Teacher Guidelines

To prepare your classes before the show you can:

1) Read the Introduction.
2) Go over the Word List with the students.
3) If you have a Flamenco CD or video, you can play some of it for them.

After the show you can:
1) Use the Follow-up Questions in a discussion.
2) Have the students draw pictures or write essays about what they saw.

Introduction
Raices Gitanas (pronounced: rye-ée-ses hit-ón-as) means ”Gypsy Roots” in
Spanish. The presentation introduces students to the dance and music of the gypsies of southern Spain.

The gypsies are nomads, people with no permanent home who travel from place to place, trading with the people they meet, but still keeping their own language, food, customs, and religion.

Starting a thousand years ago, they began to migrate west from India, traveling
the length of Asia and across the top of Africa. Later, they traveled through all of
Europe and the Americas, but some of them stayed in Spain.

Even though they kept their own way of living, the gypsies were influenced by
the people around them. So in different places they created different styles of music and dance. In Spain, they are called gitanos (pronounced: hitános) and their music and dance is called Flamenco.

Flamenco tells the story of their lives: where they travel and the people they
meet, the hardships they face as homeless wanderers, their love for their family, and the joys of traveling freely in a world where everyone else has to stay in one place.

Raices Gitanas tells the story of Flamenco in song, dance, and music. Exploring its history and its place in today’s world, they reveal it to be part of our heritage as Americans, as well.

Word List
nomad
gypsy
Spain
Flamenco
guitar
bass
percussion

Performance Outline
1) Introduction with Dance and Music
2) Guitar Feature
3) Song Feature
4) Bass Feature
5) Dance Feature
6) Percussion Feature/Dance Finale

Because Flamenco song and dance are unfamiliar to most audiences, and because we continually change the show, it is better to announce and explain the specific songs and dances during the performance.

GUIDELINES FOR STUDENT FEEDBACK

What was learned about the lives of the gypsies?

If you had to choose from either playing an instrument or dancing, which one would you do and why?

Which part of the program interested you the most and why?

Why is music and dance important in your life?

Dancers tell stories through their movements. What story did you see?

Musicians tell stories through sound. What did you hear in the music?

GUIDELINE QUESTIONS FOR FOLLOW-UP DISCUSSION:

Q: What is a nomad?
A: A person who has no home, and who travels from place to place.

Q: Who are the gypsies?
A: A nomadic people who traveled from India all over the world.

Q: Where is the country of Spain?
A: In Europe.

Q: In Spain, the gypsies are called?
A: Gitanos (pronounced: hitános)

Q: What is Flamenco?
A: The dance and music of the gypsies of Spain.

Q: Which instruments did you hear today?
A: Voice, guitar, bass, and percussion.

Q: What do you say to cheer on the musicians and dancer in Spanish?
A: Olé!

Q: Has Flamenco come to America?
A: Yes.

Q: Why is Flamenco important to us?
A: Because it is part of our heritage as Americans.