"Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted, one moment
Would you capture it, or just let it slip?"
Dayton is a place where, when you least expect it, something will happen that will absolutely take your breath away. Sometimes that breath will be followed by an immediate and visceral response of screams and applause and others will be followed by a simple word, "Wow." There are moments in Dayton that if you weren't there to see it, then it's a loss that can never be regained. WGI in my opinion, does a really good job at trying to bring the activity to those who are unable to experience it live. Between the Fan Network, live streaming, downloads, and old videos, the history of the activity is captured in the best way possible. However, just like the Olympics or the Super Bowl, there is nothing like being there in person. There is an energy that cannot be described. That energy feeds from one person to the next. It's universal and that energy is undeniable. Those of us who were around in 1980 to see the USA beat the Russians in hockey, knew we were witnessing history. When Michael Phelps won his 8th gold medal in Beijing, we as a nation once again celebrated and cheered, but nothing and I mean nothing, can compare to being there to see it in person. The reason is because of the energy these amazing athletes have the ability to create. The audience feeds off their talent and they in turn feed off the audience. It is perfectly synergistic.
I once went to the World Series and at the time I liked baseball, but I can't say I was a true fan of baseball. I mean let's be honest, baseball isn't the most riveting sport in the world. However, when I sat in the stands watching the Rays play the Phillies, listening to the fans analyze every play, watching kids wave their foam fingers, and listening to the deafening sound of the cowbells every time it came down to the third strike out, I became a baseball fan. A big one! The players souls and talent were on the field for us to feed off of and feed we did.
Being in Dayton at the world championships is no different than those other sports. It's our World Series. The same thing happens. Fans analyze the staging, the silks, the equipment phrases, and even the outfits the staff are wearing. There are even people who watch to see if any staff members will trip while making that long hike up the stands. (Trust me on that one) There are your band parents who believe their program is the best in the world, the friends who only see each other once a year, and let's not forget the die hard pageantry fans who haven't missed a WGI in 30 years. You can't replicate the experience of Dayton no matter how many times you watch the videos.
So, I picked out 5 of my favorite moments from some great shows at WGI. These are moments and not shows and none of these moments are captured on video well, as you simply can't capture the eloquent synergy between performer and audience very well. The videos also give you the vantage point of the videographer and not yours. The moments were timeless and anyone I spoke to about them could absolutely agree with a definitive, "Oh yes. I was there. It was amazing!" The response was still visceral.
"Let the ceremony begin!"
How do you describe winterguard to someone? How do you start? "It's this dance thing, with staging, and flags and rifles." "It's like theater, but not." "You know the marching band and those flags in the back?"
Well this is how I start. In 1986 there was a guard who did a show about an Indian rain dance. The soundtrack was mesmerizing. The performers had transformed an arena of thousands into another culture. They even presented a virgin to the gods of rain. Then, all of a sudden, "the ceremony began." The music changed. It became faster. It became intoxicating. "Din Da Da Din Do Do Din Da Da Din Do." The performers were flailing and dancing. Even to this day, I dare anyone reading this to try to go into a first position, grande plie and hop around the floor, turn while you are doing it and spin a flag above your head. (Good luck with that!)
They danced for the gods of rain and then...the rain came. Streamers symbolizing rain went from one end of the floor to the other. Dancers danced. They danced so much in celebration that not only did the rain come, but thousands of people rose to their feet to celebrate with them. Oh and by the way...this was preceded with a multiple turn around, with a sabre caught on the hilt in the splits.
The moment was the rain and it might have been 27 years ago, but that energy was infectious and very few guards since then has captured it like the Royal Guardsmen
How do you describe winterguard to someone? How do you start? "It's this dance thing, with staging, and flags and rifles." "It's like theater, but not." "You know the marching band and those flags in the back?"
Well this is how I start. In 1986 there was a guard who did a show about an Indian rain dance. The soundtrack was mesmerizing. The performers had transformed an arena of thousands into another culture. They even presented a virgin to the gods of rain. Then, all of a sudden, "the ceremony began." The music changed. It became faster. It became intoxicating. "Din Da Da Din Do Do Din Da Da Din Do." The performers were flailing and dancing. Even to this day, I dare anyone reading this to try to go into a first position, grande plie and hop around the floor, turn while you are doing it and spin a flag above your head. (Good luck with that!)
