Breaking Down the Flag Toss

It was heard in rehearsal over the weekend; "I've never put this much thought into a flag toss before."

That's kind of what you have to do when you are moving up from a less competitive position to one that is more competitive though, right? You have to think about things more in-depth and move through them with more conscious effort until you can adjust and change your muscle memory to fit the new technique - the technique that is synchronized across your whole team. When you are operating as an independent team as we do at Spintronix, it's an incredible step we must take since students come to us from a wide range of programs with incredible variability in their own techniques.

Simply looking at a plain 3-count single toss on flag, here are the steps we might cover to match our technique:

1. The prep position. Holding the flag at a shoulder-hip angle before we toss. What is the EXACT degree of the angle that the flag is held at? We have three versions of "45 degrees" (or shoulder-hip or slam) that we use and they range from loose (aka "seatbelt"), to a true 45 angle, to tight (aka "Scott tight"). Once it's at the correct angle, also make sure it is the proper distance from the body, then you must look at the height of the pole in relation to the body. Finally check the left to right position; is the tab of the pole centered on your body or slightly to one side? What if you have shorter or taller members though???

2. Hand positions. Having the flag at the correct angle and properly centered on the body is only the beginning! Where are your hands on the pole? For us, we have the right hand under the pole, palm up, 12" into the silk, thumb pressed onto the back side of the pole. Then we look at the left hand, which should be over the pole, palm down, halfway (18") between the tab and bottom tip, thumb pressed on the pole. Maybe you have your left hand palm forward, maybe there's a 120 degree angle in your right elbow... You can change up these positions all you want, so long as everyone on your team has their hands EXACTLY the same.

Now I want to take a break from the list for a moment and point out a couple of things. First, I'm going through this with the assumption that we've already established consistent posture, hip turn out, feet spacing, head angle, and so on. Notice secondly that I said FOR US at the beginning of the second step. That's because every team is going to have their own techniques and some may be slightly different from others. Some may be vastly different. The two most important things to keep in mind with technique are consistency from performer to performer, and injury prevention. As long as you are achieving those two goals, I don't care if your guard has technique that requires them to always toss from the tip, it's right for your team so it's correct.

Ok, back to the list...

3. Follow through with the supporting hand. How hard does everyone push with their left hand? A more forceful push is going to create a tighter and faster spin in the air. Less of a push will make a slower, more gentle rotation. While we're at it, where does that left hand go after it is done pushing? We place ours at our side, but I've seen palm back, palm to leg, hand on hip, slap the legs, and even teams that actually grab hold of the outseam of their pants!

4. Release point. This can become an area of hot debate among even the most seasoned of guard instructors! Sometimes teams will take their release hand into an arc before releasing, others will lift their hand straight up, in a line perpendicular to the ground. I prefer the second way, but there are also instances where we might use the first to create a specific effect. And then, at the point when you actually let go of the flag, how high is your hand in relation to your face, what angle is it at, and what shape is it making? The shape is something we might adjust for each show character. For instance, in 2016 when we did the Spectrum show, we released our equipment with our palms flat to the audience, fingers straight in the air, then lifted both hands above the head to make a triangle shape with our fingers and thumbs under the toss. Then for Ipanema in 2017, it was tucking both hands behind the head with elbows up. 2018 saw us covering our mouths in "shock" during our show Severance. You don't have to change your free hands with the show theme though, you can simply have a technique release hand that you do under every toss. My recommendation if you want to do this would be to have the forearm straight up, perpendicular to the earth, and a palm flat to the audience with the fingers pointed straight to the sky. Some instructors may prefer to make a fist underneath for their basic, but I have found that this causes my students to try to use the flick of their hand to get the proper number of rotations instead of using the push of the left hand as it comes down.

Then there is catching! You need to go back through and check all of these things again when the guard catches their flag as well. One of my biggest pet peeves is when we perform a rep of something (and this can be anything from basics to tossing to choreography) and at the end the students immediately move. Make sure you are teaching your students the discipline to stay frozen at the end of a rep so they can be checked for consistency and cleanliness there as well.

I hope that this break down can be helpful for some instructors, and even students! If you need to actually see these details by watching videos, check our YouTube Channel @SpintronixGuard for free videos covering several different tosses. WGI also created a DVD that goes into depth about these concepts with their top clinicians and designers; you can order one of your own here
https://shop.wgi.org/products/wgi-toss-dvd.html

Let me know if you are interested in seeing future posts about specific topics!

