Classes that connect hand claps, leg kicks and heel clicks had Woodington Middle School students stretching their minds as well as their muscles this week.

They were dancing flamenco.

Project Ole, an artist-in-residence program brought to Woodington through an Arts in Education grant awarded Kinston’s Community Council for the Arts, introduced students to the art form so closely associated with Spanish culture and, by extension, the culture itself.

“They’re learning about the culture through the dance. That’s what we’re trying to do,” Sandi Landis, the arts council’s executive director, said Wednesday as a class of seventh graders got underway in the Woodington gym.

All the students involved in the week-long program signed on voluntarily – all 140 of them.

“I’m impressed,” said Sol Koeraus, one of the four flamenco performers teaching the classes. “I think they enjoy the whole experience of having a live musician and performing to one another. You see kids that you can tell are maybe shy in the classroom, but when they come and dance they bring out their personality.”

As dancers, they are learning basic flamenco moves that constitute something like a conversation among the performers. “In flamenco, we have signals, with the dancing and the guitar and the singer,” Raphael Brunn, the group’s guitarist, said. “It’s like following a road map or GPS. You look at the GPS and know at the next light I’m going to turn right. Those are the signals I’m getting from the other artists. They kids are learning that as well.”

As students, they are learning more than cool moves – maybe even learning something about themselves, according to their instructors. As distinctive as flamenco is – the music, the song and the dance itself – it is also singularly notable for the attitude performers bring to the stage.

“The Spanish people are normally very proud people, so the kids are learning that’s a big thing in Spain,” Brunn said. “We’ll ask them to stand up, and then we’ll tell them ‘with attitude,’ and you’ll see them come alive. That in itself is very important.”

Koeraus, a native of Argentina who’s lived and studied in New York and now resides in Grenada, Spain, thinks of flamenco as an expression of resilience that crosses cultural boundaries.

“It was developed by the gypsies but it has multiple cultural influences. It’s an example of how different cultures can create something beautiful. For these times we are living in, I think that’s so important,” she said. “We talk a lot about the history, how it was born out of oppression. Flamenco is about expressing who you are and feeling proud. That’s the main thing for me. If the kids can walk out feeling special, feeling proud, feeling good, I’ve done my job.”

As instruction, Project Ole connects to many of North Carolina's Healthful Living standards, including the development of movement concepts, motor skills and participation in health-related fitness, according to Christel Carlyle, LCPS’s director of middle grades education.

“Project Ole has been an amazing experience for our students at Woodington Middle School who have had an opportunity to be a part of the beautiful art of flamenco while learning about its rich history and varied cultural influences from talented artists,” Carlyle said.

Those artists – the team includes dancers Patricia Muñoz and Jorge Robledo in addition to Koeraus and Brunn – brought flamenco to Lenoir County at large this week with a workshop for LCPS educators on Monday and a public performance at the Arts Center on Friday evening.

“I think the whole aspect of communication between cultures is so important,” Landis said. “You don’t really have to know the language to get cued in to communicating with one another. You don’t have to be of the same culture.”

Flamenco dancer Patricia Muñoz models a move for Woodington Middle School seventh graders during one of this week’s Project Ole sessions. Project Ole, an artist-in-residence program brought to Woodington through an Arts in Education grant awarded Kinston’s Community Council for the Arts, introduced about 140 students to the art form so closely associated with Spanish culture.

Project Ole performers who brought flamenco instruction to students at Woodington Middle School are, from left, Raphael Brunn, Patricia Muñoz, Sol Koeraus and Jorge Robledo.