As marching band concludes in mid-November, performing arts still runs in an indoor environment. This fall season, the Marching Tiger Band included 40 color guard members, dancing with flags, rifles and sabers on a big-picture stage: Lucas Oil Stadium.
Shortly after marching band ends for the year, both experienced performers and newcomers can participate in the indoor version of color guard, where the stage is smaller and the audience is much closer. This year is especially significant because there are new color guard directors leading the program.
“We loved our directors that we had, and so when they left, it was really hard to get everyone to care as much as they used to,” an anonymous color guard senior said.
This performer participated in the fall marching band season under the direction of Donovan Sisco and Xavier, also known as ‘X’.
“They’re much more regimented with conditioning,” they said, “we would run a lot more than we used to… it was definitely more like laying the hammer.”
In the winter season, the color guard program runs three different groups for competition. World guard is the highest competing, A guard is intermediate, and JV (previously known as cadet guard) involves younger students from fifth through eighth grade.
“I loved the new staff this fall. It was a big change, but I think it was a good change,” Junior Brooklyn Koldus said.
Koldus is a part of the World Guard, which competes at the World Guard International (WGI) championships each spring. A guard and JV compete up to the state level at Indiana High School Color Guard Association (IHSCGA) finals in mid-March.
“I think everyone is doing great with the new staff. Our warm-up and equipment exercises are different, but it’s still the same routine in rehearsal,” she said.
It takes several weeks of rehearsal to piece together a performance for competition. Repetition and constant practice are expected of every participant to succeed as a group.
“Winter has been less stressful for me this season, rehearsals are more fun and laid back, but I still feel like we get things done,” Senior Ian Cameron said.
Cameron is pursuing his fourth winter guard season as a rifle and saber performer, known as the weapon line. The equipment of the weapon line is more demanding than flag performance due to the compactness of a rifle and the unbalanced weighting of a saber, making tosses or tricks harder to achieve.
“I’m very excited for competition this year to see how we do this year,” Cameron said, “I think the new staff has been an overall positive change for the Fisher’s color guard.”
