Guard

[Phansouth]

93 Cadets. They wore me out just watching them. Such a tough uniform to perform in, too.

[Bob Brady]

Kingsmen 74

27th Lancers 80-81

Siiiiiiiiigh!

[TommySopranoContra]

Ya.  You'll probably cringe hearing this, but for me, if the weapon and flagwork is together and nobody drops, it's good.  Bonus points for nice coloured flags and colour gradients, double bonus for hot girls in the guard.

Sadly, I'd say this is how 90% of brass and percussionists view guard.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

But that guard was so beautiful. Remember the pole toss. Not only did they spin in sync, but the flashs and light reflections came off them the same time. Just absolutely beautiful

[Roark1]

Anaheim from the early '70's.

The best I ever saw.

[BennyASU]

while there are TONS of great guards i have loved, there are 2 that really stand out in my mind...

Cadets 93 - obviously enough said

SCV 2000 - not the cleanest ever, but very demanding and added so much to the show

[boxingfred]

05-cadets

03-cavies

02-devils

93-cadets

80-27th Lancers

[byline]

Those gals were just amazing with their ripple tosses, amazingly-together spins and all-out attitude.

I remember them running--what we've been calling "jazz-running" for at least a decade now, but they probably would've just called it running--like bats out of Hades in their opener ("English Folk Song Suite"), and then that amazing blind exchange they did at the end of "Danny Boy" in '80. (I'm trying to remember if they did the same thing in '79, but I just can't recall. Time to pull out the "Legacy" DVDs again.) It's pretty hard to upstage the rifle line lying on their backs, spinning double-fast, but that's one flag line that could pull it off. And then, of course, there was their take, with the rifle line, on the Rockford File, and then them outdoing guards like Cavaliers on their speed and timing in that double-flag spin (I have no idea what it would've been called). There were so many things they did that stood out. Yet it wasn't just that what they did was physically demanding; they executed it about as perfectly as a guard can. The flag line had a whole highlight reel to themselves. Then, combine that with such an amazing rifle line, and it makes for a memorable, GE-packed visual program.

[byline]

I seem to be on of the few vocal colorguard people on DCP (besides byline and a couple others). I think it is the responsibility of the colorguard community to inform everyone else about what exactly colorguard is and what everyone should be looking for, since the colorguard caption is becoming increasingly important in corps scores.

I agree, and yet it is so difficult to define what "demand" is. It's a wee bit subjective. I'll explain; I'll compare some guards from the late '70s to early '80s, and give you my take on each:

27th Lancers--I've praised them up one side and down the other several times in this thread. That guard was one of the most balanced I've ever seen; fierce demand in the rifle line and flag line, incredible fire and energy, yet clean as a whistle.

Cavaliers--Similar in style to Two-Seven. But if you look closely at the content of their work, especially the flag line during this time, their flag book is simpler, more repetitive, and their timing isn't as good as Two-Seven's. But they make up for it by having some of the most brilliant, heart-stopping tricks ever performed on the field. GE? That rifle line had it all over the place. So did the flag line, but the rifle line was front and center most of the time, captivating the audience. Not to mention the fact that spinning two rifles simultaneously is a feat few other guards could match.

Phantom--Fantastic rifle line, awe-inspiring tricks, fearsome attitude. The only complaint I ever had about this guard is that the flag line tended to take a back seat to the rifle line. Not for lack of trying, of course. But the flag work was relatively simple, compared to the rifle work. If you look closely, their flag book is extremely repetitive; lots of basic angles and spins. But they make up for it by smacking the h-e-double-hockey-sticks out of it, and having better timing than just about any other guard, with the exception of Two-Seven. And their rifle line, along with the guard's classic Rockford File, was a joy to behold!

Blue Devils--Often underappreciated during this period, because they made everything look so easy, and their shows didn't have the same physical demand as some of the other guards I mentioned earlier. But if you really examine their work, their flag line is doing some lovely stuff, and they're performing it cleanly. And that slow, lovely style is often harder to pull off than the "in-your-face" style because the timing is harder to nail down. I love the rifle line from this period. Yes, they have the "baby" rifles, but it gives their line a look of crisp smoothness that is integral to their unique style. And if you look closely, even in the late '70s, they're beginning to integrate body work in with their guard work that would become such a huge part of their style in the early '80s, and from that point on.

Santa Clara--Much of what I wrote about Blue Devils also applies to Santa Clara. Santa Clara is much-maligned in guard circles because they stopped using rifles in the late '70s, switching to all-flags and other props. But what this did--and, being primarily a flag person, I appreciate this--is that it allowed them to really concentrate on developing their flag book and making it extremely complex, from a cerebral point of view. In other words, it wasn't the most demanding book, physically, out there, but the extraordinary variety in the work--very little repetition--made it a mentally challenging style to pull off. They tried to literally interpret the music, rather than presenting in broad strokes the way most guards did. The rhythms and pitches you heard in the music were what you saw the guard doing. Never the cleanest guard out there, they compensated for that with the creativity and musicality they brought to the visual program.

Of course, you can see how subjective all this is. So much of what I've written above is my interpretation of what I saw, based in large part on my own stylistics preferences. Others, I'm sure, would have a very different take on those same guards. That's why it's so hard to explain demand. As others have said, it's not just how clean the book appears, but how much demand there is in the work, how uniform the guard technique is, and how well that total package is executed.

P.S. Yes, I know I've left out a whole bunch of worthy guards from this same period: Madison? How on earth could I fail to mention them? Guardsmen, North Star and Spirit? At the very least, they deserve an honorable mention . . . along with countless others. I was just pulling out a few different guard styles so that I could contrast them and try to explain what I see as the similarities and differences between each.

Edited August 19, 2005 by byline

[ContraRich77]

gaurd?

[GABA]

Since I am a old school Drum Corps fan, I would have to say

early 70's/80's Color Guards.

Kingsmen

27th

SCV

I miss honoring our flag.

GABA