On Oct. 31, the Marlborough faculty departments walked and danced down the annual Pumpkin Day Parade. Students gathered in the gym to display their Halloween costumes before each faculty department showcased their elaborate group costumes in a contest with three award categories: Best Overall, Best Performance and Most Creative.
For the third year in a row, the Visual Arts Department won the Best Overall title. Department Head Chelsea Dean started off their performance by bursting through a paper banner while the five other Visual Arts teachers danced down the runway, clad in sparkly outfits and red wigs, to the tune of Chappell Roan’s song of the summer, “Hot to Go.”
The inspiration for the culturally relevant costume came from a desire to connect with the Marlborough student body and Dean’s love for the song.
“[‘Hot to Go’] is super fun. It’s a sing-along, it’s very engaging and dynamic,” Dean said.
After watching the music video, Dean realized that her department was a perfect fit for each of the roles.
“[Roan] has five different versions of herself in the music video,” Dean said. “So it was kind of a research project on how we could execute each of these versions of her down to the details of the boots, the jewelry, the hair.”
The teachers began to gather each detail of their costumes individually. Dean ordered several blue sequin bodysuits and two red wigs to experiment with before deciding on the best option. She glued on shoulder pads and stars, used a pair of gold tights she already owned and borrowed boots. Film teacher Jena English thrifted her corset from a local used clothing store and utilized a pair of wings from the Marlborough costume department.
Although the school provides $50 for each faculty member, the Visual Arts Department primarily sourced their costume pieces from thrift stores or their own closets.
“A big part of the process was each of us creating these versions of Chappell Roan with what we had,” Dean said.
To create the 10-foot-tall banner that would open the performance, ceramics teacher Fatima Hoang sourced PVC pipes while Dean painted the paper in her classroom during free periods, taping paper over the windows to maintain secrecy. Since only one banner was painted, Dean and the rest of the department had a single chance to get the opening scene right.
The choreography of the performance was largely spur of the moment as the team had only practiced the day before. However, when Dean finally broke through the giant paper banner, she was exhilarated.
“I knew the lyrics to the song and my job was to just hype everybody up,” Dean said. “Honestly, could there be anything better?”
Next year, the three-time champions plan to dial down their commitment. However, Dean remains proud of her department’s reign.
“There’s a level that you have to go to,” Dean said. “You need to be prepared to take [the performance] to some pretty big places.”
