Winter guard starts off season

Winter break ended early for members of the Winter Guard members arrived at school on Jan. 7 ready to practice and head to the first performance of the season. The Winter Guard performed a show entitled “Juxtaposed” at the California Color Guard Circuit (CCGC) Evaluation Show held at James Logan High School.

This year’s show is set to a mix of “Orinoco Flow” by Enya and a more upbeat track. Used to reflect the juxtaposition of such different songs, 20 rotating props with black on one side and white on the other are an integral part of the performance.

“The new props make our show interesting,” junior winter guard member Sarah Menard said, “but avoiding hitting them with equipment during the show can be hard for some people in guard.”

Though Winter Guards performing at the evaluation show did not receive places, judges provided feedback regarding the content of the show and if each unit self-selected the the correct division in which to compete. According to Menard, most Winter Guards performed only a portion of their shows and wore all black clothes, since they had not yet finished learning their shows and ordering uniforms.

“We only performed about two minutes of the show,” Menard said, “but by the end of the season it will be about twice that length.”

Because the evaluation show was held during the last weekend of winter break, several Winter Guard members were on vacation during the practices leading up to the performance, as well as the performance itself. Kelly Liu, a Color Guard member not participating in Winter Guard this year, knows how difficult planning and performing can be when members are absent and agreed to temporarily fill sophomore Kristy Lin’s spot.

“I was hesitant [about performing] at first because I haven’t stretched or tossed or done anything guard-related since marching band championships,” Liu said. “But I’m glad I took the leap to learn half the show and perform it in less than 24 hours because when I showed up to practice, it was like coming home.”

Winter Guard members were satisfied with their performance at the evaluation show, but know that more work lies ahead.

“We still have a large chunk of our show to learn,” Menard said, “but I hope that if we keep working hard, our next competitions will go as well as our evals performance.”

The Winter Guard will next perform in the San Joaquin Valley Color Guard and Percussion Review competition at Clovis North High School on Feb. 10 and the Winter Guard International Power Regional in Ceres on Feb. 11.