Colorguard Magazine

“Is that the flags with the band?”

What exactly is colorguard?

Why should I join?

What benefits do I get out of

this?

For more information go to

www.colorguardmagazine.com

Colorguard

Table of Content

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Editors Note............................

History of Colorguard...........

Present Day Colorguard.......

Winterguard.........................

Equipment............................

A Story from the Editor......

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4

6

8

10

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This Magazine was made possible by The Shenendehowa Colorguard

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Editors Note...Hello. My name is Aman-da. The started out as just a dream of the future. I want to pursue a techno-logical career. Then came this amazing opportunity to create a magazine on something else I love, Col-orguard.

I have always been into working with design and technology. It has always been a part of me.

In a total of six weeks Mary Rufo and I, with the help of Lori Cullen, have created this Colorguard magazine. will help readers understand what Colorguard is really about.

I would first like to thank my family. They have al-ways supported me. I would also like to thank my friends for never doubting me. I would also like to thank Jim Rufo for getting me into this amazing class. Last-ly, I would most defi-nitely like to thank our teacher Lori Cullen for helping, teaching, and guiding us through the way. would not be

here if it weren’t for everyone’s help and support. Thank you.

Amanda Wareing

Mary Rufo

Hello! My name is Mary Rufo. I am 12 years old. I attend Gowana Middle Scholl which is a part of the Shenendehowa Cen-tral School District. I have lived in Clifton Park, N.Y. all my life. 3 years ago I joined a program called col-orguard. It’s a tough sport to explain but it is a combination of flags, weapon and dance. A lot of peo-ple think we perform with a band but that’s not true. Hopefully, by reading this magazine made by my friend Amanda Wareing and I you will have a bet-ter understanding og what colorguard re-ally is. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my parents, friends, and teachers for all the support and everything they have taught me.

History of Colorguard

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How did it Start?

Colorguard dates back to the war timesOriginally, a military color guard often traveled with a band, who would play a patri-otic song. This use continued into the civilian marching bands, and to-day, a marching band’s color guard are usual-ly found carry-ing equipment descended from those of military color guard: flags, banners, mock wooden or plastic rifles, or plastic or metal sabres. Modern guards do use real

sabres as well, but without the sharpened point. During the 1950s and 1960s, much of the impetus for the evolution of the modern color guard came from the arena of competi-tive drum and bugle corps. Pioneers from these corps traveled to other areas of the country to teach, introducing color guards to more tradition-al bands. The band directors at the University of Memphis

(Memphis State), Dr. Tom Fergu-son and Art Theil, recruited music major Sam Shaw to start one of the first collegiate

color guards in the South, the “Bengal Lancers” in 1974. Di-rector of Bands at Northwest-ern University, John Paynter, was also one of the first to add a color guard to the Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_guard_(flag_spin-

ning)#Winterguard

marching band when he hired Bugle Corp specialist George

Parks in 1976. Con-sequently, color guards spread quick-ly through-out the country. The visual effect of spinning and shaking

flags drew the attention of crowds and quickly caught on. Having visual impact for piec-es played when the band stood still added a whole new dimen-

sion to the performance. By the late 1970s and into the mid-1980s color guards had been added to most Big Ten and Big 8 (Currently Big 12) bands. Once these prominent university bands had color guards, there was widespread inclusion of guards at high schools across the nation in the 1980s and 1990s. The popularity of color guard has grown such that winter guard has gained widespread mem-bership and attention.

History of Colorguard

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To contact Mary Rufo, email her at: maryrufo@colorguardmagazine.com

Present Day Colorguard

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What is it Now?

How it is different from Military times

Modern color guard has evolved over the years into a

form of entertainment similar to dance theater. Color guard can be found in most Ameri-can colleges, universities, high schools, middle schools, and independent drum corps. Color guard uses props, along with

movement, to express dy-namic passages in the music accompanying the marching band show. A color guard is traditionally the visual repre-sentation of the music. Mod-ern color guards use flags, sabres, rifles, swing flags, airblades, and other pieces of equipment pertaining to the

music, as well as a mix of bal-let, jazz, modern, and contem-porary modern dance. Usually marching bands and color guards perform during foot-ball games at halftime, out of tradition.

Present Day Colorguard

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You may have seen a color guard perform at the local high school football game or march down the road at the 4th of July pa-rade. These performers are highly skilled spinners, dancers and entertainers. But where did modern color guard start? Today, color guards range in size from one member to over fifty members. Most members have dance, gym-nastic or musical background. Color Guard is popular in high school bands and well as college groups. Younger members will dance and spin flag only. As their skill becomes more advanced they will move onto learning the rifle and sabre. Baton twirl-ers usually begin at a young age and are more likely to be found with a collegiate band. Color Guard has become so popular the sport has expanded into Winter Guard. Winter Guard performs

on a gym floor using a tarp to cover. Winter Guard groups can do advanced tosses that might be too risky to do in the ele-ments. Modern color guard has evolved over the years into a form of dance theater that uses props along with movement to express dynamic passages in the music accompanying the show. Modern color guards use flags, sabers, rifles, and occasionally other equipment, as well as a mix of ballet, jazz, modern, and con-temporary modern dance. Col-orguards can be found in most colleges, universities, high schools, and middle schools.