<3 Jackie

Spintronix Indoor Guard 2019: Weekend One

As I write this it is 6:00pm on a Saturday afternoon and not only is Angelica clean, all of the kids gone, and the doors locked, but I have already gone home, showered, and eaten dinner! I am all about this life right now. I am also incredibly exhausted from the first weekend of rehearsal with the Winter Guard.

We had more students than ever auditioning for a spot on the team this year. It was so sad to have to make the call on who to cut! But we got it done, and have selected 23 students who seem very mature and dedicated to putting on a really good show this year. The pressure has really been on to make sure that we have all of our ducks in a row early this year because not only are we moving up to the independent a class, we are also attending our first WGI show ever! I get asked every year if we are going to any WGI regionals and this is the first time I will be able to respond yes!

The weekend was a good one. It was really exciting because everyone is still getting to know each other, and everything is so new! Everyone who was able to come got to choose their beds for the season and meet their buddies. We did a fun little icebreaking activity that helped everyone get a little better acquainted, and we also revealed the show to all of the members present! This year, I think We have put in more work on the show in the preseason time period than we have for any previous show. I, personally, I am really emotionally invested in this show concept and design so I really hope that the judges receive it well! It makes quite a statement about who we are as a colorguard but also gives everyone something to be invested in throughout our circuit. It is going to be interesting next weekend because I don’t think any of our members have any more band competitions and there are only a couple of football games left to draw them away on Friday nights for halftime performances.

The majority of our time was spent working through our technique on flag and dance, and also introducing technique on rifle. Next weekend we will be having auditions for the rifle line. There are definitely some students who are going to be out for blood at the rifle auditions, but I hope that everyone at least tries! That is honestly what counts, even if you are absolutely 100% positive that you would not be selected for the team or the line, just the fact that you put yourself out there and allowed someone else to judge your abilities against others is incredible. Many teenagers and young adults would prefer to run screaming in the other direction than subject themselves to that.

One weekend down, only 19 left in the entire season!

<3 Jackie

Dear Band Director, an open letter from your Guard Instructor

Dear Band Directors,

We know you have a lot on your plate, and you want your band to be incredible. You've seen every single BOA and DCI show and you just know that there are some elements that you can incorporate into your high school band that would be simple and ramp up your scores at your next competition. However, often the role of the color guard is not always well understood in these situations. Yes, a simple step out, bend at the knees, and lean to the side is easy for your band, to add, but what I'm talking about is changing the music, changing the drill, and expecting the color guard to have brand new choreography for a new show every single week.

My first disclaimer is that I know that not all of these points are going to apply to all color guards everywhere in the world. Some are able to surpass all expectation and simply be incredible on every level for every second of every day. Awesome, applause for them because they are who we all aspire to be. This post is about the rest of us.

First of all, often band directors equate writing color guard choreography to be as simple as writing body visuals for the band. This needs to stop. Writing color guard choreography needs to be equated more to writing the actual music for the band members to play. Sure, we can toss in an extra sixteen counts if we need to elongate a hold or make more of an impact statement, but if you want to bring a whole new song to the field in a week, you need to realize that the color guard choreography is going to be written as if they are writing an entirely original piece of music. Most people cannot just pull up color guard choreography on the J.W. Pepper site and hand it out to all of the guard members and say "learn this" and go on with their day. They have to listen to the music, look at the drill, and write the choreography to fit the piece.

Secondly, and this is a HUGE pet peeve of mine, your guard needs to be instructed in their basics before they can learn complex choreography. And in case you didn't understand the first time; THE GUARD NEEDS TO LEARN THEIR BASICS!!! Show of hands, how many band directors have ever thrown a student into the marching band who had never memorized a fingering, played a scale, mastered a playing test, and/or learned the special technique that is necessary to make all of the marching look uniform? Nobody? Really? Then why do you expect to have a good color guard when you have students show up, learn the choreography for an entire 4-minute show in one day, and have never even spun a flag before? Can it be done? You bet it can and I see it all the time. But it's overall damaging to your program because those students have no basis, no foundational skills that allow them to understand the physics of the activity and apply that to all choreography. Your guard instructor probably spends hours upon hours simply trying to get them to clean a simple move involving drop spins with body because your guard never learned the fundamentals of a drop spin. A well-trained guard is faster at learning new choreography and faster at getting it to go around together cleanly than a guard who only learns their show choreography each year.

Finally, please respect your guard staff as professionals. I have been hired to help improve dozens of guard programs over the years, and some of the least successful ones were due to the band director looking down on the guard instructor rather than seeing them as a valuable member of the staff. The guard instructor should be involved in your major visual decisions, or at least informed of them well in advance if not allowed to help make those decisions. They should also be respected on the field in front of the students. Please don't refer to your instructors as being "emotional" or "dramatic" because the students will pick up on that as well and begin to disrespect them too. All students, not only the guard members, need to respect the guard instructor as an adult member of the teaching staff.

