“Encuentros Vivos” take place in schools with extended day format

“Encuentros Vivos” take place in schools with extended day format
Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo 3/24/13

The Ministries of Education (MINERD) and Culture are in the process of developing the “Encuentrosvivos de la escuela con los ritmosdominicanos (Livingcultural encounters of schools with Dominican rhythms)” project, in schools with extended day format. The objective is to create a positive impact, through the arts, on over 10,000 students.

The living cultural encounters of schools with Dominican rhythms, which function under the workshop – show format, provide students with a living experience that is playful, exploratory and active.

The encounters will continue until May 21stand include music, dance and theater, with the objective of building capacity to identify, appreciate and preserve intangible cultural heritage, as part of the overall development of the students and the strengthening of what it is to be Dominican.

The Ministry of Culture’s SistemaNacional de EscuelasLibres participates in the organization and the implementation of the teaching and artistic component. In turn, the area of ??Arts Education of MINERD’s Curriculum Department is responsible for providingpedagogical management and budget support.

The living cultural encounters contribute to foster the development of the appreciative and expressive capacities between teachers and students in schools with extended day format, by maintaining direct contact with groups, specialists and artistsof Dominican rhythms, folk and popular dances.

Participating young people and children learn aboutthe major Dominicans musical and dance rhythms from a practical standpoint, and after seeing and listening to them they will be able to practice some of them. Also, they will learn to identify popular and folk musical instruments and to appreciate them, while enriching their musical rhythm and body expression.

The living cultural encounters of schools with Dominican rhythms, which function under the workshop – show format, provide students with a living experience that is playful, exploratory and active.

The presence at every encounter of marching bands, dance groups and percussion ensembles serves to illustrate the modalities of the artistic fields, stimulating the sensory and perceptual aspects of learning.

Each encounter has facilitators who establish the dynamics. Musical arrangements have been prepared for bands with rhythmssuch ascarabiné, mangulina, bachata, sarandunga, Priprí, pasapié and drums.

These activities contribute to developcurricular competencies and contents, which areincluded from the beginners level up to the intermediate level,with a view to achieving the profile required in the XXI Century, where the emotional intelligence, sensitivity, the ability to build agreements, work in teams and display creativity are essential.

The beginners level is intended to stimulate and promote divergent thinking through creativity, experiences, interests and feelings. Similarly, the first semester of the beginners level addresses communication throughbodyand musical expressions, in order to develop personal and social identity, while appreciating the cultural expressions of communities or regions with a view to integrating them to parties, celebrations and events which highlight the Dominican culture, but without ignoring those of other nations and continents.

The value of cultural heritage and national and world folk expressions is recognized through Arts Education,in order to protect and enrich them.

Learning about the popular musical instruments in the country, such as drums, güira, guitar, balsié and marimba and dances such as jaiba, the carabiné, bachata, mangulina andmerengue reinforce the skills to work in teams.

The first activity of the living cultural encounters was held in the Santa M. JosefaRosselloschool of the Monte Plata regional district, and will end on May 2ndat the MaguanaAbajo school of San Juan de la Maguana.

Artistic activity conducted within the project “EncuentrosVivos”, in the Magüey school of La Vega, sponsored by the Ministries of Education and Culture