Color guards play their part in marching band

It's not all about the band.

Especially for bigger bands, color guards are integral parts for both street competition and field competition.

At Northwest High School and Grand Island Senior High, the color guards are so important they even have their own separate directors or coordinators.

Adrienne Rall of Kearney comes to Northwest High School three times a week to direct the 14 girls in that band's color guard and upped that to four times this past week in preparation for Harvest of Harmony.

Sheri Bergholz has been the director or coordinator of Senior High's for the past four years. The only other group to have its own coordinator is the drumline.

Senior High director Louie Eckhardt noted that marching band is both an aural and visual experience.

"The color guard really adds to the visual element of the band," he said.

That the Northwest color guard is one of just two units that deserves its own director shows its importance to the musical performance.

Northwest band director Shawn Pfanstiel said a color guard adds to the pageantry of a band on parade, but it adds even more to a field performance.

The color guard helps carry the musical theme of the show, as well as helping with the visual effect as the band moves through all its formations for the show.

Northwest Band Director Shawn Pfanstiel said Northwest's field show is Cirque du Soleil, a French Canadian circus act. Translated into English, Cirque du Soleil means Circus of the Sun.

Because of that theme, the corps is not only using flags for the field performance, but also red hoops adorned with "frills," which are glittery streamers. Pfanstiel said the hoops add to the circus atmosphere.

Northwest senior Jamie Promes said that the vivid flag colors of pink, green, blue and orange fit in with the circus theme. She noted that the flag corps began its rehearsals in June.

Promes and Northwest junior Allison Hipke each said using the red hoops is much easier than twirling the flags.

"With the hoops, it's more dance," Promes said.

Hipke said the flags are literally more of a handful than the hoops, noting that they sometimes "do what they want, depending on how windy it is."

The most heart-stopping moment often comes when color guard is required to toss their flags in the air, with the drama being in whether they'll be able to successfully catch them as they begin descending to earth, Hipke said.

The junior admitted that she has dropped flags in the past, including a drop at the recent University of Nebraska at Kearney Band Day.

Rall said that the Northwest uniforms fit into the Cirque du Soleil the theme, as does the choreography. She said she tried to have some of the color guard moves match what a person might see in a Cirque du Soleil performance.

But Rall acknowledged that can only go so far, because Cirque du Soleil members are a cross between circus performers and Olympic gymnasts.

Eckhardt said Senior High's has a Spanish-themed field show called El Diablo de las Lomas, or The Devil of the Hills.

Bergholz said the nine-member group performs with a flamenco flavor, emphasized by the color guard's field costumes, which are red dresses with puffed sleeves of red, white and black, plus pleated skirts, with white and black at the hems.

She noted that hand movements to twirl the skirts are the same as those for the flags. In fact, at one point, color guard members are twirling their flowing skirts simultaneously with the flags.

"That's one thing the judges have always said," Bergholz said. "The color guard is good, but it doesn't always fit in with the show."

This year, that should change, she said.

As for next year, Eckhardt would like to greatly expand the color guard by going to 20 members.

Priscilla Balasa of Central Catholic said the 10-member color guard is the largest in the seven years she's been at the school.

"I'm pleased with that," she said.

Her first year at Central Catholic Balasa had only two color guard members although "they were very good."

"The color guard makes it more of an eye-catching performance," Balasa said. "People don't just hear the band, they see the band. They see the colors coming down the street. That makes people stop and think, ’What's that? That's got to be something.'"

In other words, color guards make people sit up and take notice.

Kearney Catholic band director Lindsay Lund said their field show has a Foo Fighters theme, with all three songs from the late '90's rock band. Each member of the color guard will wear a funky-style hair piece with vibrant, multi-colored hair.

Flags colors change with the each song. The first song will be red, white and black; the second tune, a ballad, will feature shimmering blue flags; and each color guard member will have a different color to match her eye shadow, blue with blue, gold with gold, for the third tune that features flutes and woodwinds.

Elm Creek band director Lindsey Bennett's band is in the parade, not the field competition, but the color guard remains a vital part of the unit.

"They add more flair to the parade," she said. "They make the band more exciting to look at."

That's especially true for novice parade watchers, who may miss out on some of the subtler points of what makes a good marching band.

There's nothing subtle about the color guard, which is constantly changing formation -- as it goes from one line to two lines and other shifting patterns -- as the band marches down the street.

She said Rall, who is working with Northwest High, also did the choreography for Elm Creek.

Bennett noted color guards were a tradition in the area surrounding Scottsbluff, where she graduated high school, and also Elm Creek, where she is in her first year of teaching. She said Lexington and Ravenna are among the many area bands with color guards.

As for her own color guard, Bennett would like to expand it from seven to nine members next year.

"I always think it works best with an odd number," she said.