World of Pageantry

As a rookie instructor, I want to know what staffs think of rewriting and restaging shows. What do the performers think? I always catch a lot of guff from my squad for rewriting or restaging the show. When the judges comment on the new elements that look better or somehow enhance the show, they are thrilled but it's like "whine-fest" when we're going through the process. I always explain why we're doing it but still, the gripping and complaining is annoying.

Instructors? Guard members? Your thoughts?

GD

I feel that if restaging or rewritting the show is going to help, then I'm fine with it...Like my sophmore year, my instructor rewrote a lot of the work in our show the week before nationals, and it was insane..But it helped us in the long run..So if your guard members are complaining, there's nothing you can really do about it. I know a lot of my fellow guard members have complained about things like that too. But I tend to notice that it is those people who don't really care about what they are doing, that just slack off most of the time anyways, that do the complaining. I myself like to have work rewritten because I like to learn new things...it's just a matter of who the people are though in my opinion.

I think it all depends on how you write. With equipment I usually begin with a watered down version of what I really want, with the exception of fetures. They are written in from the start.

My guard is a dancing guard, so I usually write the dance book first, unlike most instructors I know who do equipment first. I feel if no equipment is written yet, they still have movement and it's strong.

Throughout the season I build on it. So, in a way they are use to change, but only minor changes.

If you initially have the big chunks done right in the first place, you won't have to change much later. If it feels good when you're writting it, it is suppose to be that way. If you question something, then it's probably not the right thing to do at that point in the show.

Go with your intuition, it's usually right.

Good idea on writing the big chunks first. Come to think of it, my final flag statement (which they killed on at finals) was super and was written in December.

Pesky parts? Seemless transitions.

GD

I had my guard's show pretty much finished before Evals. Then when I got comments from judges I would change things. For the most part I didn't change too much during the year, unless it was to make things more difficult for the team. I think redesigning or rewriting work is what comes with the job of instructing. You want the team to look their best so we have to do what we can to make them that way. My team understood that I changed things for their benefit, I rarely got any whines about it.

If it's something the judges comment alot on, and your kids arent understanding why you're changing it. I think you should let them hear some of the judges tapes. It might help them realize that, you're trying to help.

our show changed dramatically since the beginning of the season, and its all for the better. new work pieces the show together more seamlessly and thrills the judges. it also makes practices more interesting, instead of having to do the same work over and over and over for the ENTIRE season!

quote]I think you should let them hear some of the judges tapes. It might help them realize that, you're trying to help.[/quote]

I understand the logic here. Because listening to the judges tapes DO help. However, the Guard won't fully understand until they hear the judges tapes AFTER the change, and see a video.

In example. There was this 30 count hold in our show this year; Rifle and Flags. And it was supposed to be a cannon. Well, the original cannon was simple, and it looked nice but could have used improvement. Improvement is DEFINITELY what happened. What sucked was that the rifles (including myself) had to do a pop-toss, roll into the ground, catch the rifle, get back up and spin around, then do an under-the-leg double, switch the legs, and then catch. Yeah. Well I'm not going to lie, it sucked to learn. And it REALLY sucked to clean, too. So of course EVERYONE whined and complained because they couldn't stand it and it hurt and it was new. However, we listened to the judges tapes after that week's show and watched a video, and WOW. It looked AWESOME. It really made us understand why our coaches did that. ...Not like it stopped us from continuing to whine when cleaning it, but still.

It seems as though Guard people are the most lazy excessively-active people ever. I suppose we're just destined to complain about it, no matter how much you change it. It'll definitely pay off in the end, though. As much as my fellow Guard-os and I complained about all the changed our coaches made, I'm happy that they did it because it ended up very successful.

rewriting and changing it can be tough for the guard, but we all understand that it is important. it is annoying when you do the old work or make a beeline for your old spot or do something like that, but in the longrun, it helps....a lot