HAMILTON — The Fitton Center for Creative Arts dished out hearty helpings of fun Sunday at its second annual Great Miami Arts Jam.

        The no-stress smorgasbord of visual and performing arts activities allowed people of all ages to plunge their hands into paper pulp, fashion puppets from household objects, explore drama and enjoy the sounds of youthful musicians.

        Dance performances showcased students of the Otto M. Budig Academy and Christ Emmanuel Christian Academy in Bond Hill.

        The latter school's program, one of several Cincy Dance sites in the Greater Cincinnati area, has attract ed equal numbers of boys and girls.

        “We introduced it as a discipline that requires agility, skill and coordination,“ explained teacher Jerron Gray.

        “The boys have shown absolutely no resistance, even to putting on ballet shoes,” said school principal Carol Dantley. “They are aware that athletes take ballet to improve their stamina and balance.”

        As instructor Connie Dow put her troupe through their paces in the dance studio, instructor Sue Samoviski kept a group of aspiring artists busy turning shredded paper into pulp and then into art.

        Participants like six-year-old Adam Harris of Okeana saw how to churn up colored paper and water in a blender. They spread the mixture into cookie cutters, then squeezed and patted out the excess moisture.

        “I made a red dog because I have a dog at home,” Adam explained.

        Musical performances were central to the event, which was co-sponsored by WGUC-FM, Cincinnati's classical public radio station. The Great Miami Youth Symphony attracted a standing-room-only crowd to its concert. At the end of the day, kids who had made whimsical “drumpet” instruments at a workshop got to try them out in a performance with the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra.

        But the Arts Jam featured more than strings, woodwinds and brass.

        Steel drums reigned on the Fitton Center plaza, with a performance by Miami University's Steel Drum Band. The ensemble then turned over their drumsticks to teachers and students of Fairfield West Elementary.

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