FANTASIA NAMED FIELD&FLOOR'S 2008 COLOR GUARD OF THE YEAR

Alter Ego becomes first Runner-Up
from within the Independent Open ranks

Inevitability.

There was an air of certainty early in the season that the uniquely personal and introspective “Reflections on Youth,” Fantasia’s sixth Independent World championship, might become Field&Floor’s 2008 Color Guard of the Year. That the starkly defined set piece for performers with equipment was an undisputed masterpiece of the idiom, added to the community college-supported unit’s place as the most honored color guard in the history of Field&Floor.

During a season in which extended, all -flag sequences dominated, this retrospect on the artistic life of a color guard maestro trumped them all by using weaponry alone. But it hardly seems egalitarian to even compare this to … that, for by show’s end it was clear that from conception through construction and finally in performance by this virtuoso cast, (and I use that word here, not simply as a way to define the people who inhabit a color guard show, as is often done, but rather to infer that here, in this stellar environment and in this classification that includes adults by age, the word cast applies) that what was presented alongside the rest of the activity’s finest was not mere color guard.

Drawing me into the black and white cinematic story, the wordless cast, at times, seemed on the verge of language, but in this case the sweeping cinematic score provided the landscape and context. If words had been used, it occurred to me that they would have been -- of necessity -- subtitles; the sense of Fellini, Bergman, and Wertmuller so prevailed.

There was symbolism, and artistic intent that signaled an “end” with this chapter in Fantasia’s storied seasons. No matter; and no matter that the judged score attributed was less than the highest one ever recorded; “Reflections on Youth” provided an immediate and pivotal description of the future of the Independent World arm of color guard.

That it raised the height of the bar this far: inevitable.

RUNNER-UP: ALTER EGO
The seventh commemoration of 9/11 is still five months away, but no television network, no cable news outlet, no website, song, poem, nor documentary will capture the essence of emotion that lingers more eloquently than New Jersey’s Alter Ego, with “Footprints of Angels.”

Allusion to historic events, with flags, rifles, sabers, and dance, while a long-held arm of color guard, can also be an iffy proposition. Overwrought faces, maudlin soundtracks, and pandering visuals are often the outcome. Not here.

The historic allusions came in the form of metaphors, as they were presented through color guard elements. Angels on wing, mirror-image “twins,” and the largesse of this homage, the representation of “everyman” lifted this breathtaking achievement into my runner-up position. It was the blend of words, music, and imagery that left an indelible footprint of honor on my heart.

I perceive that the unit’s physical proximity to Ground Zero and to the heart of emotion that is 9/11 was visceral motivation for everyone involved. Including me.

FINAL 4

AVON HIGH SCHOOL
Continuing its category defining displays of color guard, the Indiana high school -- and last year’s Field&Floor winner -- conjured its third consecutive silver medal with a genuinely chilling effort that begged the question, “Which is Witch?”

Witches. Chilling. Color guard. Hmmm … there was that swooping kitschy St. Ann’s show a couple of decades ago that was wrapped in witches’ trappings. And then there was that genuinely “hellish” Northmont High School monstrosity. With a generous helping of “Sweeney Todd” folded in, the phenomenally talented Avon crew accomplished deeply-felt claustrophobia, impending doom, and fright.

This was carefully constructed, and calibrated, color guard, that performed on its own terms, demanding attention and commanding its place, for the third consecutive year here as well, in the Final 4.

SANTA CLARA VANGUARD
There is, each year in Dayton -- Isn’t it just the best that we’ll be back in our championship city for the next six years? -- a show that defies conventional descriptors, a show that looks like nothing else on the floor, but a show that grabs you by your shoulders, turns you face-forward, and then wallops you with its style, with its presence, and in the case of Final 4 finisher Santa Clara Vanguard, with its brio.

(It was also the exemplar in the category of “out loud breathing.”) “On a Breath” was a wafting breeze of fresh air in a room and classification that all too often replicates itself, even as it espouses its tantamount virtues. Virtuous in its use of negative space, this was a vanguard of control, staging, and effect.

And deliciously, with the timing of a classic comedian, it offered the punch line of the year. How many times have you experienced a color guard show that left you laughing in appreciative applause?
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Onto the Elite 8, Sweet 16, and remainder of the Top 32, after the jump

ELITE 8


BEYER HIGH SCHOOL
Admitted long-time favorite Beyer, ran the keyboard as pianist’s fingers. This was a Steinway in its crisp … glissando … staccato performance of Bartok.

It achieved two things that intrigue: it took a chestnut approach, a piano keyboard, and turned it on ear; and in its recital-style performance, it was over before it got started. It was that good.


FLANAGAN HIGH SCHOOL
There was to be a changing of the Scholastic World guard, literally, and Florida’s newest sensation, Flanagan, put all of its secrets plainly on the floor to clearly say, “We’re it.” They were; with the most overwhelming edition of its trademark ensemble and equipment skills on display.

But what Pembroke Pines is able to conjure in its every iteration is atmosphere, mood, an aura if you will, that permeates and that congeals solidly, becoming a fifth element. If the decade-long champion that Flanagan followed was, as I often described it, the Microsoft of color guard, then what we have here is Google: young, renegade entrepreneurial types intent on changing the world.


NORTHEAST INDEPENDENT
Not to boast, and I am no betting man, but remember I said it first, right here, this time last year: Florida’s Northeast Independent was “likely one year away from a medal.”

*Gloating, here*

There was simply no denying it: this was a screaming-from-the-rooftops performance clothed in quietude. Well that, and NEI’s striking “economy:” this guard strives to find the shortest distance between two points, and then it effectively exploits that performance economy for singular effect.

And even when the year’s most used sequence -- the all-flag segment -- made its appearance, it was unique, thrilling, and absolutely pitch perfect.


PRIDE OF CINCINNATI
I tried, and gladly failed, to leaf through 31 years of indoor color guard to ascertain how many times the song “Bridge Over Troubled Water” has been used. Lots. Plenty. Sufficient.

The strength, cohesion, and quality of a unit can be no better illustrated than in the human bridge Pride of Cincinnati built. A bridge that instantly erased memories of other versions; a bridge from which the dazzling talent leapt; a bridge that spanned the range of performance styles that the three-time Independent World champions have utilized throughout its now legendary history.


SWEET 16


CENTER GROVE HIGH SCHOOL
The full ranges of talents that populate the color guard world have often been used for spectacular effect. No more so than Center Grove’s bronze medal performance, using both designs and soundtrack by a prominent figure in the activity.

“Gold Doesn’t Stay” was an intricate, fragile, meticulous, and exposed program of ultimate taste and training: two words often used when discussing the three-time Scholastic World champions.

Intimate, rather than showy; controlled, rather than broad brush; this was as exquisite as color guard gets.


CHINO HIGH SCHOOL
I am a fool for Chino High School! With bias and spoilers revealed: really, what’s not to just get giddy about when watching this smart, clever California unit? “Bollywood” could have been an extravagance of visual tomfoolery -- just as its 2007 Sweet 16 “Volver” could have been.

But nooooooooooo …. The thinking folks here infuse the students’ performance with the theme, optioning that the best way to get it across to the audience is through solid color guard. And they did.

In ways both large and small, in the grand gesture and in the tiniest of detailing, the splendor and the allure of Bollywood were right there in front of us. Good entertainment, good guard.


CHOCTAWHATCHEE HIGH SCHOOL
Listen to me: the renowned Choctawhatchee blasted open design possibilities with its gorgeously-staged, and cable-ready, “Listen.” Music and dialogue from the movie, “Autumn Rush.”

With the most beautiful women on any floor this year (Almost looked like the Miss Florida Pageant) and a most confident performance in every aspect of competition, the show was first-rate. It was the seamless incorporation of a dance troupe into the mix that previewed potential.

And future potential is always in vogue.


CORONA
I opened the week by suggesting that some of the best productions and performances this year felt organic; they seemed to reflect the root-nature of the organization, of the personnel, of the brand. No where was this notion more apparent than in Corona’s “It Is Well with My Soul.”

The grand statement, mass appeal, and an “alter-call” of a finale, are part and parcel of the performance and design trajectory with the California guard and its leadership. At once, this revival was grounded in experience while feeling as fresh as the performers.


DIAMANTE
This splendid silver medalist requiem moved to my personal “On Demand” DVD for one piercing reason: carriage. When a first view of a show compels notice of body posture, positioning, and carriage, then you know that the training and discipline run deep.

Resplendent costuming and grooming made the need for proper carriage obligatory. And so it was, even in the ethereal lightness of being that permeated.


FIRST FLIGHT
What a handsome multi-ethnic cast populated this accomplished North Carolina guard, and what superior training showed in First Flight’s seemingly effortless “Waiting for My Real Life to Begin.”

Choices and their realization are the bedrock decisions facing every unit, every year. When this group opted for nimble agility over heavy-handed showiness, the training must have been intensive. The result was a topnotch product delivered by a soon-to-be world class unit.


INTERPLAY
I was transported back in time when I watched the exuberant young people of Interplay; back to a time when there were dance troupes on television, particularly the Peter Gennero and the Ernie Flatt Dancers.

“I Can See Clearly Now” is one of the year’s productions that is ready for its televised close-up (which means, get it on DVD by all means), and that frankly embodied the spirit and goodwill that is at the heart of the independent half of the activity.

Everything about this glorious production shone, but in the end it was the performers, with their dance troupe approach, that were winning in every way!


RANCHO BERNARDO HIGH SCHOOL
Sigh … all I could think about as I watched this tender, loving hug the first time (gator tears streaming down my face), were last fall’s fires in California and the repeated mentions on cable news of Rancho Bernardo High School in their proximity. And the design choices that could have been made here.

Every year these gifted high school students perform “as one,” bringing the audience into their unique worlds, also I think, “as one.” As one, everyone smiled. And sighed.


TOP 32


BLESSED SACRAMENT
Hypnotic is surely what color guard’s living history brings to the floor in its annual impression. Like this year. What a kick, really; “… and what comes after four?” In Sac’s spell, everything is possible. Best part? We remember it all.  E v e r y   s i n g l e   m o v e .


CROATAN
It is a smidge disingenuous to mention, and honor, every unit in every classification that bought “The Croatan Approach” (frankly turning it into a cottage industry with the activity), and to then ignore the creator and founder itself.

Still stunning in its approach, still exquisite in its execution, all thanks to the North Carolina unit. And welcome back here. I love you forever :-)


JUXTAPOSITION
An overarching generosity of design, of performance, and of spirit surrounded the “Kinetic Energy” of Juxtaposition. Generosity, you ask? I was pleasantly surprised, and delighted, by the way the unit showcased its spotlight twirler; he, a surprise himself in playing against type. So you have this championship caliber twirler; a strapping, tall, corn-fed Midwestern fellow, whose talents are stirred into the design mix, rather than hollering for spotlight attention. In fact, during his most soaring sequence, it was the flag work of the guard itself that ultimately soared.


LAPORTE HIGH SCHOOL
When a scholastic unit in the first classification smoothly achieves “triad,” that’s a portrait for success. That was the triumph that this Indiana unit had within “These Old Walls.” Solid training elicited wonderful technique, velocity added emphasis to the story-song, and the emotional layering of bringing the house, and family, back to life nailed it.


MARK OF NSA
Light, frothy, fun … gibberish. From urban Nashville, this was as much ephemeral color guard pleasure as I had all weekend. Bright, rhythmic, percussive, hip-hop scat singing was the audio backdrop for some serious color guard that was presented for pure diversion.


