The NFB’s 8th Academy-Award winning film. This short film is an impressionistic record of a flamenco dance class given to senior students of the National Ballet School of Canada by two great teachers from Spain, Susana and Antonio Robledo. The film shows the beautiful young North American dancers—inspired by the flamenco rhythms and mesmerized by Susana's extraordinary energy—joyously merging with an ancient gypsy culture.
Ages 14 to 17
Arts Education - Dance
Arts Education - Music
Film would complement any exploration of nationally-identified art forms and also explorations of undercurrents of political resistance in art, e.g. hip-hop, Jamaican reggae, Haitian rara. Students will also benefit from “Opre, Roma,” an NFB film about Roma (gypsies) in Canada. After watching the two films, students write an essay trying to get at the heart of the statement: “Flamenco is not a dance, it is a way of life.”