Vt. students strut their stuff in Samba Parade
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By HOLLIS KENNEY Correspondent - Published: July 4, 2010
CASTLETON — Puppeteers, drummers and dancers invaded downtown Saturday morning as the Governor's Institute on the Arts held its annual Samba Parade.
Students in grades nine through 11 from all over Vermont wound through downtown in a twirling, colorful mass.
Some in full samba attire danced their way along the street while others kept a lively drumbeat.
Another group carried tall, brightly colored puppets that shook hands with spectators.
Still others operated a long dragon puppet that snaked in and out of the crowd.
In the vanguard was a sun-shaped chariot carrying Lindsey Cox, 16, of Rutland High School.
Cox, whose leg was splinted after an accident at a contra-dance workshop, said that despite her injury she has had a great time at the two-week institute that is designed to celebrate and explore the creative experience.
"You get so much out of it" she said. "We have only been here a week and have already learned so much, it's hard to believe we have only been here for a week."
This year's institute began June 27 and wraps up July 11.
The parade has been a mainstay for nearly 25 years, said the arts institute's director, Elizabeth Dodson-Westphalen. She said it's a way for the institute's 110 students to put on a show for the community while experiencing different areas of the arts.
Formed in 1983, the Governor's Institute on the Arts is the largest of the sessions on various topics put on each summer by the Governor's Institutes of Vermont. Other institutes, held in Burlington and Brattleboro, cover Asian cultures, current issues and youth activism, engineering, information technology, math, and science and technology.
Artists, actors, musicians and others come to Castleton State College from all over New England each summer to teach the arts students.
"Just being around so many people that love the arts is inspiring," said Eli Dorney, 16, of Mount Mansfield Union High School in Jericho. "There are so many opportunities to dabble and try things out of your normal comfort zone."
Many of the current teachers were once governor's institute students themselves.
"I was here in '94, and it was one of the most formative experiences of my life" said Isaac Littlejohn-Eddie, a full-time member of the Blue Man Group multimedia performance troupe. Littlejohn-Eddie teaches humor and improvisation at the institute.
Dodson-Westphalen, who is in her first year as director, also was a member of the 1994 summer class.
When not parading, students choose two classes to attend for the two-week session but are allowed to sample other areas of the arts through nightly workshops.
For more information on the institute, go to www.giaofvt.org.
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