On Thursday night, a few hundred Lancaster City residents were wowed by a vibrant evening of poetry, art, and dance, all of it capped off by a dazzling performance from a world renowned jazz violinist. This wasn’t at the Fulton Theater; this was at the Fulton Elementary School.
Fulton Elementary’s 10th Annual Poetry and Arts Night was hosted in the school’s beautifully historic auditorium, and presented a caliber of artistic expression rarely exhibited in the typical school recital. It was certainly “cute,” but it wasn’t just “cute”—it was good art.
With the lights down low, poetry was read aloud by the students who wrote it, while a projection screen displayed the words next to matching student artwork. The poems themselves were mostly written in a free verse style, allowing the young poets to express their thoughts vividly without chasing the “deadlines” of meter and rhyme. The result was simple and often breathtaking; little works capturing big emotions, like this poem by 3rd grader Alijah Rosario:
The air
is something
growing
inside of me,
like a story
about a flower
That particular poem was one of two works by Fulton Elementary students to receive national recognition in this year’s annual River of Words Watershed Art and Poetry Contest. The other recognized poet is Yalonda Lockett, who will travel to the Library of Congress in May to accept the Grand Prize for her poem, “It’s a Letter.”
Also among the evening’s performances were two choreographed dances. The first was called “the Waters of March,” and was set to a song inspired by the rainy season in Brazil. The other performance was a colorful blend of dance and theater, as the students reenacted out an old Amazon trickster tale to the rhythm of tribal drums.
A special treat for the evening was the participation of jazz violinist John Blake Jr. Early in the evening, Blake Jr. accompanied a reading by Fulton literary coach Barbara Strasko called “In a Silent Way.” (Strasko also happens to be the Poet Laureate of Lancaster County.) To cap off the evening, Blake Jr. took the stage alongside local guitarist Tom Witmer and a surprise musical guest—Principal Matthew Stem. Stem joined on saxophone for two intricate jazz numbers, which concluded with a standing ovation.
