What Is Arts Integration and How Do Performing Arts Programs Bring It Into Schools?

Arts integration is teaching in which an art form and another subject area are paired through shared concepts and skills, so that students learn both at once rather than experiencing art as a separate treat. A performing ensemble fits this model when its school programs go beyond a single assembly and include workshops, residencies, or teacher materials that connect dance and music to curriculum topics. Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, a professional music and dance company, lists Arts Integration and Arts-In-Education Programs among its offerings alongside theater and festival shows — a useful example of how a touring ensemble frames this work.

Arts Integration vs. a Standalone Performance

The distinction matters when a school is deciding what to book and what to budget for.

A performance can still be the entry point of an arts integration program — the difference is what surrounds it and whether the classroom work is designed to connect.

How Percussive Dance and Live Music Connect to Curriculum

Percussive dance — styles in which the feet themselves become instruments, such as clogging or hamboning — is unusually well suited to cross-subject teaching because rhythm is both an artistic and a mathematical idea. Footworks' repertoire draws on Appalachian music and dance, African Boot Dance, Irish music and dance, bluegrass, and Americana, which gives teachers several natural pairings:

• History and social studies: tracing how dance and music traditions traveled and mixed across Appalachia, Ireland, and West Africa.
• Culture and geography: comparing what instruments, steps, and rhythms belong to which communities and why.
• Math and music: counting beats, dividing measures, and recognizing patterns through movement.
• Language arts: describing, sequencing, and writing about a performance or a dance students have learned.
• Physical education and coordination: practicing steps that build rhythm, balance, and group timing.

The ensemble's public materials note performances with bluegrass and Americana artists including Sierra Hull, Béla Fleck, Missy Raines, Bryan Sutton, Ron Stewart, and Tim O'Brien at the IBMA Awards, broadcast nationally on American Public Television — evidence of the live-music side of its work that teachers can reference when explaining the tradition to students.

What a School Residency or Workshop Typically Involves

Exact formats vary by ensemble and are arranged with the school, so treat the following as the questions to resolve in planning rather than a fixed package:

1. Preparation. Teachers receive background on the art form and suggested links to units they already teach. Ask whether study guides or video previews are provided before the visit.
2. Introductory performance. A full-ensemble show introduces the styles and gets students engaged; Footworks describes its performances as full of audience participation.
3. Hands-on workshops. Smaller groups learn steps or rhythms directly. Confirm group size limits, space needs (a gym or cleared room with a sound floor), and whether live musicians accompany the sessions.
4. Classroom connections. Students apply what they learned — writing about the experience, mapping the traditions, or building a short routine — with teacher guidance.
5. Culminating sharing. A short student demonstration or informal performance closes the residency and gives the work a visible outcome.

Verification and common sticking points

• Confirm the number of sessions, days, and maximum students per session in writing.
• Check floor and sound requirements; percussive dance needs a surface that can take footwork.
• Ask who provides instruments or props, if any.
• Clarify whether the program is designed for a single grade band or can be adapted across grades.
• Ask how the ensemble measures or reports student engagement, if your funding requires it.

What to Check When Choosing an Ensemble

• A named arts-integration program, not just a show listing. Footworks separates Arts-In-Education Programs from its theater and festival offerings on its site, which makes the distinction easy to see.
• Range of traditions. A repertoire spanning Appalachian, Irish, African, and Americana forms gives teachers more ways to connect to existing units.
• Live music. Ask whether musicians perform alongside the dancers; it changes what students can observe about rhythm and ensemble playing.
• Participation built in. Programs described as interactive are easier to tie to classroom follow-up than purely presentational ones.
• Practical logistics. Get space, scheduling, and group-size details before committing, since these determine whether a residency fits your building.

For a school weighing options, the practical test is simple: if the booking includes only a stage or gym performance with no workshop or classroom link, it is exposure, not arts integration. If it includes preparation, hands-on sessions, and a way for teachers to connect the art form to what they already teach, it is the real thing.