Gators Trek to Flamenco Ballet

Gators Trek to Flamenco Ballet

By Megan McConnell

On March 22 of this year, all students currently enrolled in Spanish 2 went on a field trip to see the Hispanic Flamenco Ballet Ensemble. The Hispanic Flamenco Ballet is a non-profit organization that travels around the country performing for K-12 students.

Their goal is to educate students about Latin American/Spanish dance and music through a captivating theater experience.  They have a variety of different shows they perform, including the two we were lucky enough to see: “Latin American Festival” and “The Soul of Spain.”

Described as “very entertaining and educational” by Spanish student Taylor Strain, the entire two shows were made up of individual Hispanic countries and their classic dances from those areas. The production as a whole was truly amazing. The cast did a great job with their choreography and I don’t think they made one mistake throughout the entire show. If they did, you couldn’t notice because of how well they pulled it off.

I will say that although some of the students were talkative and on their phones during the show, most of them paid attention and participated fully towards the performers while they sang and danced along to the traditional Hispanic music.

It was very interactive throughout the entire show. When they said to stand up or clap, everyone did as they said. Also, the crowd was  sometimes asked to say a word in Spanish to finish the lyrics for them while they sang.

Toward the end of each show, some of the students from the three different schools that came to the theater went up on the stage with the cast and danced along with them, including some from Greenwood High School (Ashly Oberst and Jackson Fletcher). When both were shows were over, we then got food for lunch and went back to school for the last couple of minutes of  sixth period that was left.

Overall, I feel like I learned a lot about the Hispanic cultures. Not only the dances but I got to see the different styles of clothing worn in the different countries as well as lifestyle and their way of life. Rachel Harrell, a Greenwood High School student that is into dance said that it also helped her to learn more about dances from foreign areas. To see more about the Hispanic Flamenco Ballet, go to their official website.