Arts Education

Flamenco Vivo’s K-12 arts education programs use the rich and powerful art form of Hispanic dance and music to build understanding and communication between young people of different cultures. Our teaching instills students with a sense of pride, self-confidence and accomplishment.  Collectively known as Project Olé, the Company’s educational programs include in-depth curriculum based residencies, lecture demonstration performances, workshops and professional development training for classroom teachers.

The Company artists have been trained to work with all age levels and with special needs students as well. Our programs help students form a meaningful relationship to another culture (or deepen their understanding of their own cultural history) and learn the level of teamwork, discipline, commitment and enjoyment involved in pursuing the performing arts.

Our programs work with students of all ages and we work with individual schools to design a program to meet the specific needs of their students. We offer a variety of curriculum materials such as an interactive online portal with videos, maps, and more, Student Journal, a Performance Guide and Teacher Curriculum Guide that can be used in conjunction with our programs.

Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana is a New York City Department of Education approved Vendor. We are listed under our Legal Name: Spanish Dance Arts Company, Inc.

Program Descriptions

Contact the Director of Arts Education at education@flamenco-vivo.org/flamenco/ or 212-736-4499 to book a program for your school!

Core Curriculum Based In School and After-School Residencies focus on teaching the technique and skills of flamenco dance and music, while developing students’ poise, social skills and perseverance. Our program exposes students to the rich history and culture of this Hispanic art form aligning with Common Core Standards in ELA, Literacy, History and Social Science. The program begins with a professional Company performance for all students and ends in a culminating activity where students demonstrate their learning with a performance in full flamenco costumes (provided by Flamenco Vivo) alongside professional artists.

Video Demo

Lecture Demonstration Performances are a wonderful blend of entertainment and education and combine explanations of the intricacies of flamenco and its cultural history, with details of the varied instruments involved in the art form: castañuelas(castanets), guitarra (guitar), cante (voice), and zapateado (footwork). Audience participation is a vital aspect of the show which ends with a Q & A. Four artists, 2 dancers, a singer and a guitarist present this program in colorful, traditional costumes.

Video Demo

Workshops provide students an exciting opportunity to learn the art of flamenco dance and music.  Workshops are the perfect companion to a lecture demonstration.  Students learn the basics of flamenco movement and a short dance and song.  Workshops are adaptable in length depending on the needs of your school and perfect for after-school and weekend family oriented events.

Professional Development for Classroom Teachers helps integrate Flamenco and other Hispanic art forms into their existing curriculum.  The arts provide a powerful tool for teaching both difficult abstract concepts as well as concrete subjects.  Our professional development programs offer user-friendly tools to make teachers comfortable using the arts within their classrooms, with the ultimate goal of enabling them to create their own arts-based lesson plans.

Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana offers exciting flamenco dance & music residencies and performance programs for students with disabilities.  Our programs, specifically tailored to meet the needs of special education students, utilize the rhythm, coordination, and expressive quality of this Hispanic art form to give students a sense of pride and accomplishment as they develop vital skills such as increased dexterity, focus, and interpersonal relationships. As an art form, that incorporates dance, music, and song, flamenco has proven highly successful with students with disabilities and offers numerous opportunities for students of different abilities to participate.

“…school became more meaningful for the kids through this program, including academics.  Students were more punctual and had more positive attitudes. Teachers, administrators & even other students look at these kids differently now because they got to see another side of them.” – Frenchy Haynes, Teacher, JM Rapport, 2010

Some of the unique qualities that make our work highly successful with disabled students are:

  •   The art form is made up of music, dance, and song, offering students multiple points of entry to participate in the classes;
  •   Flamenco is a cooperative art form that includes non-verbal communication between dancers and musicians and involves partnering opportunities without the necessity of touching;
  •   The emphasis on rhythmic patterns and repetition of movements help students maintain focus and serves to reassure students with certain disabilities;
  •   Flamenco incorporates isolation of the hands, arms, and feet and then combines movements, creating opportunities for students to increase dexterity and both fine and gross motor skills;
  •   As an art form that embodies the full range of emotions, flamenco offers students an appropriate alternative emotional outlet; and
  •   Flamenco stresses pride and self-confidence, offering students ways to achieve success in school other than academics.

Our teaching artists have extensive experience working with students on the autism spectrum as well as those who are developmentally or emotionally challenged, sensory impaired and/or multiply disabled.

Ten years ago, the North Carolina Arts Council invited Flamenco Vivo to establish a second home in the state, in order to conduct bilingual programming targeted to the state’s growing Hispanic cultures. Since that time, we have developed outreach initiatives that have successfully served communities in nearly every part of the state, including many previously unexposed to Hispanic art forms.

The Company has been honored to be part of cARTwheels, a program of the NCAC which takes performing companies to various venues to perform for 300 students daily. In Spring 2015 we will be visiting Richmond and Columbus counties.

The Company has also organized the Festival Flamenco in Durham County, bringing our communities together through a week of free performances, master classes and workshops. Durham will see the 4th annual Festival Flamenco in Fall 2014.

Our In-School Educational Programs feature multi-week, community-based educational residencies teaching Spanish/Hispanic history, culture and language using flamenco dance as the focal point, and are accompanied by curriculum materials. Age-specific residencies for grades K–12 are taught by teaching artists, and include a guitarist and singer and a final student performance. Additional activities include lecture-demonstrations, participatory family or student workshops, and master classes.

Contact santana@flamenco-vivo.org/flamenco/ to bring a Project Olé program to your students!

These projects are supported by the Durham Arts Council’s Annual Arts Fund and the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources