Presenters: Rosie Queen & Rick Subel

Description:

Join Rick Subel & Rosie Queen for the next installment of their “WGI Game-Changer” series. At our last WGIcon, we barely scratched the surface of all there is to uncover, so the well-received historical series will continue with a Part 2.

This session isn’t just about reminiscing over the past 47 awe-inspiring years of WGI Color Guard performances; it’s about harnessing past lessons to propel us toward new heights of creativity and inspiration. Join us as we explore the essence of greatness, unique identities, creativity, and ground-breaking techniques of those past units that changed the WGI game.

Together, we’ll unravel the threads of innovation and dissect the most captivating moments in WGI Color Guard history. With over 45 years of spectacular performances as our canvas, we’ll paint a picture of inspiration for the future.

Bios:Rosie Queen has been a driving force in the marching arts since 1983, serving as an instructor, designer, adjudicator, and clinician nationwide. Notably, she directed Carmel H.S.’s program for 16 years, from 2003 to 2019. Passionate about mentorship, Rosie has shared her expertise at WGI and BOA events, creating educational videos and serving on WGI’s advisory and executive boards. She recently relocated to Southern California and continues to inspire as the Instructor Education Director for the WGASC.

Rick is the co-founder, director, and creative designer for Paramount Winterguard in Atlanta, GA. With over 25 years as a designer in the pageantry arts, Rick is constantly learning and sharing new and proven methods for creating competitive and artistic designs. In addition to his design roles, Rick is an active adjudicator, clinician, and consultant.

Presenter: Andy Toth

Description: Let’s talk about critique! In this session, you will learn practices to maximize the time spent in the conversations between the judge and director. Learn how to steer conversations to get meaningful feedback while observing live scenario settings and see how your approach can significantly impact your overall experience.

Bio:  Andy Toth has been an active and passionate citizen in the marching arts community for the past three decades. He is an original cast member of the Emmy & Tony award-winning production of Blast! and is honored to have designed for numerous high schools, including Carmel HS (2002-2022). He has a BS degree in Exercise Physiology from UIC-Chicago, where he resides today. 2024 marks Andy’s 10th year on the WGI color guard steering committee and his 25th year on the design team for Pride of Cincinnati.

Presenter: Robby Jacobson

Description: This session will discuss how we can tailor our technique and training programs for our performers to maximize their ability to take their training and apply it to their performances. With interactive audience participation, this session will take a multi-angled approach to training philosophies ranging from technique choices to teaching strategies, allowing us to efficiently magnify the carryover from our training programs to our productions.   Let’s discuss ways to maximize and implement a solid training program that will optimize your performer’s ability to be successful while also being time efficient.

Bio:   Robby has a long career teaching color guard at many levels. He currently teaches winter guard at Fantasia, Mission Viejo HS, and Palm Desert MS. Robby has also been on staff with the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps for over 16 years. In addition to teaching color guard, Robby is a certified Pilates, Barbell, and Kettlebell instructor. He also trains instructors and teaches at Kettlebell Certifications, allowing him to teach diverse groups of students.

Presenter: Jennifer Hinshaw

Description: This session will bring you to the dance floor. Participants will explore a contemporary master class that will get your pulse rate up and your muscles sore. Bring your water, moveable clothing, strength, confidence, and, most importantly, your passion! We will explore skills you have seen on the floor with some of your favorite A, Open, and World Class guards. Participants can also choose to simply observe. We will smile together, laugh together, and maybe even cry a little. Don’t miss it!

Bio:  Jennifer Hinshaw has been immersed in dance since the age of 3. Childhood classes in multiple genres cultivated a love for dance that became her life’s work. Jennifer received her BS in Dance Education from UNC Greensboro and went on to found two full-time public school dance programs. In addition to her work in public education, she has spent the last 20 years passing on her passion for dance as a color guard educator, a studio administrator, and an accomplished freelance choreographer.

Presenter: Rick Subel & Cynthia Robbins

Description: Dive into the artistry of winter guard soundtracks as we explore crafting unique, complex, and dynamic compositions. We will discuss how to carve out a distinct identity for your ensemble through original treatments of source music inspiration while highlighting industry tricks and tools for mastering soundtracks, ensuring optimal sound and presence across various equipment. Explore the collaborative process of working with music editors and engineers, transforming conceptual ideas into unique, well-paced, and compelling soundtracks. Elevate your creativity with insights that blend competitive strategy, audience engagement, atmosphere, and emotion to leave a lasting impact on both performers and audiences alike.

