Between classical hits and colorful ensembles, the Winter Guard Association of Southern California was back at Valencia High School for its debut and classification show on Saturday.
With sassy moves and attitude, local color guard teams participating in the competition performed the following titles with corresponding tracks:
- Castaic High School performed “When You Believe” to Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.”
- Canyon High School performed “A manic workout” to Michael Sembello’s “Flashdance” hit “Maniac.”
- Golden Valley High School performed “9 to 5” to a “Beat It” by Michael Jackson and “Jailhouse Rock” by Elvis Presley medley.
- Valencia High School performed “Groove is in the Heart” to the song of the same name
- Saugus High School performed “Descend” to Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Für Elise.”
The full day of competitive fun resulted in the following scores for Santa Clarita Valley high schools: Valencia placed first in Scholastic AAA, Saugus placed first in Scholastic Open, while Castaic placed first, Canyon placed fifth and Golden Valley placed seventh in the High School Classification.
Lorraine Kohagen, Valencia color guard advisor, said the competition is part of Valencia’s continued tradition in color guard.
“We’re actually hosting the first show of the season and we’re pretty excited. This is probably about the fifth or sixth time we’ve hosted. We’ve got 30 schools here, and everybody’s debuting their show today,” Kohagen said. “It’s really exciting for not just the judges, but for the spectators to see what everybody’s coming up with this season.”
Most of the groups put together their shows in December, but others began assembling their set, according to Kohagen, when school started back up again in mid-January.
“Color guard is the most amazing thing: It’s a sport. It’s an art. They make lifelong friendships,” Kohagen said. “They’re learning skills, not just in dance and equipment, but they’re learning time management, how to deal with people. They’re learning how to overcome obstacles and work past things.”
Senior Caitlin Williams, 17, is one of four captains for Valencia this year, and has been in a position of leadership since her junior year.
“I’ve been in color guard for four years. I started my freshman year, and I had a figure skating background of 10 years,” Williams said. “I wanted to be involved in something at school, and I felt that color guard was a good mix of the team aspect and the creative aspect. It’s an effective sport, and I didn’t expect to love it as much as I do. It’s become such an important aspect of my life, and I’ve made these amazing memories with people.”
Williams’ favorite memory includes performing with her color guard team at SoFi Stadium, while recognizing the growth she endured from the more difficult moments of her experience.
“At least for me, it’s the moments coming back from injuries and of doubting myself where I’m like, ‘Oh my God, am I going to be able to do this and not get hurt?’ That’s part of the process,” Williams said.
Terry Collier, booster president for the Valencia High School band and color guard, discussed the tournament and the work that the participants and organizers, such as Saturday’s event organizer, Jennifer Stohl, put in.
“This is an amazing tournament … they’re all just performing with usually popular music, and it’s so exciting because of the creativity that comes along with these groups. Their flag, the visual, the choreography, it’s just incredible,” Collier said. “I really encourage a lot of people to come out and see what this is about. I call it poetry in motion because what these students are doing is incredible.”
For winter color guard, the floors are an essential aspect of the show, often having various colors in coordination with the theme of the performance, as well as going up to 60 by 90 feet. Folding the floor for each school can take minutes, often needing a whole group effort.
“They have these floors that are a part of the props — the strategy of bringing these floors that are so heavy and bringing them in and taking them out again, there’s a strategy for that,” Collier said.
As a parent volunteer herself, Collier thanks the parents who took the time to put on yet again a successful color guard event at Valencia.
“I want to give a shoutout to all of the parent volunteers that are giving their time supporting their children emotionally, physically, donating food, are here early, are the last ones to leave,” Collier said. “The parents that come out and volunteer are a special breed because they’re giving their time — they have full-time jobs and move their schedules around just so that they can be here to help the program thrive. They’re special individuals.”
