?”
“I don’t like it . . . I love it!” answered dancer Patricia.
“This residency is a great complement to our Spanish Immersion Dual Language program and showcases Spanish culture,” shared Dr. Giles, principal at North Chatham Elementary. Both North Chatham Elementary and Margaret B. Pollard have Dual Language programs.
“Our kids need things like this . . . The performance was so engaging and the students could relate to the dancers,” shared a Pollard teacher.
Flamenco Dance Workshops :: North Chatham Elementary
To continue the residency week, the team of artists conducted Flamenco dance workshops with fifth-graders at North Chatham Elementary.
Students learned choreography that incorporated some of their own flamenco moves–like mimicking holding a soccer ball above their head, or kicking a ball.
Students picked up the choreography with confidence, showing immense enthusiasm for their new art form.
“The dancing made me feel happy . . . It got out a new me,” commented a fifth-grader after the workshops were finished.
“I liked that we got to learn new moves and did our own moves in groups,” said another fifth-grader.
“Dance is to express our emotions!” shared teaching artist Bianca, as students continued to get familiar with the choreography.
“Flamenco is like the body—guitar is the head, the singing is like the heart, dance is like the feet,” shared singer Daniel.
As students worked over two days to master their Flamenco dance choreography, their faces lit up with pride and excitement. They were all eager to share their grip on the choreography with their class at the end of the workshop sessions.
“I’ve enjoyed seeing the students immersed in the residency. [It] helped build a positive class community where all students felt comfortable participating [and] provided an experience that is outside of students’ normal comfort zones and experiences,” said Dr. Giles, North Chatham principal.
“This is something the kids are going to remember and talk about for a long time,” noted a North Chatham teacher.
The performance and workshop residency at North Chatham Elementary was sponsored by Carolina Meadows. The performance-only residency at Margaret B. Pollard Middle School was sponsored by First Bank. Both are part of the Chatham Arts Council’s Artists-in-Schools Initiative.
Arts for Resilient Kids programming is made possible by partnerships with Chatham County Schools, Chatham County, the North Carolina Arts Council, and many individual, foundation, and business donors. If you feel inspired to help us educate kids through the arts, click here to donate.
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