MIAMISBURG HIGH SCHOOL
… bringing bombast back! It was roots color guard for the two-time inveterate Scholastic World champion, and what a bell-ringing cacophony it was. Let me count the one thousand eight hundred and twelve ways.


MISSION VIEJO HIGH SCHOOL
Thoughtful: a considered approach. “Between the Words,” as staged by this California guard, epitomized just the kind of thoughtful design and performance that leads a unit to finalist status, and, well … on this list. Almost every time. It was also a fine student of the aforementioned “Croatan Approach.”


NORTHMONT HIGH SCHOOL
This was some mighty good color guard, ladies and gentlemen. But forgive me if I confess that I snickered a few times during the performance. I fear it was because the young ladies were so darned accomplished that my mind wandered … and conjured this scenario: It was really all a season of “The Bachelor,” as played on MTV. All of the women in contention for his attention were in on the joke; the joke being, all of the women would scorn him! And in the end, they did.


NORTHVIEW HIGH SCHOOL
This was the finest, and most visually satisfying effort ever brought to the floor by this quality Indiana program. On paper, this might have simply been a paint-by-numbers, achieve the elements program, but the performers were so mature, and the design approach was so measured, that “The Ripple Effect” rushed forward in overlapping waves of class. Fairly stunning, really.


ODESSA HIGH SCHOOL
Presenting a classic interpretation of Bach’s “Fugue in G Minor,” this Missouri high school unit was memorable for its face-forward performance. Confidence abounded; surety trumped. Attractive, well executed, promising color guard.


ONYX
Hometown unit Onyx, while always ambient, turned down the lights, upped the mystery, and transported itself somewhere in time, to a has-been circus on the verge of closing, for its most ambitious atmospheric trapeze act ever.

This was dark victory, indeed, with dazzling tricks supplanted by a shroud of doom. If it all sounds too downbeat, that was the point. And in that very point, came the success of this edition.


POPE HIGH SCHOOL
What a novel concept, theme, and visual approach this Georgia high school developed to illustrate the plight of immigrants in America. Unexpected at every turn, satisfying in equal measure, it was the cumulative effect of the performance that became so moving, so emotionally gratifying.


THE TURROCK ACADEMY
All of the international entries this year were very good, but for me the Sussex, England’s processional proved most interesting. The 12 members were outfitted in appropriate regalia, but the subsequent “march past” captivated as it was, by turn, exacting … deft … regal … sly … even playful. Jolly good show!


USURPATION
In the category of best new guard, I’ll move this independent Indiana unit to the front of the line. This was a big, big talent in a small package. There were no fears in this “New Beginning,” just a pathway for achievement and personal victory that showed in Usurpation’s every move. Congratulations on a most fulfilling beginning of your history.


WARREN CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL
Fulfilling on its every “Promise,” Indianapolis’ Warren Central left behind a fulsome heart and a four-song plaintiveness in its program based on music from Aaron Copland’s opera, “The Tender Land.” Of particular note was the visualization of the contrapuntal rhythms of note singing in the Shaker tradition.


ZYDECO
In its second year, Zydeco has achieved as much as many units could dream for a lifetime of performance. And it has done so by, among other things, managing expectation. The championship hometown guard burst onto the scene last year and captured its class’ silver medal. When it was promoted to the Independent World Class for this season, all bets were off, it would seem.

Seemingly undaunted, the unit released its show title and theme early: a memorial tribute to Flight 93, the United Airlines flight that crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11. Expectation collided with unseen perception, there was palpable anticipation. The guard delivered.

The show, and its reverential homage, resonated with audiences, and lifted the unit into the top 10. For me, the beauty of the venture came in retrospect; by thinking backwards through the emotional tribute, and through the events of the day, events that every American now knows in historic detail. “ … look up at the clear blue sky.”