My color guard career started as a freshman at Cathedral High School in Springfield, MA. “There will be an informational meeting for the color guard- the ensemble that performs with the Marching Band at football games as well as parades- tomorrow in the band room after school.” Since the majority of my friends were all members of the band, I figured, why not? In addition, I had a background of 14 years of dance (tap, ballet, and jazz) and this sounded quite similar. Cheerleaders for the Marching Band! I liked the sound of that!
Instructed by Michaela McDonald nee Berdit, the guard learned the basics on 5 ft fiberglass poles: right shoulder, presents, angles, back-scratchers and push spins. Upon my first trip to Band Day at UMass Amherst, I realized that my life would forever be changed. Since I wanted everyone to join the world of band, I took great measures to recruit for CHS’s color guard. Our guard of 7 grew to 15 by my senior year.
As it came time to choose a college, I made sure that all of my choices had a color guard. If they didn’t, they would at least have to have a football team so that I could start my own guard with the intent to persuade the Athletics Department to allow us to perform at half time. No need to create my own, however.
During my first week of Band Camp for the UMass Minuteman Marching Band, I quickly learned that the basics were no longer “basic.” First off, they used 6 ft aluminum poles. I preferred the lack of glass shards cutting into my hands, but the height difference took some getting use to. Routines no longer covered push spins, and I had to retrain myself to manage drops spins. Angles were changed to Figure 8s and since the CHS guard had never tossed, well, we covered quarters to one and a halves, to parallels and more!
After a week of body toning and intense choreography written by Cecil A. York, the UMass Color Guard performed a fantastic Tommy Show (2001). Dave H. Hautenen took over in 2002. As the guard parted off to the endzones to reveal Gladiator‘s Maximus kneeling in left field and his wife and son in right field, a young boy (a volunteer from the audience dressed in Roman garb) ran to his father and the audience cried and clapped for an encore. So, we spiced it up with a little Life is a Mystery by Madonna. In 2003, Jessica “YaYa” Adame, recently the guard instructor for Boston University’s Color Guard as well as DCI’s Spartans, wrote fantastic work to Birdland, Legend of a One Eyed Soldier and El Boro. A very hot show. And for my last guard season, West Side Story wowed audiences and the color guard performed work written by Bonnie Wellington.
Since college has ended, I have found myself instructing Color Guards on a noncompetitive and competitive level. In the fall seasons, I choreograph work for the Marching Band Color Guards. For the spring semesters, I review basics and choreograph a routine that the guards perform that the annual noncompetitive Color in the Cage show in Amherst, MA.
Please see the separate guard pages for specifics on each guard.
2006-2007 Agawam High School Color Guard, Agawam, MA (MICCA)
2006-2008 Cathedral High School Color Guard, Springfield, MA
2006-present Enrico Fermi High School Color Guard, Enfield, CT (USSBA)