I hope this can be helpful to those of you who are stuck in a rut with your program due to misunderstanding of the position of the guard instructor by the band director. Or misunderstanding of the skills that the guard needs in order to be successful in your trade. Good skill to all of you out there!

<3 Jackie

Designing Show Makeup for your Color Guard

So you have a color guard.  At this point in the season you’ve probably gotten about halfway through setting your show.  Uniforms have been picked, silks have been taped.  Perhaps your program is already looking ahead to winter season.  You feel like you’re prepared, but do you have your show makeup picked out? It may seem like a small part of the bigger picture, but makeup is the part of the uniform that helps bring everything to life. 

You might be saying “But Sam!! How important can makeup really be?”  The answer is very important.  It helps pull the look of the guard together to make it look finished.  It helps the guard convey emotions to the judges and every spectator.  It can transform a regular member into a mermaid or a skeleton or whatever you need to be for that 10-minute show.

Now that I have convinced you of the importance of makeup you’re probably saying “Sam, that’s great and all, but where do I start?”  And that is what I’m here to help you with.

Step 1:  know how to apply makeup.  If you do your own makeup on occasion (yes even just that concealer and foundation counts!) then congratulations.  You’re on your way.  If you don’t, fret not.  The internet is a wonderful place full of tons and tons of resources.  Pintrest, Youtube, and even a quick Google search will return tons and tons of results to help you start learning.  Knowing how to apply even the most basic makeup is helpful because you know which products go where on your face (liquid lipstick is not great eyeliner, trust me).  

 

Step 2:  consider your theme.  Different themes require different kinds of makeup.  You wouldn’t do a full face of white grease makeup for a patriotic show and you wouldn’t do strong eyeliner and red lips for a show about light and dark.  Start thinking about the color pallet you want to use and what will look best. *Side note that nude makeup is NEVER a good idea.  I’ll touch more on it in Step 4.

 

Step 3:  Consider the skill level of your guard.  You don’t want to pick out something ridiculous that no one will be able to accomplish to an appropriate level.  Sure, you sent them those pictures off of pintrest from that makeup artist, but if none of your kiddos know what a blending brush is it may not turn out great.  There are ways to get around this including scheduling a sectional to do the makeup together to make sure everyone is self-sufficient, but if not everyone can get perfectly contoured cheekbones you may need to take a step back.  You can typically still get your theme across without going all out.

 

Step 4:  Picking the show makeup.  This is the step that takes the longest for me.  I tend to watch movies or shows related to the theme and look through a lot of pintrest.  (This year I pulled out all of my Halloween movies early!)  Typically I pick each part of the makeup separately, then I start putting them together to make sure they work.  If they don’t I keep the parts I like best and reconsider what really isn’t working.  Here’s the order I pick the makeup.

1. Foundation.  Are you using skin tones, or will your entire face be blue?  This is what will help set the mood for the rest of your face.  If you’re not sure, your normal skin tone is never a bad idea.

2. Contour.  Will you be doing it?  This is completely optional, but sometimes it adds more.  You can overdo it to make incredible sharp cheekbones, or to soften everyone’s faces.  If your show is a little more on the creepy side you can use contouring skills to make your face gaunt looking.

3. Eyes.  At the bare minimum eyeliner and mascara is a must.  Judges need to be able to see your eyes from the press box or the top of the gym.  Also consider if your eye makeup is going past just your eyelids.  Will it reach the eyebrows or go below the lower water line?  If you aren’t doing color on the lids, but want something dramatic falsies are the way to go!

4. Lips. This is probably the most expressive part of the whole look. You need to select a color that is easily visible from the box.  Nude or very light pink lips are never a good choice because it covers up so much of the expression you could be portraying.  Even if the whole guard has Miss America worthy smiles plastered on their face the whole time you’d never be able to tell with a nude lip.  (Also consider doing something that’s not typical lipstick like drawing on your smile/frown, etc).

5. Eyebrows.  If you already have dark eyebrows or your eye makeup comes up far enough that you don’t need to mess with them, then congrats.  You’re already done.  If you aren’t doing anything with eyebrows though I’d suggest making the people with super blonde ones fill them in a little darker.  It makes a difference!

6. Any other additions.  This is where you decide if your look is finished.  If you’re happy with it as is, congrats!  If you feel like you’re missing something maybe consider drawing shapes on your cheeks or foreheads. (Did you know you can get that pretty diamond pattern by stretching mesh over your face and brushing on the desired product?)  Also don’t forget about those rhinestones! 

