An innovative project at the Faculty of Education and Sport aims to integrate traditional Galician dance into educational settings. The initiative, which involves around 150 students, focuses on creating audiovisual materials that can be used in both university teaching and compulsory education.
According to the project's coordinator, Professor Rocío Carballo, the goal is for future teachers to "know, practice, and transfer traditional Galician dance to the classroom as a motor, expressive, cultural, and inclusive resource." This project, selected in the 2026 educational innovation project call, features an interdisciplinary team of seven researchers from the faculty, alongside four collaborators from the Faculty of Communication, the Audiovisual Institute of Vigo, and secondary education.
Objectives and methodology
The project aims to enhance the visibility of Galician traditional culture as an educational content and a tool for bodily expression. It emphasises practical and experiential training to strengthen students' competencies related to bodily expression, cooperative work, and heritage education.
Carballo highlights that the initiative employs an active, participatory, and experiential methodology, where students learn by dancing, analysing the educational possibilities of the dances, and collaborating in the generation of audiovisual materials.
From practical training to resource generation
Titled "Traditional Galician Dance in Initial Teacher Training: A Playful and Audiovisual Proposal from Physical Education," the project began in the second semester of the previous academic year with a training and resource recording phase. Conducted with students from the Master's in Teaching, specialising in Physical Education, the initial experience included training sessions led by secondary education teacher Uxío Leira, a specialist in traditional Galician dance education.
These sessions covered both the presentation of bibliographic and educational materials on traditional dance and practical approaches, culminating in the recording of "work sequences" aimed at generating audiovisual resources. Carballo notes that "audiovisual production is a central element of the project," with sequences recorded using multi-camera setups and drones to capture overall perspectives of group dynamics.
The objective was to document Leira's explanations and the details of students' movements and interactions, resulting in a series of brief educational videos that combine explanations, practical demonstrations, cultural references, and educational usage proposals. Available on UVigo TV, these materials will support the second phase of the project, which takes place this semester with students from the Bachelor's in Primary Education.
This phase will also include practical training on traditional dances and a conference where these videos will be utilised to facilitate reflection on the educational possibilities of traditional Galician dance. The project will conclude with an initial and final evaluation to assess its impact on the interest, knowledge, and perceived competence of participating students.
