Field and Floor

The most wonderful score of the year

... begins here. The buzz has begun!

Pondering legacy: Do you know color guard?

Fan Network rebooted for 2010: check.
Tickets ordered: check.
Smell of vinyl wafting: close at hand.
Earplugs secured (those darned tinny and too-loud sound systems): three pairs.
Legacy season: on the cusp?

Each chronological volume of the sport of the arts articulates, defines, and expands the activity. Whether through quality, experimentation, innovation, or idiomatic underscore, each year is an encyclopedic, and historic, reference for the ages. Which made me wonder: what might the 2010 color guard search engine "Google" for posterity?

Competition television "dance" is the result of the moment. While genuine dance training as part of the performance repertoire is long overdue, has the activity recapitulated to the genre, to this argueable celebrity-of-the-moment ratings grabber?

40 reasons to be thinking "winter guard" right now

Ars Nova, First Flight, Interplay, Juxtaposition, North by Northwest, Opus 10, Rhapsody WG, Gates Chili HS, Legacy HS, Marian Catholic HS, Mechanicsburg HS, Pope HS, South Brunswick HS, Americas Independent, Aureus Independent, Central Independent, Elizabethtown Independent Winter Guard, FIU Performance Ensemble, Identity, O2, River City Independent, Salem Blue, Southeast Independent, State of Art, Usurpation, Americas HS, Byrnes HS, Croatan HS, DeSoto HS, Francis Howell North HS, Friendswood HS, Greenfield-Central HS, Homestead HS, Kokomo HS, Lyman HS, Mansfield HS, North Syracuse Central HS, Passaic HS, Plymouth-Canton HS, Spanish River HS ... were promoted today!

Performer's Choice

In support of WGI's mission and vision

As laudable a venture as is Winter Guard International's "Spin for a Cure," it has perplexed me. Of course, WGI Sports of the Arts is a non-profit organization. That status is reflected multiple times on its website, including in the Mission and General Information link. But exactly there is where I become perplexed.

Under the DID YOU KNOW section are these three items:
-- WGI's educational materials serve as the curriculum in many schools that have classes in equipment and movement.
-- WGI awards over $20,000 in scholarships annually to students from competing units.
--More than 600 volunteers administer the circuits and staff the Regional and International contests.

Pure non-profit activities, each of these. Laudable. And well within this description of non-profits: "A nonprofit organization (abbreviated NPO, also not-for-profit) is an organization that does not distribute its surplus funds to owners or shareholders, but instead uses them to help pursue its goals. Examples of NPOs include charities, trade unions, and public arts organizations."

My state of perplexion comes in what I view as a discrepancy between awarding "over $20,000 in scholarships annually to students," with presenting a $22,000 check to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Shouldn't the organization be raising money only for itself, for its' own mission-based educational, scholastic, and volunteer efforts? Towards its vision of the future of its activities?

Full disclosure: I lead the marketing efforts for a non-profit; in fact I have worked in the not-for-profit world for a quarter century, providing support, direction, and oversight of fund-raising campaigns as part of those efforts. It is imperative that I underscore my organization's status at every turn.

"We serve our community, and we ask the community to help us help our friends, neighbors, and colleagues through annual giving, through capital campaigns, and through special event participation," is my well-worn, and used, mantra.

I've had this nudge to the ribs for some time, but it all came to a head when I read in this morning's New York Times about The New York City Ballet's annual "Dancer's Choice" evening.

" ... new last year, (it) is becoming an annual event, a friendly and not-too-formal gala and a special offering for those who love and know the company. Crucially, it also raises money for the company’s Dancers’ Emergency Fund."

Hmm; a template, perhaps, for WGI?

I have envisioned its every detail, daunting though they would be to implement. In simplistic form, such an event to raise money for the activity, would take place early during World Championship week, and would combine the notion of DCI'S Individual and Ensemble day with the Mia Michaels' workshop, via a night of entertainment. It would be an enormous group hug, and salute, all while raising money for the performers, for the organization, and even for (from time to time) special projects.

WGI, in all of its artistic states, deserves it. Certainly as much as does any other non-profit, intent on spreading is mission and vision, and dedicated to its own processes of financial development and support.

Besides: I'd love for the performers to write the program!

A buck a guard

Some flag-waving for sure; this time you win!

 
And at $1 per finalist, medalist, AND champion, what's not to like!
ORDER NOW!

TOP OF THE WORLD!