Sources: http://www.infobarrel.com/The_Histo-ry_of_Modern_Color_Guard

http://larrymccrobie.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/colorguard-and-its-history-what-is-colorguard/

To contact Mary Rufo, email her at: maryrufo@colorguardmagazine.com

Winterguard

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Colorguards Compete

Competition Mode begins in the WinterWinter guard is similar to out-door col-or guard (marched with a drum corps or marching band), ex-cept the per-formances are indoors on gymna-sium floors through the winter season. The traditional marching band mu-sic heard during fall season is replaced with a recording of var-

ious musical genres. The gym-nasium floor typically is covered by an individually designed tarp (called a floor mat or floor by members) that generally reflects the show being performed on it. The members may perform bare-foot, but wearing jazz shoes or modern dance shoes is also com-

mon. There are several winter guard circuits for participat-ing in compe-titions during indoor season, including TIA (Tournament Indoor Asso-ciation), WGI (Winter Guard Internation-al), and many

more. Winterguard is similar to outdoor colorguard (marched with a drum corps or marching band), except the performances are indoors on gymnasium

Winterguard

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floors through the winter sea-son. The traditional marching band seen during fall season is replaced with a recording of var-

ious musical genres. The gymnasium

floor typically is covered by

an individual-ly designed tarp (called a floor by members),

one that generally reflects the show

being performed on it. The mem-

bers often perform barefoot, but wearing jazz shoes or mod-ern dance shoes is also a com-mon practice.

Current Classes in MYCGC

Novice

Elementary Regional A (ERA)

Cadet

Scholastic Regional A (SRA)

Independent Regional A (IRA)

Scholastic A-3 (SA3)

Scholastic A-2 (SA2)

Scholastic A-1 (SA1)

Independent A (IA)

Scholastic Open (SO)

Independent Open (IO)

Scholastic World (SW)

Independent World (IW)To contact Mary Rufo, email her at: maryrufo@colorguardmagazine.com

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_guard_(flag_spinning)#Winterguard

Equipment

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Equipment and its uses

How equipment is being used

What makes color guard, color guard? The equip-ment of course! Flags, Rifles, and Sabers are just some of the basic equipment that color guard uses. Flags are usu-ally colorful representa-tions of the music being selected. The way that we tell a story through music deals with move-ment and color. Flags come in many shapes, sizes, and variety of de-

signs. There are great websites that can show you different flag designs, and who knows? Maybe you can design your own. Weapons, which include, but are not limited to ri-fles and sabers, usually portray a faster-paced part of a musical piece, but not always. Think about weapons being powerful instruments, maybe use them during a drum break or drum solo. Other props can be used to enhance a theme or idea in any show. And backdrops and floors can make a “messy” perfor-mance area look clean and pleasing to the eye.

Flag

Equipment

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To contact Mary Rufo, email her at: maryrufo@colorguardmagazine.com

Saber

Riffle

appear-ances at football halftime shows, parades, and fund-

raisers as well as our winter guard

competitions. My first win-ter guard show was about the Spanish. Our show in-corporated Spanish dances like the Tango. We dressed in a white long-sleeved shirt

and black pants with a pink sash and a black and silver choker. Our hair was in a French braid off to the side.

A Story From the Editor

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My Colorguard Experience

Hear a story about what colorguard is like for people in the program

By Mary Rufo

I started color guard when I was going into 6th grade. I loved to see all the flags spinning in sync. My first winter guard was exciting. I had never competed be-fore in from of such a large crowd. My first winter guard appearance was in 5th grade when I did exhibition. I started competing when I officially joined color guard. Our color guard makes

Our make-up was most-ly eye make-up with black eyeliner and silver and pink eyeshadow. The tarp for our show was white and pink with a brown acoustic gui-tar. We finished in the Mid-York Colorguard Circuit in

First Place. The following year our guard moved up a

class to SRA. We were com-peting against Junior Var-sity guard. Our first show

as a SRA guard was called “Celtic

Pride”. The show takes place in a time where the English wanted to take over all this land and the Scottish want-ed to fight back. The mood in the beginning of the show was very grave and somber since we were forced to work for the English. Halfway through the show the Scot-tish does not want to put

A Story From the Editor

13

A Story From the Editor

14

with the English so we start fighting back. The music starts to pick of pace and the moves start getting quicker. Our tarp this season has differ-ent shades of brown divided by thin white lines. The front and back of the tarp is a very light brown. The next layer in is a bit deeper of a brown and right in the middle is a very heavy and dark brown. This year our team dressed in a black leotard with black ca-

pris and a brown short sleeved shirt that tied in the back.

Our hair was in many braids pinned all over the place. Our

make-up was a pale colored

lipstick with white lip liner. Our eye make-up was black-eyeliner with small wings. We were up a lot more guards than we were the year before so we knew the competition was going to be a lot harder. After all our long practices and hard work my team came in 2nd out of 7 guards. This organization looks great on a college ap-plication. I’m happy I joined colorguard because it is an experience of a lifetime.

A Story From the Editor

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Meet the WriterMary Rufo is a citizen of Clifton Park, New York. Born September 18th 2000 Mary is now almost 13. She attends Gowana Middle School, which is a part of the Shenende-howa Central School District. In September 2013 she will be going into eight grade. She has been apart of the Shenendehowa Colorguard for three years. She would like to con-tinue doing colorguard for the rest of her middle school and high school career. She would like to thank her parents and teachers for everything

they have taught me.

Want to join colorguard?

Learn how to by going to

To contact Mary Rufo, email her at: maryrufo@colorguardmagazine.com

www.colorguardmagazine.com/getinvolved

And click “Apply”

Thank you for reading!