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Drummer Greg Lee pounds out a syncopated beat on a conga drum as eight barefoot dancers and their instructor sway and bend to the sounds.


To set the pace for the next series of movements, Lee switches to a djembe drum and a faster rhythm.

For students in the Governor’s School for the Arts’ modern dance class, dancing to a variety of drum beats “adds a richer experience to taking class,” says instructor Jackie Patch. Students rehearse with the drummer each afternoon through Governor’s School classes at Virginia Ballet Theatre in Norfolk.

“Live music is important when training in dance,” says Deborah Thorpe, chair of the school's dance department. “Percussion works particularly well with modern dance.”

The school purchased the African drums this year as part of a major investment in equipment that touched all 345 students in the Governor’s School. The Norfolk Foundation provided a $47,924 grant for equipment for the 16-year-old school that trains high school students from eight area school districts.

The new equipment includes a bassoon and English horn for the instrumental music department, lights and a sound-effects library for the theater department, a digital camera and color laser printer for the visual arts department and a camcorder for the vocal music department. Equipment ranges in price from the dance department’s $250 djembe drum to $21,000 in wireless body microphones for the theater department.

“The Foundation’s grant was the largest one-year grant the school has ever received,” says Kimberly Sherlaw, executive director of the school’s foundation. “We selected each piece of equipment to have longevity.” In the past other Norfolk Foundation grants have helped the school build a black box theater and purchase pianos and video equipment.

This spring the visual arts department’s new camera and printer allowed students to completely produce the school yearbook—from photography to printing. “We consider the yearbook to be our students’ performance,” says Vic Frailing, chair of the visual arts department.“ This is the first time we could afford to do a color yearbook.”

For the instrumental music department its new $12,000 bassoon means it no longer has to borrow an instrument from Old Dominion University. “In the past we lost the bassoon whenever ODU needed it,” Sherlaw says. For students in the vocal music department, a camcorder captures their auditions, rehearsals and performances. New lighting and sound equipment enhance theatrical productions and let students learn new technology.

Typically the school’s foundation has only enough funds each year to buy a few pieces of equipment for specific departments. Sherlaw is pleased that “this time when we asked for a wish list, instead of singling out one department we could do something comprehensive and hit every department.”
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For information on the Governor’s School for the Arts call (757) 451-4711 or visit www.gsarts.net.

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