We review the progress of ESO/WFI Imaging and VLT/FLAMES spectroscopy of large numbers of individual stars in nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxies by the Dwarf galaxy Abundances and Radial-velocities Team (DART). These observations have allowed us to show that neither the kinematics nor the abundances nor the spatial distributions are easy to explain in a straightforward manner for these smallest galaxies. The main result is that dwarf galaxies show complex and highly specific evolutionary and metal-enrichment processes, especially at ancient times. This conclusively proves that these small galaxies are not the building blocks of the larger galaxies in the Local Group.