Like Mother, Like Daughter
By Michael Reed When Suzie Cambron was a clarinetist in the W.A. Berry High School in Hoover, Alabama in the early 1980s, little did she know years later her path would cross again with that of Band Director Steve Simpson, and she would never have imagined one day he would become a valuable influence for […]
Bluecoats Indoor Brings Sonic Dimension to Performances
Formed in 1966, the Canton, Ohio American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps partnered with the Police Boys Club to start up a new unit. The name “Bluecoats” was born in tribute to the police department’s retired officers as a nod to the designation as a program of the Police Boys Club. Since those humble beginnings, […]
WGI Announces Inaugural Costa Rica Event
WGI Sport of the Arts, the world’s leader in producing indoor marching arts events for color guard, percussion ensembles, and winds groups, today announced the first-ever WGI event in Central America. WGI Costa Rica will take place on Sunday, September 30, at the Olympic Village Desamparados in San Jose, Costa Rica in cooperation with Marching […]
The Standard Definition: Marching Arts
By Caroline Meister According to dicitionary.com, an athlete is a person trained or gifted in exercises involving physical agility and an artist is someone who produces works in any of the arts. When I searched marching arts in the search bar, nothing appeared. There’s no standard definition for the marching arts. That led me to […]
Recap of 2018 World Championships
We had an awesome 2018 WGI World Championships! With a record number of competing units, it was an exciting couple of weeks in Dayton. Take a look at the Finals recaps below to get a peek at what you missed. Color Guard World Championships Finals Scholastic A Independent A Scholastic Open Independent Open Scholastic World […]
Moving with Mama Mia
By Michael Reed On the same floor where guards performed and confetti cannons shot off after the World Class Finale hours before, approximately 500 eager students got up to attend a Master Class with world-renowned choreographer Mia Michaels. After three days of performances and a late night, it would be easy to excuse the young […]
WGI Signs Events in Asia
WGI Sport of the Arts, the world’s leader in producing indoor marching events, today announced a strategic partnership with the Asian Marching Band Confederation. A ceremony signifying the relationship took place at the University of Dayton Arena during the WGI Percussion and Winds World Championships happening this weekend. Also known as “the Marching Arts Power […]
Finals Recap of Color Guard World Championships
We had an awesome 2018 Color Guard World Championships! Take a look at the Finals recaps below for each class. Independent World Paramount (1st – 97.000) brought a unique performance to life. The floor was shades of nude which matched their unique uniforms. With resistance stretch bands incorporated into their uniforms, they beautifully utilized them […]
WGI Welcomes Mia Michaels for “Day After” Class
The WGI World Championships is excited to welcome back world-renowned choreographer and three-time Outstanding Choreography Emmy winner, Mia Michaels. Michaels recently confirmed she will conduct a “Mia Michaels Live” session for the “WGI Day After Educational Series”. This dance master class and motivational session will be held for up to 500 participants beginning at 10am […]
WGI Announces First Philippines Event
WGI Sport of the Arts, the world’s leader in producing indoor marching arts events for color guard, percussion ensembles, and winds groups, today announced that another international event has been added to their 2017-18 event calendar. WGI Philippines will be held June 22-24 in Manila sponsored by the Color Guard Alliance of the Philippines. The […]
Top Moments of 2017
This year was exciting for WGI as an organization. Take a look at the highlights below! # 1 – WGI’s 40th Anniversary 2017 was a special year for WGI as we celebrated our 40th anniversary! World Championships concluded with a Parade of Champions where past World Class Gold Medalists marched onto the floor with current […]
Devoted to the Arts – Marie Czapinski
By Jenny Lyons Over 40 years into its flourishing existence and still growing every year, WGI is the vision of six dreamers come to fruition. These visionaries saw color guard growing far beyond the trappings of the drum corps activity. They wanted to create an organization in which that growth would be made possible and […]
The Professors of Pageantry: Part 2
By Michael Reed Part II In Part I of our feature on collegiate guards, we looked at structuring the guard as a class or extracurricular activity, and methods successful guards use to recruit members. In Part II, we will discuss finding rehearsal facilities, rehearsal scheduling, being part of the local community, and the importance of […]
The Professors of Pageantry: College Guard Directors
By Michael Reed Part I One of the most welcome developments in the activity in the past decade is the growth of college and university-sponsored guards. In the few weeks that units have been able register for the 2018 WGI World Championships, over twenty college groups have already entered with more sure to follow. There […]
A Center Grove Tradition
By Jenny Lyons On the eve of WGI Finals, Olivia Gooch sat with her mother, Julie, in the upper echelons of the UD Arena and talked about the looming prospect of finals night with giggly excitement. Her bright young eyes, still framed with vivid pink eyeshadow from her semifinals performance, lit up as she looked […]
A Global View: WGI Hosts 2017 Japan Clinic
On Saturday, August 20, WGI Clinician Michael Shapiro hosted an educational clinic in Japan. Eager students from all over the country attended to enhance their color guard skills. “It was a great pleasure to offer multiple classes to the almost 200 students at the Japan Summer Marching Festival,” stated Shapiro. The Festival included a beginner […]
Controversial Shows: Northmont 1997
By Dan Schack My original idea to publish a series of interviews through WGI on iconic controversial shows was spawned through one production alone. This production was one I was introduced to almost immediately into my own experience with the indoor activity. It seems as if watching it was a right of passage for the […]
A Beloved Fan Favorite: Aimachi
By Jenny Lyons To performers standing in the tunnel of the Dayton Arena on WGI finals night, with their bare feet standing on the cool cement, hearts pounding with anticipation within their chest, anxious hands reaching out to a wall lovingly speckled with lipstick, and focused minds imagining what lies beyond the thick black curtain […]
WGI Celebrates Fabulous 40th Anniversary
By Michael Reed Oh what a glorious season it was! WGI’s hallmark 40th anniversary season is now in the books and it was a season full of memories to last a lifetime. A total of 596 entries participated in 20 different classifications across WGI’s three divisions at two weekends of World Championships. Increasing entries mean […]
2017 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
By Jenny Lyons On the eve of WGI prelims, amid the bustle of Championships weekend, members of the color guard activity took pause for a moment to celebrate three prolific creators, the newest inductees into WGI’s hallowed hall of fame: Michael Shapiro, Peggy Twiggs, and Jon Vanderkolff. In introducing Michael Shapiro, Fred Feeney says that […]