They danced for the gods of rain and then...the rain came. Streamers symbolizing rain went from one end of the floor to the other. Dancers danced. They danced so much in celebration that not only did the rain come, but thousands of people rose to their feet to celebrate with them. Oh and by the way...this was preceded with a multiple turn around, with a sabre caught on the hilt in the splits.
The moment was the rain and it might have been 27 years ago, but that energy was infectious and very few guards since then has captured it like the Royal Guardsmen
"YOU'RE FIIIIRE 'D!'
It was 1993. It was a show with Bugs Bunny as your narrator. The rifle line wore shower caps on their heads. SHOWER CAPS! The setting was in a beauty parlor. It's almost unfathomable that a concept like this would make world finals today...but wait. It wasn't just a concept. It was one of the cleanest shows to date. One of the best rifle lines you will ever see and performers that made you want to go and find this crazy beauty parlor and get a hair cut. You even got to see a drag queen in a wedding dress at the end.
The moment was a girl eating potato chips, crunching them up and throwing them on the floor. Without being "mike'd up" she let out a phrase that I will never forget. "YOU'RE FIIIIIRED 'D'!!" With the emphasis on the "D." The crowd went crazy. I remember sitting with a friend who is no longer with us scream at the top of his lungs, "I so want to be her!!"
I can't end this section without giving a shout out to a flag toss that spun in perfect synchronicity and oh by the way...had stripes on it. Flawless!!
"They hurt my ears. They hurt my ears. Stop! Stop! STOP!!"
If you were around to see Bishop Kearney in 1995, you were a witness to one of the most entertaining years in Scholastic World. By the time we had gotten to the top of the class we had seen works of art from Northmont presenting, "Somewhere," to Carroll presenting probably the smallest guard in history to ever medal.
Bishop Kearney though, gave us, "Sybil." It was nothing less than fabulous. The show opened with a performer cutting her hair on the floor...LIVE. She cut her hair! That was the first jaw dropping moment. People literally sat in the stands and asked each other if that was real. It just got better from there. The soundtrack. Girls drawing on the floor. Ballet bars. The soundtrack!! My God! This was a soundtrack that people listened to afterwards just to listen to it. It was intense and enthralling. As an audience member you didn't dare look away as you would surely miss something.
The best part of this guard was something that is very close to my heart. They were all female. Young women who were strong and powerful performers that captivated thousands. You don't see that much anymore. These women were unforgettable and if for only 5 minutes...ruled their universe.
The moment however, came at the end. A girl out of nowhere jumped through what looked like a plate glass window. Forgive me for the language, but my visceral reaction was literally, "Holy Shit! Is that glass!!" It obviously wasn't glass, but you bet the conversations at headquarters that night was how that really happened.
I will never forget them and will never forget these words, "Come back to one Sybil just one. Forget about Marcia."
"Gone is the Dark Cloud..."
McGavock 1995. My alma mater. I hadn't seen them all year and I had heard through the grapevine they were something to see. We didn't have the fan network and moments like this makes me glad we didn't. I had heard they were doing, "I Can See Clearly Now," by Holly Cole. I thought, "That's it? Everyone is doing that." Well...that was enough. In 1995, "I Can See Clearly Now," was the Adele of the day. We had heard it all year long and McGavock would prove to present the best and most beautiful version of it.
The show was what I like to call the true beauty of the phrase, "Production Value." As the music changed so did the colors. The show was lovely to watch. The performers appeared innocent. The show was a color extravaganza that matched every color change in the music. When we heard, "nothing but blue skies..." blue skies it what we saw. The show was mesmerizing. Good moments, but the colors and the kids internal beauty is what made these moments great.
The moment I remember however, is still one of the loudest crowd responses for one singular toss to date. We all knew the song and as the music rose with the crescendo, so did the crowd. You never saw it coming and to be honest I couldn't figure out why kids just started randomly screaming. Well...I soon found out. When Holly Cole sang, "Gone are the dark clouds...," the drill stopped, the kids prepped, and out of the blue the silks became yellow. The arena became the sun! As John Williams once said about that moment, "How many times have we all played in the back yard releasing a flag while removing the silk? It's so easy, but McGavock made it spectacular." The crowd rose to their feet and in just a two second moment the energy was palpable...everyone in an arena screamed all at once. It was the same roar you hear when the random football player catches the interception and runs for the touchdown. It...was...amazing!