For the best of color guard's best -- finalists, medalists, and World Champions -- the Spring issue of Winter Guard International's FOCUS is a must-see, must-read keepsake!

The issue is on its way to you now; in the meantime, read it online here! The recap begins on page 20.

The photography is stunning!
The words: mine.

(Thanks, always, to WGI for the chance to encapsulate the season's penultimate event.)

Down with this

Throwing it your way:

(From the release) Go deep inside the intense world of Elite Drum Corps. This unusual feature length, (88 minutes), documentary from JEM Films is emotional, painful, funny, and soaring in its celebration of the human spirit. You don’t have to be a fan of “The Bluecoats” to catch the excitement. What price will you pay to make your dreams come true…

See it this week: At The Connecticut Film Festival Thursday Night June 4, 8:30 Danbury Town Hall 3rd Floor 155 Deer Hill Avenue Downtown Danbury, Connecticut

 

Dear WGI,

Before I roll up the tan FLOOR for the year -- the grass turns green here tomorrow; FIELD is on its way -- here's some proposals of my own. I know you have already voted on those that affect the units; these fall more on the business side of the organization.

Fan Network is my favorite online channel. More than Hulu, more than YouTube (certainly), this destination has so much potential, it makes me ache. I know that you don't own it, so I presume that the WGI tab is the only one you can affect, but here is where you can make wgi.org a must-click every single day!

THE BEST COLOR GUARDS OF THE DECADE

CLASSIFIED

The class of the classes this decade: for me, for you (couldn't resist :-)

THE BEST COLOR GUARDS OF THE DECADE 2000-2009

THE TOP 5

To your list of seminal color guard performances each decade ...

Erte' Productions' "Putting It Together," __________YOUR'S__________, Union High School's "Mannequin," Phantom Regiment's "Pictures at an Exhibition," __________YOUR'S__________, Center Grove High School's first-ever Scholastic championship, The Cavaliers' three-peat, __________YOUR'S__________, Choctawhatchee High School's "Velveteen Rabbit," Odyssey's "Carousel of Fools," Miamiburg High School's "Candle in the Wind," State Street Review's "Salsa," Blessed Sacrament's Gordon Lightfoot, __________YOUR'S__________ ...

please add these five from 2000-2009:

BEST COLOR GUARDS OF THE DECADE: 10-6

SETTING INDUSTRY STANDARDS

These are the unfathomable ... until we see them; they are the unreachable ... until a Quixotic thought becomes real. Today, here are the first five shows of this first decade of the 21st century that for me set industry standards.

Fathom these five.

BEST COLOR GUARDS OF THE DECADE: 20-11

LEADING EDGE

Much was revealed last night, on the daring fall preview/premiere of Fox Television's deliciously sardonic, yet affirming, "Glee." It's not what you do that makes the difference, it's what you do with what you have.

What a lineage this show has: "To Sir, With Love," "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," "Room 222," "Welcome Back, Kotter," "Fame," and of course "High School Musical," were whirred together by the producers -- of "Nip/Tuck," GET OUT -- with ample doses of Christopher Guest's mockumentary comedy style, "Arrested Development," and even the inversion of "Friday Night Lights."

Leading edge stuff, this.

Same on winter floors each year; units take the best the idiom has to offer and whirr them together with ... to make great, satisfying, leading edge stuff.

This. Over the past decade.

BEST COLOR GUARDS OF THE DECADE: 35-21

SIGNATURE SHOWS

Do you remember when NAME OF GUARD did "NAME OF SHOW?"

How many times have we asked, or been asked, just that, about any number of our favorite color guards? For me, over the decade, these 15 shows answered the question ... autograph attached.

BEST COLOR GUARDS OF THE DECADE: 50-36

SIGNATURE PERFORMANCES

Is there a designated point in time at which it can be determined that a color guard performance or show becomes leading edge or an industry standard? Is it early, or is it late in a decade?

The answer is an easy one: the time comes when the total impact is so unequivocal that one returns over and again to the source. For the sake of this decade retrospective, everlasting came early and evergreen sprouted this very season just completed.

Day 1 offers numbers 50-36, the 15 shows that from this view represented Signature Performances from the units. When you say the guard's name, here are the shows that will likely come to mind as superior performances.

We kick off the week at the end ... of the road.

BEST FLOOR OF THE DECADE

All next week. Right here. Field&Floor's top 50.

Conservatively, there have been 3000 color guards that have competed in Winter Guard International World Championships over the past ten years. Conservatively, I watched just over half of them, some 1800.

