World Guard

by Tiger Topics: Fishers Tiger Times

“Euphoria”

Spinning into the season

Fishers World Guard dives into their winter guard competitions

Senior Blanche Le Guen throws a flag during a show at HSE on March 5. Photo by Madelyn Lerew. Madelyn Lerew lerewmad000@hsestudents.org

Most recognizable as the people who spin flags and throw rifles during the marching band show, the Fishers World Guard competes in the winter guard season when off the field. Taught by Thomas Thawley, they are active from December through March. Participating entails performing a show that includes elements of dance and spinning equipment. The show changes each year, and with that comes new tarps, music and flags. A lot of work and thought goes into the inspiration and creation process of their show. “The show is about taking the idea of still life and capturing memories and keeping them forever,” said guard director Thomas Thawley. “We use the painting ‘A Sunday Afternoon On the Island of La Grande Jatte’ by Georges Seurat to help us portray the idea of going through life and cherishing each moment, never knowing when something will be captured in time forever.” Using a tarp decorated with splotches of color helps emulate a park scene. Their costumes continue this by giving them the look of a 19th-century park-goer, which is reflective of the era when the painting was created. “Everybody is posing like the people in the painting. We have people with parasols and books acting like people would if they were in the park,” senior Arianna Ware said. In order to fully realize the intended effect, rehearsals are held regularly. World guard is a large time commitment for those that participate. “We practice most of the week, except for Wednesdays and Sundays,” senior Abigail Vang said. “On Saturdays, we compete. During schools days, practice can last up to three hours.” During the practices, members go through a routine that prepares them to begin work on their show. Guard shows include a variety of skills such as spinning equipment and dancing, which both require practice. “Practices typically begin with a dance class where we go over technique and stretch for the day ahead,” Thawley said. “We then go through equipment technique to warm up. Once we are warmed up, we typically start to chunk through the show and make any necessary adjustments needed and/or clean parts to try and make them even better.” Dancing requires training and practice in order to move correctly with the music. Choreography is the show designer’s way of instructing the performers on how to dance and move throughout the show. “My favorite part of the show is dancing,” Vang said. “I love dancing and have been doing it for a long time now.” Vang, like most of the other members of the guard, has been doing color guard for many years. They all spin for the Fishers Marching Band during the band season, which lasts from June until November. “I didn’t even know color guard was a thing until my stepfather forced me to do marching band,” Vang said. “I just loved it from then on. I’ve been in guard for four years. I started my freshman year and

am doing it now.” Due to the longstanding commitment of each member, the world guard competes in the highest color guard classification. Indiana High School Color Guard Association (IHSCGA), which is the organization that runs winter guard in Indiana, divides up guards into five classes. These classes are World, Open, A, Regional A Festival and Cadet with World being the most competitive. The guard has begun their journey through the season, with their first competition at Avon High School being on Feb. 12. “We’ve only been to two competitions since our first one got canceled, but we just finished our second competition,” said Ware. “This is the best Fishers has ever been. We got fifth place out of seven at our first competition, which is amazing. We went up by 1.3 points in one day. It’s been going amazing.” Guards are judged on a 100 point scale with most only increasing about 10 points throughout the entire season In addition to preparing their show, members of the world guard also spend time bonding as a team. The practice environment allows for team building and the creation of friendships between members. “I would definitely have to say the silliness of each of the members throughout rehearsals just allows all of us to have fun throughout each rehearsal,” Thawley said. “Also just getting to create art every day at a high level is something that has always been a dream of mine.” Senior Cecilia Davidson performs at HSE on March 5. Photo by Madelyn Lerew.