Champions for Happiness/The Jaleo Project
Champions for Happiness/The Jaleo Project is a flamenco dance and visual arts virtual workshop taught by artists Adrianne D. Clayton and Melinda Hedgecorth to help kids explore what happiness means in their communities.
Flamenco is a traditional style of dance in Spain. The audience often participates by yelling words of encouragement, like Olé!, to the performers. This is called jaleo, and in the workshop kids learn how jaleo is used to encourage flamenco performers, and how to recognize the ways they encourage themselves and each other.
The project culminates on the United Nations' International Day of Happiness, March 20, 2021, with a virtual celebration featuring a video dance performance.
Flamenco is a traditional style of dance in Spain. The audience often participates by yelling words of encouragement, like Olé!, to the performers. This is called jaleo, and in the workshop kids learn how jaleo is used to encourage flamenco performers, and how to recognize the ways they encourage themselves and each other.
The project culminates on the United Nations' International Day of Happiness, March 20, 2021, with a virtual celebration featuring a video dance performance.
Special Thanks To...
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Girls on the Run Kansas City
The Jaleo Project Exhibition Support
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Kansas City Public Schools
Donors
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Bring The Jaleo Project to your Group!
This project combines mental health and physical activity in a fun, memorable way. Anyone anywhere can use the recordings for classrooms or community groups of all ages. Make a dance video, make fans and display them in your community to bring happiness. Take photos and tag us @kchealthykids and use #thejaleoproject.
This project combines mental health and physical activity in a fun, memorable way. Anyone anywhere can use the recordings for classrooms or community groups of all ages. Make a dance video, make fans and display them in your community to bring happiness. Take photos and tag us @kchealthykids and use #thejaleoproject.
Supplies
Guiding Questions
Resources
- Fan(s) Pack of 50 | Pack of 18 | Make Your Own
- Crayons or Markers Order in Bulk
- Rose Cut-outs (Printable PDF)
- Glue
- Ribbon, Lace, Glitter Etc.
Guiding Questions
- What made you happy today?
- How did you spread happiness today?
- Where have you noticed jaleo (people encouraging others) today?
- How have you given jaleo/encouraged others today?
Resources
- Slide Presentation: Flamenco: What is it? (Melinda narrates in Workshop 1)
- Bulerías. Pastora Galván: A spontaneous performance
- A mic'd-up Patrick Mahomes made a point to encourage Mecole Hardman after muffed punt.
- Rock-a My Soul, Metropolitan Baptist Church
A few quick lessons
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The Workshop
These recordings of the first two Zoom workshops are about 45 minutes long with plenty of natural breaks so they work with any timeframe.
These recordings of the first two Zoom workshops are about 45 minutes long with plenty of natural breaks so they work with any timeframe.
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Meet the Artists
Adrianne D. Clayton
Adrianne D. Clayton is an artist, educator and single mother of four. She holds a Master of Arts degree in curriculum and instructional leadership, an Education Specialist degree in elementary administration and a Bachelor of Arts degree in studio art (for which she was awarded a four-year scholarship), all from University of Missouri – Kansas City. Adrianne is a founding member of the Black Space Black Art collective and was one of six muralists to design and lead the creation of Black Lives Matter street murals across the metro area in 2020. You will find her work on 18th and Vine, at the American Jazz Museum, Natasha Ria Gallery and other businesses across Kansas City. She works primarily with acrylic and other mediums on a variety of surfaces. Through April 25, Adrianne’s work can be seen in “Jazz and the Black Aesthetic,” an American Jazz Museum exhibit spotlighting the power of jazz and Black-centered work by six members of Black Space Black Art. |
Melinda Hedgecorth
Melinda Hedgecorth has recently returned to her hometown, Kansas City, after 14 years in Sister City Seville Spain. There, she performed with local guitarists and singers in flamenco clubs, cultural centers, museums and theatres, practicing the codes and signals which make up the language of flamenco. Since returning she has launched a school and business named 45°, the average temperature in Celsius of a typical summer day in Seville. She teaches across Kansas and Missouri and has founded two performance groups Siento y Vivo Flamenco with guitarist Beau Bledsoe and Flamenkcmo with husband and singer/guitarist Antonio Rojas Flor. In pre-pandemic times she gave Tours of Seville for dancers and non-dancers, sharing what she loves about flamenco, food and culture in Andalucía. On April 25, you can join her at the Feria de Kansas at the Cider Gallery in Lawrence, KS, a celebration of spring with performances, dancing and food from Spain. |
