World of Pageantry

Well I felt the need to reply to this, my son is on the HS color guard and marched this past summer with Blue Devils, have you actually watched guys on guard?

Also, google "Northern Lights" find their show from 2006, and tell me what you think about guys in color guard after watching that video!!

love love LOVE Northern Lights. That last show they did was so awesome.

Road to Perdition. Best NL show. Ever.

ErinF wrote:I WISH we could get some guys on our guard lol. In my 10 years with Vanden we've had only 1 guy who tried out and made the team. He was so much fun to teach and the girls loved having a guy on their line. II wish we could get more guys interested in the sport!

My guard had one guy this year, except he's a fill in. Never would my director give up his flute section leader to be on colorguard unless it was a life or death situation! haha. Since we have girls from another school on guard and an all-guys school band, I wish some guys would join guard!

Erin was that guy on flag? I think I saw a video once ha

and to the original poster...that's extremely sexist. Keep an open mind....it is the 21st century...

I haven't had large enough numbers in my guard but all of them work hard and love doing what they do! The run stuff on their own to get it down. I do have one who doesn't listen most of the time. When I say listen up...her mind is elsewhere. However I deal with it. There have been girls who are in it for the wrong reasons...(i.e. joining colorguard to be around an all-male marching band program)...not acceptable. The ones who struggle but have the right intentions and are willing to work hard without complaints...I'd take them any day!

Yes, he was a tall flag. Vanden is a military school though so we lose a lot of members when families get relocated. My one male guard member only performed one season before his family was transfered to Germany

To the original poster:

I'm an alum of a group that once had a director that shared your view. He believed strongly that girls belonged in the guard and guys belonged in the horn & drum lines. Period. End of story. No exceptions. There was this guy in the horn line though, he was a mellophone, and man could he spin! He could catch 6s with finesse back in the days when rifles routinely weighed 6-8 pounds, had metal plates inside their straps and catching a triple with technique was no easy feat. No kidding, he was a phenom. Didn't matter, he wasn't allowed in the guard. He aged out in '72 without ever having a chance to march in that colorguard. What a loss to the guard. Evenutually (aided by the legal system) that director came around. Sometime in the 80s, girls finally broke down the barriers to being musicians and guys in the guard happened too .... and nowadays it would be really hard to imagine that colorguard without them. Seriously "The Kiss" with an all-girl colorguard??? That director was Gail Royer, that guard is SCV and that guy who could spin is Stanley Knaub.

Why not look at "guys in the guard" as the opportunity to nurture a kid who just might be the next big talent to help move the activity forward ... like Stanley Knaub ... like Scott Chandler ... like Michael Gaines ... like Karl Lowe. They, and thousands of others, are proof enough that guys belong in colorguard.



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Right on.

danceswithwood wrote:To the original poster:

I'm an alum of a group that once had a director that shared your view. He believed strongly that girls belonged in the guard and guys belonged in the horn & drum lines. Period. End of story. No exceptions. There was this guy in the horn line though, he was a mellophone, and man could he spin! He could catch 6s with finesse back in the days when rifles routinely weighed 6-8 pounds, had metal plates inside their straps and catching a triple with technique was no easy feat. No kidding, he was a phenom. Didn't matter, he wasn't allowed in the guard. He aged out in '72 without ever having a chance to march in that colorguard. What a loss to the guard. Evenutually (aided by the legal system) that director came around. Sometime in the 80s, girls finally broke down the barriers to being musicians and guys in the guard happened too .... and nowadays it would be really hard to imagine that colorguard without them. Seriously "The Kiss" with an all-girl colorguard??? That director was Gail Royer, that guard is SCV and that guy who could spin is Stanley Knaub.

Why not look at "guys in the guard" as the opportunity to nurture a kid who just might be the next big talent to help move the activity forward ... like Stanley Knaub ... like Scott Chandler ... like Michael Gaines ... like Karl Lowe. They, and thousands of others, are proof enough that guys belong in colorguard.



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Couldn't have put it better myself! Good call on "The Kiss" another fabulous show that without guys would have never happened.

Remember Fantasia 2008? All that AMAZING rifle work?! Come on, no guys in guard?!

Another 2 Words:
"The Cavaliers"

Personally, I have had to teach both guys and girls in colorguard. From my experience, guys have actually caught on faster to the work then the girls did. They can for the most part toss higher than girls too. Which is cool for fall because there is no roof limiting how high you can toss. (I get mad that I am limited to a seven on saber during winter). But yeah, guys are really fun to have in fall too because they can do lifts during the show, which can work really well with the ballad. I think more guys should be in guard during all seasons.

I don't understand why there would be a difference between marching band and winterguard colorguard, in terms of way the OP has stated.

I will say this, I always find it weird when I see an all female guard and some have to play the role of the male and they dance with each other like a male-female couple. There was a show like that last year I saw, that was exactly that. As long as the roles fit, then I see no problem with male/female guard. For example, i don't think I would want a male guard member doing what Phantom's guard did in 1991, near the start of Bachanale, with the legs spreading apart right in front of the hornline (they did it briefly during Spartacus in 2008, as well). That would be very akward.

Every once and awhile, isn't it great to just listen to the passion of others that love this activity? I really want to thank all of you for making my day. I'm playing hooky in a Starbucks and reading about such a great approach to helping in the maturing/developing of people even more than winning or just building technical genius wunderkids.

Those fortunate enough to be in the position to currently teach a guard should always have the attitude I am reading about in the previous posts.

We get a chance to help people challenge themselves, find that they are stronger than they thought previously and maybe provide them with extra support to face what is to come next in life. I salute you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXsiCFzhK34
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD9je9oT0aU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StRf67OT ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksDrSRRN_PQ

Just a few examples that I found of some of the good guards with male colorguard members during the fall season.

The list can go on and on.....

we have only one guy in our guard, but he is freakin awesome!!!!!!

hUm what a dumb question........