I've parsed guards, I've grouped guards, I've rated guards, I've ranked guards, and I've written extensively about those guards.

Earlier this month I posted the second half of the decade's best, while referencing the group from the first half.

Decade's done; time to take the long view and to review Field&Floor's Top 50 color guards from 2000-2009. No better time to do it than next week, leading into the big Memorial Day weekend, and summer, and that FIELD season that is fast approaching!

Join me, right here, for the six-day recitative:
-- Monday, May 18: The decade's 15 SIGNATURE PERFORMANCES, numbers 50-36;
-- Tuesday, May 19: The decade's 15 SIGNATURE SHOWS, numbers 35-21;
-- Wednesday, May 20: The decade's 10 LEADING EDGE units, numbers 20-11;
-- Thursday, May 21: Numbers 10-6, SETTING INDUSTRY STANDARDS;
-- Friday, May 22: Field&Floor's Top 5 color guards from 2000-2009; and then
-- Saturday, May 23: a first here -- and a once-in-a-decade ranking -- Field&Floor's Top 5 color guards of 2000-2009, BY CLASS! Yes, I will acquiesce to time and give every class its individual due.

Love it. Hate it. Disagree intensely. But read it; it's been a marvelous ten years in the activity. On that, I think we all agree.

2006-2009: the rest of the decade’s best color guard

The decade in color guard is complete, and calls for how to move into the pre-and-teen years of the century are already being discussed. Before I move ahead, let me offer the second half of what I began in 2005.

What have been the Top 32 (as is my presentation mode) color guard shows of this half decade? Which shows made the cut of 32 as "signature performances," then which 16 were of "signature show" quality? It would seem that an Elite 8 at this juncture would have to be performances and shows that display a "leading edge," and the Final Four, with a runner-up and winner, would "set industry standards."

Terrific stuff … with even more to come. Before May’s done, and before I more to the green, green grass of FIELD here, the best color guard of the decade … from this view.

The list will bring you to your knees in appreciation. Did me.

Top 32: Signature Performances
Aimachi, “My Heart and I,” 2007
Ars Nova, “It's About Time,” 2006
Avon High School, “Release,” 2009
Center Grove High School, “1000 Words,” 2006
Chino High School, “Bollywood,” 2008
Code Black, 2007
In Motion, “Wild Horses,” 2006
Kokomo High School, “Sposa son Disprezzata,” 2009
Marian Catholic High School, “Fallen,” 2009
Northeast Independent, “Quietus,” 2008
Onyx, “At Arm’s Length,” 2009
Rancho Bernardo High School, “Smile,” 2008
Santa Clara Vanguard, “On A Breath,” 2008
San Jose Raiders, “In War Time,” 2007
Flanagan High School, “Crash,” 2006
Zydeco, “An Evening’s Stillness,” 2009

Sweet 16: Signature Shows
Alter Ego, “Footprints of Angels,” 2008
No television network, no cable news outlet, no website, song, poem, nor documentary will capture the essence of emotion that lingers from the events of 9/11 more eloquently.

Avon High School, “A-MUSE-ing,” 2006
This intense Indiana guard proved once and for all that comedy is king! This vehicle, turning color guard on its head while showcasing the art in its highest form, was a miracle in the activity! It was an amazing performance of a history-making show.

Braddock Independent, “We Do It To Ourselves,” 2009
Iconoclasts; Braddock Independent has always been a color guard image breaker. “We Do It to Ourselves” cemented the role and moved the needle.

Choctawhatchee High School, “The Carnival Is Over,” 2007
If color guard was motion pictures, “The Carnival is Over” would be categorized as a costume drama. From the picturesque French photograph floor, to the richly-detailed costumes; this was the season’s Oscar-winning design. As for the drama: ahhhh … carousel imagery that came to life.

Corona, “A Case of You,” 2009
Here’s a unit that is anchored in the activity’s history, but that has innovated and left its own mark along the way. Connecting its vast dance repertoire with dizzying acts of color guard acrobatics held audiences rapt with giddy adoration.

Flanagan High School, “Post Secret,” 2008
This Florida sensation put all of its secrets plainly on the floor, with the most overwhelming edition of its trademark ensemble and equipment skills. What we have here is color guard’s Google: young, renegade entrepreneurial types, intent on changing the world.

Interplay, “I Can See Clearly Now,” 2008
Ready for its televised close-up and embodying the spirit and goodwill that is at the heart of the independent half of the activity; everything about this glorious production shone. In the end it was the performers, with their dance troupe approach, that were winning in every way!

