Festival Ole' comes to Warsaw Elementary School
From Duplin County Schools
Kindergarten through fifth grade students at Warsaw Elementary School recently participated in Festival Ole', a week-long multicultural arts education program, thanks to a grant from the NC Arts Council. Teaching artists from Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, a dance company with home bases in New York City and Durham, NC, immersed students in the rich history and culture of a Hispanic art form known as Flamenco.
Flamenco features dancers in traditional Spanish costumes of colorful ruffled dresses, waving fans, and long fringed shawls for the women and tight-fitting black pants and vests and festive shirts for the men. Dancers incorporate a variety of hand claps and heel stamps, as well as rhythms created by hand-held percussion instruments called castanets. They are typically accompanied by singers and acoustic guitarists.
Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana describes their mission as producing high quality dance, promoting Hispanic heritage, providing arts education, and nurturing the next generation of Spanish dance artists and educators. They believe the universal spirit of Flamenco has the power to build understanding and communication among young people of different cultures. Four members of the dance company performed for the student body on Monday, co-taught classes Tuesday-Thursday with Mr. Lamar Perkins, Warsaw Elementary music teacher, and facilitated a performance in the gymnasium on Friday for students to showcase their newly acquired Flamenco dance moves.
Interim Chief Officer for STEAMA Curriculum and Instruction Nicole Murray expressed gratitude to the NC Arts Council for their funding support each year that provides art enrichment programs such as this one. “These programs check so many boxes – they incorporate core content like Social Studies, they are STEAMA based, they promote global awareness, and they are engaging and fun for students.”
Assistant Principal Lillie Lanier organized the event and was impressed with how well the dancers interacted with the students as well as how the students responded. “ The staff of Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santa were a pleasure to work with; professional and kid-friendly. Our students had a ball and will remember this experience for years to come.” Mr. Perkins echoed her sentiments and added, “Thank you to everyone involved for this opportunity to learn and actively have our students participate in such an amazing art form.”
