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Stilt Walkers Performance at Taste of the Caribbean, 2016

PerformerPerformed by Mellissa Craig

PerformerPerformed by Grace Wright (Jamaican)

Date2016 August 6

Mediumborn digital video

DimensionsDuration: 36 Seconds

ClassificationsGraphics

Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections

CopyrightIn Copyright

Object number2015.196.484.3

DescriptionVideo of stilt walkers with Mellissa Craig and Grace Wright from the Cultural Dance Troupe of the West Indies performing at the Taste of the Caribbean Festival on August 6, 2016.

NotesSubject Note: From 2011-2020, the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program at the Connecticut Historical Society partnered with the Connecticut Caribbean International Carnival Association to offer an annual summer youth employment program that trains Hartford youth in Carnival traditions central to their ethnic background. At the six-week “Mas Camp,” participants learned about the history and role of Carnival and masquerade. They designed and created their own Carnival costumes under the guidance of experienced Mas artists. The teens along with over two dozen volunteers, formed a Carnival Band that participated in several summer events showcasing Mas costumes totally made in Hartford. The beauty of the costumes displayed by Hartford’s own masqueraders in the parade and festival, along with the excitement of their dance routines, bring a tremendous energy and pride to the city’s West Indian communities. Mas Camp has helped to ensure that the Carnival tradition continues by training a new generation in the art of Mas making. In 2017, Mas Camp was selected as one of 50 exemplary youth programs nationwide by the National Arts and Heritage Youth Program.

Mas Camp was both a jobs program and an arts learning experience with social impact. The program mentored students in workplace readiness, social engagement, and cultural knowledge, offering alternative creative activities that fostered community involvement while providing fulfilling employment. Participants learned new skills including Caribbean cultural history, costume design, garment sewing and construction, creative movement, and teamwork. The teens experienced first-hand how to follow an artistic idea from background to completion and presentation, working both individually and collaboratively. Through the program, youth discovered that giving back to their community is an essential part of becoming a productive citizen. They experienced the joy of being part of a larger cultural group, and contributed their new skills to community activities.

During Mas Camp, the teens created their own costumes following themes and color schemes that they chose. The students and staff, along with volunteers from the community, formed a Carnival band they named Exotic One’s. Hartford costume maker Keimani “Q” Delpeche, who grew up in the Mas tradition in Trinidad and Boston, taught design and building of all the types of costumes. Choreographers including Clerona Cain and Coryse Villarouel developed dance routines with the students to train them in “displaying” their costumes in a parade. Some former students became peer educators helping to supervise Mas Camp activities in later years. The mentorship of several committed community educators and cultural leaders supported the teens and provided positive role models.

Mas represents an important and beloved art form in the West Indian communities that make up a vibrant component of Hartford’s population. The costumes and the traditions behind them serve as central expressions of cultural identity and heritage. The beauty of the costumes displayed by Hartford’s own masqueraders in the parade and festival, along with the excitement of their dance routines, bring a tremendous energy and pride to the city’s West Indian communities. During Carnival parades and festivals, groups of masqueraders form bands and dance to calypso or soca music. The bands have sections each led by a “frontliner” wearing a costume with a “backpack” frame that supports a headpiece. “Individual” character costumes are bigger still, with wings created from fabric stretched over a wire frame. The most elaborate costumes, the King and Queen, require bent steel frames on wheels so the person carrying the heavy costume can lead the band through the parade.

During the summer of 2016, sixteen students and thirty-eight adult and student volunteers participated. Costume maker Keimani “Q” Delpeche created the Mas outfits along with several experienced assistants and many volunteer parents. Dance teacher Clerona Cain, and dance assistant Asher-Lee Plummer trained the students in “displaying” their costumes in a parade. They formed a Carnival “Band” called the Exotic One’s, with six sections of masqueraders in different color schemes portraying the theme of “Around The World.” The Band performed with their costumes in the Taste of the Caribbean Festival at the Riverfront, the Wadsworth Atheneum Block Party, and the West Indian 54th Anniversary Independence Parade and Festival, as well as at an outdoor concert to mark the opening of the Mas Camp exhibit and student graduation at the Connecticut Historical Society.