Northern Lights, “Imagine,” 2006
Masters of atmosphere, this Oregon guard mined perfect material for its male casts, and then cast spells over arenas to forge its own stamp on the activity. In this set-in-the-clouds prayer, the performers were showcased individually, then in ensembles, before reaching for those sky blue rifles to perform as, and to plead for the world to be as ... one.

SECOND THOUGHTS; so just who does have talent?

Sigh.

I am just as excited, and prematurely tired, I fear, of the Susan Boyle project. Yes, the story and sudden celebrity of the frumpy Scottish housewife who was given one whale of a gift of voice, and who electrified -- tired of that word, too -- "Britain's Got Talent" two weeks ago (really, it was only two weeks ago?) just might end up, as do similar such ventures -- remember Wales firefighter Paul Potts and his booming operatic voice and his 15 minutes last year? -- more as cautionary tale than career-changing enterprise. (Clearly, it has already changed her life.)

I hope her late May appearance on the competition program can somehow (as ever unlikely as this is) relate as singularly emotionally to the audience as did her "big surprise" unveiling.

But what her story reminds me, is that we have, every season, on both field and floor, the same rags-to-riches, perception versus reality, performances. Just as I experienced time and time again this color guard season just passed.

Here's the real kick to attending preliminary regional and world championship competitions; beginning to end. So the line-up of tarps, poles, wood, plastic, mascara, couture, and mp3s rolls out in those delightfully idiosyncratic 8-10 minute intervals; body body body solo saber layer layer layer big general effect moment, you know. One after the other. Blue floor after blue floor, ballad after ballad, bauble after bauble. It's what it is, and that's what we love about color guard.

Right? Anyway: so here comes class unit number 17, you count the number of performers, you size up the "color palate," you "guess" the theme, and you "sigh." Quickly, you glance at the line-up to see which unit is up next.

"You may enter the floor," cue the music, and ... and ... and ... the group is good. No, really good. Hey! You quickly glance at the line-up to remind yourself who this is. I like it! Yeah, yeah; I really like it! But you do, because it breaks through the middle (of the) class, it is smartly designed, well trained, and best of all, wonderfully executed by the performers!

Your private snide derision is turned on ear, and you smile, indeed applaud enthusiastically, ala Ms. Boyle; you have been won over by what appeared at the outset as milquetoast.

Beware those trappings and sensibilities: they can be turned on ear just like that!

I think that more of Field&Floor's Top 32 fell into that category for me this year than in some time. In fact, there is one such unit that readily comes to mind -- Ahh, the pleasure -- that kept moving up and up, until it plopped itself right down into the Elite 8 here. Who knew ... other than the good folks and young people who worked so diligently to make a wonderful reality for themselves.

And never mind if the success proves as fleeting as likely will Ms. Boyle's; one favorite color guard of (my) all time was the scholastic conglomerate one-hit wonder called Special Edition.

Cue your videos.

ON SECOND THOUGHTS

Like the rest of the world, my mood was boosted in the past 18 hours by the remarkable clip from "Britain's Got Talent," and Susan Boyle, the 47-year-old Scottish housewife, who rocked the house with the unlikely/inevitable "I Dream a Dream." Just goes to show us all that book covers are not always the best way to judge.

Just like the wonderful color guard season just passed. (Hope our percussion colleagues are having a dynamite weekend now!) Economy's down, fewer units show up, seems that generica was just settling in on the creativity meter, and then everyone shows up in Dayton for what has become, quite literally, THE BIG DANCE(off).

Performing chops were smacking to unravel tarps and get to it. From entrants, to competitors, to finalists, medalists, and winners, across all six classes, the right stuff kicked in at the right time. Get off the floor, Lil Kim; Adam, wipe off that mascara: the competition had arrived!

With a couple of weeks to ponder further, some second thoughts on the 2009 campaign.

Hottest single area of competition, for me, was in uniforms/costumes. Really, a competition-style show on Fan Network featuring challenges to the variety of costumiers would be instructive, fun, and like a knife in the back. Twisted.

Costumes were, as Simon said about Susan Boyle: "I knew the minute you walked out on stage, that this was going to be something exceptional." Dressing was: both for the good -- sleek, body-enhancing designs -- and for the ... well -- body-embracing designs. One of the most wonderful parts of color guard is its access to us all: size zeroes to 4X. Remember that.

