winter guard

Winter guard (sometimes spelled "winterguard") is an indoor color guard sport and performance art derived from military ceremonies. Modern winter guard is a competitive, performance-based activity which incorporates choreographed staging, dance, and manipulation of equipment such as flags and prop rifles and sabres (also known as "spinning"). Unlike traditional color guard, winter guard performances and contests are held indoors, usually in a gymnasium or an indoor arena. Performances typically last three to seven minutes and are generally accompanied by recorded soundtracks rather than live music. However, the use of live instrumentation (acoustic and electronic) and vocalization have grown in popularity. Winter guard is most present in the United States; independent units have also been formed in Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Winter guard ensembles often perform at judged competitions officiated by local and regional associations using criteria developed by Winter Guard International, host of the annual Winter Guard International World Championships in Dayton, Ohio. The World Championships event purportedly attracts in 60,000 visitors to the event annually. Scoring attempts to rank units on the repertoire and achievement of aspects of each performance such as unity, quality, range, precision, skill, design, and effect. Team roles A winter guard generally consists of performing members under the direction of instructional staff. The staff of a winter guard team are drawn from many different specialties, which sometimes overlap: there are equipment instructors (sometimes one for the unit, sometimes broken out into the individual sections), dance instructors, and drill instructors. The equipment instructors create the choreography performed with equipment and teach it to the guard. The dance instructors create and teach the movement choreography in the show. The drill instructors focus on the position of the guard members relative to one another and to the boundaries of the performance area, in addition to where each member goes at which specific time during the performance. In some cases, all of these roles are fulfilled by one sole director. A winter guard team usually has one or multiple captains or student leaders who serve as leaders as well as performing members. The captain may assume minor administrative duties and lead the team when instructors are not available.