What a Color Guard Program Looks Like
February 24, 2023
A sport that is not well-known to the general public is color guard—a mix of dance and equipment. Being a part of a color guard program is tedious but overall worth the work.
What Is Color Guard?
Color guard is a team sport that creates a show to music using dance, flags, fake rifles, and sabres. These shows can happen all year round whether it is with marching bands or by itself in winter. Winter teams involve a choreographed performance on a large mat spanning 4 minutes to 7 minutes depending on their level. These levels include novice, cadet, scholastic regional A, scholastic AAA through A, open class, then world-class. Color guard teams compete at different circuits to earn awards. The season ends with championships in mid-April.
What Happens At Rehearsal?
Rehearsals always start with pulling the floor out and stretching. Stretching helps prevent injury and helps us warm up. It’s also a perfect time to reflect on what you need to work on that day. Next, we do our dance warmup exercises. These can vary from standing in place to across the floor. After our bodies are warmed up, we warm up our hands for a few minutes by spinning our equipment, then we do our equipment warmups. Equipment warmup involves basic skills with the body underneath, such as drop spins, cones, and various tosses. After warmups are complete, we break for lunch.
After lunch, we take time to stretch again and we review the choreography and make any changes that we need. After changes are made, we start chunking the show. This means that we go through long phrases of choreography and repeat them and make changes as needed. Chunking the show takes most of the rehearsal time, spanning from dinner to the end of practice. We perform a show run before practice ends, then we pack up.
Why Participate/Why Do I Do It?
Like any team sport, people join color guard because of curiosity, friends, or advertising. I found that being a part of a guard team is a great way to work out and bond with teammates. Having a commitment and being able to learn new skills is fulfilling. Participating with friends makes the sport fun and enjoyable, which is the main reason why I stay.