Bio: Rick is the co-founder, director, and creative designer for Paramount Winterguard in Atlanta, GA. With over 25 years as a designer in the pageantry arts, Rick is constantly learning and sharing new and proven methods for creating competitive and artistic designs. In addition to his design roles, Rick is an active adjudicator, clinician, and consultant.

Bio: Cynthia Robbins is a color guard educator and designer from Houston, Texas. In her tenth year as color guard director at The Woodlands High School, Cynthia has over 20 years of experience teaching and designing in the pageantry arts. She lives in Houston with her fiancé Ryan and their sweet dog Biscuit.

Presenter: Karl Lowe & Curtis Costanza

Description: In this session, you will explore short live performances together through multiple points of view and determine whether your interpretation and score of the performances are similar to or different from those of your WGIcon neighbors. Facilitated by Karl Lowe and Curtis Costanza, you will investigate how a performance can be perceived differently by other designers and directors and see what happens when you change your perspective.

Presenter: Heather Graham and Michael James

Description: All of us interpret music differently while choreographing. Some pick the flow of the lyrics, while others may follow the underlying rhythms, but everyone’s goal is to bring the music to life through unique and stunning visual effects. Watch Heather and Michael explore these different choreographic choices live while teaching a group of guest performers and witness how different interpretations can still lead to beautiful creations.

Bio: Originally from Wisconsin, Heather currently resides in Ohio. Her performance career includes Phantom Regiment, Carolina Crown, and Pride of Cincinnati. Heather is proud to be a designer and choreographer for various programs across North America, including Miamisburg HS, UCF Pegasus, University of Cincinnati, Dartmouth HS, Phoenix Independent, Origins, and Calgary Stampede. She is also the caption manager for the Boston Crusaders. She currently serves as the VP of Mepa and on the WGI Board of Directors. 

Bio: Michael James, born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida, graduated from the University of South Florida with a BA in Modern Dance Performance. After college, he performed in the American Stage Company’s “Shakespeare in the Park” Series for five seasons and danced and choreographed for the Children’s Theater Tour. Michael was a scholarship student at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Beckett, Massachusetts, where he studied under Linda Kent and Carolyn Adams

Presenter: John Arevalo

Description: An issue we face as competitive educators is time. We constantly fight the clock to develop our programs and pass down knowledge, experience, and passion for our art form to future generations. This session will share how to utilize various trending applications as tools to manage these issues, including simple day-to-day responsibilities, Anatomy/Health Management, Movement/Equipment Training, Communication/Media outreach, and Educational/Design management.

Bio: John Arevalo studied Music and Dance Education at CSU Fresno. Having been in Marching Arts for almost 20 years, he has worked with a variety of groups at the scholastic, collegiate, and independent levels. The most notable groups include Imbue WG, Golden Empire, I-Squared, BC Indoor, NOCO, Altered Modalities, and Fresno States Marching Band and Independent WG. He currently works with the Clovis North and Selma High School programs and provides consulting work for local programs in the valley.

Presenter:  Jessica Byrne

Description: The choreography has been taught, and now it’s time to clean! There is more to cleaning than saying, “Flag up on count 5 and down on count 6”. While cleaning, sometimes the biggest challenge is ensuring the choreography doesn’t start to fall flat and become sterile. Through a live demo session with open class performers, explore with Jessica as she keeps the life in the choreography, fixes what may be broken, and creates one cohesive flow of equipment and movement. Also moderated by Karl Lowe, learn key details she looks for while cleaning and additional tips to communicate with performers to keep the performance alive!

Bio: Jessica was born into a marching arts family and has been around the activity for most of her life. Growing up in Dorchester, Massachusetts, she began her marching career as a member of St. Ann’s in the novice class in 1993. Lucky enough to be a part of the Eastern Mass circuit during its most prominent years, Jessica traveled up the classes until both St. Ann’s world teams folded in 2002. Jessica joined Blessed Sacrament World Guard in 2003 and continued through til 2007. She went back for the 2011-12 seasons with Sac. Continuing her family’s legacy, she performed 6 summers with the Boston Crusaders (01-06).  

In 2015, Jessica started giving back to the two organizations that had given her so much, St. Ann’s and Blessed Sac. Beginning as a technician, she quickly morphed into a prominent staff member of both St. Ann’s A guard and Blessed Sac world; she does a little bit of everything. Now entering her 10th season on staff, she is looking forward to bringing a new set of St. Ann’s girls to WGI finals for the first time and the legendary sac world for their 43rd world finals. Jessica is passionate about helping keep independent color guard alive in Massachusetts.