Subject Note: In 1962, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago claimed their Independence from Great Britain. Since that year, the West Indian Parade and Independence Celebration has been a highlight of Hartford’s summer activities. The week of activities includes many events taking place at the different island clubs around Hartford and features headlining musicians who perform at the West Indian Social Club. The celebration concludes with a parade and festival in Hartford featuring floats, steel band performances, and masqueraders displaying brilliant costumes.

The Taste of the Caribbean and Jerk Festival began as a single evening event and expanded into a day-long festival held since 2006 at the Riverfront Plaza at the beginning of Celebration Week. Billed as a “One day festival of Caribbean food, culture, music, games, traditions” the festival includes local and visiting performers, food vendors from a variety of Caribbean cultures, information booths, arts and crafts vendors, local and visiting dance groups, and since 2011, a procession of Mas dancers from CCHAP’s Mas Camp program in collaboration with CICCA, the Caribbean International Carnival Cultural Association.

Biographical Note: The Cultural Dance Troupe of the West Indies Inc. (CDTWI) is a longstanding arts and heritage education program for students from 5-18. Based in Hartford, the CDTWI was developed and directed by Valencia (Val) Coleman since 1982. “Our mission it to promote the appreciation of cultural differences by empowering individuals and communities through the vehicle of dance, performance, and music. We share the rich cultural heritage of the West Indies with Greater Hartford through the common language of artist expression.” CDTWI has provided classes in Caribbean and other dance genres, culture-based instruction, and academic enrichment to generations of students who have showcased their learning in the annual Cultural Spectacular, at Hartford-area festivals and arts events, and they perform annually in the West Indian Independence Day Parade and Festival. Val Coleman and her experienced instructors including Melissa Craig, Grace Wright, and Stephen Hankey have given classes and performances in Hartford Public Schools and many other educational venues around Connecticut.

Biographical Note: Mellissa Craig is a long-time dance educator and performer based in Hartford. She has taught and danced with Sankofa Kuumba Dance Collective, Cultural Dance Troupe of the West Indies, is Principal Dancer and Founding Member at Island Reflections Dance Theatre Company, Ensemble Member at Justice Dance Performance Project, Inc., Arts Instructor at Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, and a performer with FriendzWorldMusic. Mellissa is an experienced stilt walker and participates as Moko Jumbie for many West Indian events including the Taste of the Caribbean Festival. She carried the Queen costume for the Mas Camp Exotic One’s Band in 2013.

Biographical Note: Jamaican-born mathematics teacher, dancer and costume designer Grace C. Wright resides in East Hartford, CT. She has been a principal dancer with the Cultural Dance Troupe of the West Indies (CDTWI) in Hartford, CT assisting with the junior dance classes and costume coordination. She studied jazz technical, basic ballet, and traditional and contemporary Caribbean dance forms under master teachers Adrian Fletcher and Stephen Hankey. She has performed in tCDTWI’s annual Cultural Spectacular for many years and has appeared in many musicals such as T’Jean and His Brothers, A Raisin in the Sun, and A Musical Review. Since her involvement with the CDTWI, Ms. Wright has participated in the West Indian Independent Parade in Hartford, the Labor Day Parade in New York, and Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago. She acted as costume coordinator for the Connecticut International Cultural Carnival Association (CICCA) in 2003 and 2005. In 2008, her dance choreography won best dance in the West Indian Parade in Hartford. She has also studied wire bending under master instructor Norcenio Gomez from Trinidad and Tobago. She assisted Mas Camp with costume design and production as well as performance in 2011 and 2020.

Additional audio, video, and/or photographic materials exist in the archive relating to this community and these events.

Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.

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