Tarps; or as I lovingly call them here as title: floors, were remarkable this year. From Avon High School's "no-floor-floor," all the way to Aimachi's dense, depth-of-field, symbolic design, floors captivated, choreographed, illustrated, and provided canvases on which performances grew. If you could see the equipment and movement. But but ... Aimachi's floor: I couldn't see ANYTHING, you say. Wrong, at least for me. The pyrotechnics were launched so stratospherically, there was no mistaking, nor misreading one single, solitary moment, rifle, or baton.

Sound of: everyone harps on this one every year, including me. The music "vocabulary," to use a word that has universal understanding, is vast; the playlist across the landscape of a season is often not. There were plenty of exceptions, of course: the right choice of a single piece of music, whether classic or folk-pop, was often worth gold. The rarer now dialogue show can still compel when executed as precisely as do the performers. And the sound mix is still a viable option, witness the fan-centric "Wonderful" from Interplay -- May I have a .wv file to play here every year during WGI week, please? -- and the fascinatingly beguiling audio construction of Blessed Sacrament.

People in pageantry attract online jibber-jabber from, well now -- can you believe how much is already out there about next year? -- through the season. My personal count (not that I ever even look at the online discussions *blush*) had Michael Shapiro mentions topping the maven moshing. And for good reason: Mr. Shapiro had himself marvelous back-to-back pageantry seasons, with shows and performances that delighted everyone! Is he in Florida, or England, or maybe he just went on vacation in California. Godspeed, sir, wherever you may, or may not, be headed.

But but but ... my eyes perked, as did my paparazzi tendencies, as I sensed something of a crashing into the "boy band" of noted designers/instructors/hangers-on. Do the names Rosie Queen and Denise Bonfiglio register? Yeppers. Huge seasons for these fine women and their respective units. All congratulations.

And then? And then ... I could yammer about this thing or that: 

2009 color guard season: squared

AVON HIGH SCHOOL NAMED FIELD&FLOOR'S 2009 COLOR GUARD OF THE YEAR

Northeast Independent is Runner-Up for the second time

One-hundred and seven years ago, when German composer Gustav Mahler wrote Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor, the piece served listeners as a respite, a time to reflect and relax after the emotional upheaval of the remainder of the symphony.

Sixty-nine years later, when director Luchino Visconti chose the piece to provide the musical theme for the cinematic masterpiece "Death in Venice," it seemed as if the music was written with this film in mind. Reviewer Dub Taylor noted: "Through beautiful images and music, this film evokes a bygone era and a pace of living we crave in our world of mass media and compression of time. ‘Death in Venice’ returns us to that simpler world, and way of life, most eloquently."

Forty years after the film's release, when Avon High School chose the music to underscore "Release," the result, as in the film and the original composition, was of startling beauty and the aesthetic ... of the color guard idiom.

Two years ago, when the Midwest school questioned the future of the activity, it did so with a landmark performance that garnered the silver medal as well as top honors here at Field&Floor. With "Release," the question is answered, the statement is complete, period ... no, exclamation point: a single, superlative exclamation point.

Rarely, over the course of history, do connections and intent so interweave as has this plaintive, yet soaring melody, with the classic tension/release of the book of a color guard presentation. When it is realized in ways that strip away idiomatic artifice to reveal a respite, an aesthetic, indeed an "answer," then all one need do is enjoy the true happiness that ensues.

Decades from now, when the book of Avon High School color guard is laid open, "Release" will be seen as a bookend of achievement that is seldom achieved. '09 Quintessential Color Guard Inductee

Runner-Up: NORTHEAST INDEPENDENT QGuard

Once I fell for Florida's Northeast Independent, I have proclaimed appreciation for the guard's economy: economy of design, of "trickery," and of effort towards effect.

It has been no better shown than this year. You see, what Academy Award-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler did for "dust," in the 1976 "Bound for Glory," Northeast Independent did for rain in this year's "The Rain before Dawn."

As a way to offer sufficient parallel, hear the words of New Yorkermovie critic Pauline Kael about the film’s look, and then apply them to Field&Floor Runner-Up Northeast Independent. There is "startling graphic vitality in his images, yet they are toned and sensitive. From shot to shot he achieves a consistency of light and texture -- a documentary lyricism. It's so beautiful; you can get a high from the (dust)." Or in this case, from the effects of a dawn shower, in the year's most evocative flag sequence.

In a year of visual “atmospherics,” this two-time Field&Floor Runner-Up and three time Final Four finisher reigned.