I was proud to be an alumnus that night.
"Your Candle burned out long before your legend ever did."
This was the moment. This was the show. It was 1991 and if you were there to see it, you will never forget it. The show started with a brief note of Elton John's, "Candle In The Wind." You got a glimpse of Marilyn. Over the next two minutes you watched a show in total silence. TOTAL SILENCE...FOR OVER TWO MINUTES. Rifles and flags, spinning and moving in different vignettes and in perfect synchronicity. With the release of a final flag toss, the music begins. You were transformed to the elegance of Marilyn and the most fitting tribute I've ever seen to an American icon. It was beautiful. The performers...none of them from her generation and another guard filled with only beautiful young women, executed a life of an amazing woman with eloquence and style.
The moment came at the very end. This moment to this day is still one of the most iconic moments in WGI history. Through an entire show we watched a colorguard pay homage to a woman that belonged to all of us. In the back right corner of the floor was a silhouette of Marilyn in her most famous and historical moment. The skirt. At the very end of the show, the performers danced with pictures of her and laid a white sheer piece of fabric over her face painted on the floor. It was as if we were saying goodbye to her all over again. From the right corner and from behind the back of the silhouette, Marilyn walks up, matches the silhouette and we watched her skirt fly. There were no words to describe it. Some people cried. Some people screamed. Everyone however, was moved.
Many years later...sometime around 2005 and in Dayton, the Paradigm staff had just gotten finished with rehearsal. It was late and we were looking for a place to eat and drink. We found a random bar that was about to close. We ordered our drinks from the bartender who asked us if we were in town for WGI. (This is actually a normal question during the week of the world championships. The people who live in Dayton know when the circus is in town.) We said yes and one of our staff members asked how the bartender knew of WGI. She simply said, "I was Marilyn." A group of middle aged pageantry queens stood breathless once again and in pure pageantry form...we all screamed. She was a star to us. This bartender who had her moment 15 years before, once again left a group of people breathless.
I would like to close with this. When someone asks you why you do what you do and why you spend your vacation time in a town that is a virtual hole inside the Midwest, you tell them it's because every once in a while a young person from a town you have never heard of, will make you remember what living is all about. Those kids will create moments that are unforgettable. They will never forget them and we will always remember them for it. For that alone...is why I never miss WGI, because you just simply had to be there.
The moment came at the very end. This moment to this day is still one of the most iconic moments in WGI history. Through an entire show we watched a colorguard pay homage to a woman that belonged to all of us. In the back right corner of the floor was a silhouette of Marilyn in her most famous and historical moment. The skirt. At the very end of the show, the performers danced with pictures of her and laid a white sheer piece of fabric over her face painted on the floor. It was as if we were saying goodbye to her all over again. From the right corner and from behind the back of the silhouette, Marilyn walks up, matches the silhouette and we watched her skirt fly. There were no words to describe it. Some people cried. Some people screamed. Everyone however, was moved.
Many years later...sometime around 2005 and in Dayton, the Paradigm staff had just gotten finished with rehearsal. It was late and we were looking for a place to eat and drink. We found a random bar that was about to close. We ordered our drinks from the bartender who asked us if we were in town for WGI. (This is actually a normal question during the week of the world championships. The people who live in Dayton know when the circus is in town.) We said yes and one of our staff members asked how the bartender knew of WGI. She simply said, "I was Marilyn." A group of middle aged pageantry queens stood breathless once again and in pure pageantry form...we all screamed. She was a star to us. This bartender who had her moment 15 years before, once again left a group of people breathless.
I would like to close with this. When someone asks you why you do what you do and why you spend your vacation time in a town that is a virtual hole inside the Midwest, you tell them it's because every once in a while a young person from a town you have never heard of, will make you remember what living is all about. Those kids will create moments that are unforgettable. They will never forget them and we will always remember them for it. For that alone...is why I never miss WGI, because you just simply had to be there.
Oh Shelba... I seriously have chills... gorgeous piece.. simply gorgeous.
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