Despite having its roots on the west coast, the seven-year old art form called gloving has become a common sight in the Burlington night scene that some students have quickly made their own.Gloving has evolved into a performance art using LED lights inside tight-fitting cotton gloves. Glovers manipulate these lights with their hands using different skills and muscle memorization.Typically light shows are seen at electronic music venues or raves, but many glovers perform to any music genre that inspires them.I always glove at electronic shows and raves that I go to. I used to enjoy them immensely without gloves, but after seeing how much fun they are with gloves, its hard to go back, first-year Justin Protentis said.There are typically five lights in each glove and often an additional palm light. The lights house various LED chips and diffusers that allow for different modes and colors.The diffuser covers the actual LED light bulb, manipulating the way in which light travels through or is tinted with color.This permits glovers to create a light show of their own design.Gloving is no stranger to controversy, however. As light shows are frequent at electronic shows and involved in the rave community, some event companies have criticized the art form for its association with illegal substance abuse.Insomniac, an event company based out of Los Angeles, Calif., made a decision to ban light gloves at their events in 2011.Although there are many who use these lights as an art form, the image that it creates when groups of music fans are sitting or lying on the floor gazing at the designs reflects poorly and sends a false message of what the electronic dance music scene is about, Insomniac stated in a message to fans.But not all glovers agree.This presumption that drugs go along with gloves is an irritating and false association that, unfortunately, myself and other glovers have to deal with Protentis said. Sometimes I feel embarrassed about my gloving because people automatically assume I just go to raves every weekend to do drugs and trip out on lights, but really its more of an art than anything, junior Karen Bishop said.In addition to gloving teams, there are also communities that share the same views and come together in order to show people the positive aspects of gloving.I think those who make this assumption simply havent been exposed to or informed about just what gloving is, Protentis suggested. I believe that if those people looked up YouTube videos of gloving teams such as Liquid Muralists or Ayo, they would see just how complex and sophisticated gloving can really be, and realize how much of an art it is.Northern Lights is a Facebook group and community forum that allows glovers to post videos and interact with each other.With every art form there are different styles and creative aspects depending on the artist. Glovers begin by learning light show basics such as a finger roll and advance using musical expression to achieve personal gloving styles, Protentis said.YouTube allows glovers to watch light show tutorials in order to master the basic tricks. Many of these concepts have originated from well known dancing styles such as tutting and liquid.The LED chips and diffusers that enhance the gloves can be purchased online through companies such as CoinPro LLC and Emazinglights. Many of these California-based companies sponsor gloving teams across the country. Sponsored glovers receive free merchandise such as gloves and batteries in exchange for promoting the company through light show videos on YouTube or social media, Protentis and Bishop explained.Emazinglights holds monthly tournaments to exchange light shows and compete.Sponsored or not, those who love to glove tend do so in order to enhance musical and artistic experiences.I enjoy gloving because its a good form of expression for me and it makes a lot of people happy, Bishop said.