Teaching Artist

Flamenco is an ideal traditional practice to engage students in arts integration, giving kids the opportunity to stomp, shout, dance, as they delve into a complex art form that connects the East and the West, in ways that even teachers find educational. Kids can explore history when they dance with a prop that was once used to protest Spanish imperialism. They search for the meaning of Caribbean imagery in Spanish Flamenco songs, and the path that connected the two sides of the Atlantic. They compare the story of maverick Thomas Edison and his muse, Spanish dancer Carmencita, in the first record of dance in moving pictures. Flamenco tells the story of Spain, Africa, and the Americas, and can even be expressed in mathematical terms.

Years ago, they were called “school shows”, and now the movement of bringing arts into schools is at a sophisticated level, where artists, as well as educators are encouraged to find connections between cultural arts programming and standards. Assembly programs offer broad introductions to Flamenco, while students cross the arts with curriculum lessons in workshops and residencies during the school day and in the classroom.

Julie Galle Baggenstoss has received professional training in aligning the arts with standards – in the name of STEM, literacy, social studies, and modern languages. Simple methodology brings together layers of dance, singing, and critical thinking in programs that strike performance standards in grades K-12. With 20 years of experience in arts in schools, Julie is the only flamenco artist in the Southeast to be part of the Georgia Council of the Arts Teaching Artist Roster with a STEAM seal, the Fulton County Teaching Museum, and an alumna of the long-running Arts for Learning team at Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta and the Arts and Science Council of North Carolina. She also brings movement of all genres to the classroom as a dance consultant with ArtsNOW, training educators in arts integration in South Carolina and Georgia.

Please visit www.berdole.com for a full listing of shows on tour, information about study guides, and booking information.