Step 5:  Products.  Congratulations!  You have officially designed your show makeup.  Now you should think about which products you use.  Many guard instructors don’t care what their guard uses as long as its similar and some demand that everyone buy the same exact product.  This is honestly personal preference and my game plan is to tell the group what products I use and like and let them bring in their own in order to swatch products to see if they look the same.   I highly suggest this method if your guard is super diverse.  You want to make sure the look is good for everyone, regardless of skin tone.

I have several favorite products for both every day and show use.  I really try to use cruelty free products, so I hope my list will reflect this.

Foundation/Face

• Nyx

o Stay Matte but not Flat foundation (This one got me through my last winter guard season)

o Wonder Stick (for highlight/contour)

o Highlight and Contour Pro Pallete

• Hard Candy

o Glamoflauge concealer (I’m not entirely sure if they’re still making it, but if so it’s good).

o Conceal and Correct Pallete

• Tarte

o Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Foundation 15spf (Pricey, but good! I wore this in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Tournament of Roses Parade!)

Eyes (There are more brands out there than Morphe, but that’s basically all I own!)

• Morphe (I think they’re finally getting into Ulta, but ordering online is the easiest I think)

o I own the 35B, 35S, and 12P palletes. (I believe they actually quit making all of these, but their stuff is super affordable and pigmented)

Lips

• Nyx

o Liquid Suede Lipsticks (The color Cherry Skies looks great on everyone I swear!)

o Liquid Suede Metallics (These have a serious shine)

• ColourPop (online orders only)

o Ultra Matte Lipsticks (Put some chapstick on before you use these)

Eyebrows

• Nyx (I own A LOT of Nyx stuff, sorrynotsorry).

o Tinted Brow Mascara (This is an easy one swipe application and it comes in a light enough shade to not clash with my red hair!)

Other Stuff

Don’t be afraid to try other fun things.  My girls this season are using some grease makeup that you can find at Party City for Halloween.  There’s also lots of brands of cosmetic glitter (I’ve never used any, but I know they’re out there).  You can also glue rhinestones or flower petals or whatever your heart desires to your face with some eyelash glue.  Have fun with it, just remember to use cosmetic grade products!

 

Thanks for bearing with me through this essay.  Hopefully now you have all the tools you need in order to design some truly kick butt show makeup.  Have a great rest of your fall season and get ready for winter!!

❤️ Sam

Music Licensing and Winter Guard

Hello friends!
I have had about six different people asking the Spintronix page about this topic in the last two days so I want to go ahead and give you guys some real talk on this topic here as well; MUSIC LICENSING!
I am not an expert by any means, but I have done a lot of research and I have chosen a music license for my independent team based on that research, and I would strongly encourage you to do your own research so you know what is required of your team. I just wish there was an easy way that someone could have spelled it out for me when I was first starting my own research.

Some websites where you can start (you can Google any of these and find them easily):
ASCAP
BMI
MusicBed
CopyCat
Tresona
SESAC

Some of the people are more helpful than others, some of the sites more thorough than others, and some of the licenses cover vastly different operations.
For instance, if you want to have music playing in the lobby of your gymnasium where parents wait to pick their kids up from practice, and you also want to be able to play different tracks in your rehearsals (say, during dance class or to do your basics block), those are two different music licenses. Those music licenses may even need to be held by different entities depending on your situation. If you want to film your private run-throughs and then send them to your staff, volunteers, students, etc. and you also want to film your public performances to sell DVDs, those can be another two completely separate licenses.

At Spintronix, we have a custom-built dance studio license that covers all of the music we use in rehearsals, and that license is extended to cover every single Spintronix-certified instructor no matter where they are located in the U.S. It also covers all live performances of the Spintronix Indoor Guard. However, we have to file for a separate license that is specific to our show song when we want to film our shows and post them online (hence why we haven't done a lot of trying to make mixes and such yet, which many other guards do). In the dance community, the circuit is required to hold the music licenses to permit public performances, and I believe WGI does hold blanket licenses in this regard, but just know that not every single song you could possibly choose is covered under those blanket licenses. Also, not every color guard circuit in the country holds blanket licenses, so check with your circuit to see if they hold a blanket license or if they simply require each group to have their own proof of music license.

The WGI website has a really great resource if you follow this path on their site:
WGI --> Color Guard --> Management --> Requirements --> Copyright
They have some links to other information that will help with copyright legalities and license research. And if you find that the song you want to use is really expensive (last year we wanted to use "Sign of the Times" by Harry Styles, that license was $1200 - that ain't going to work with my hillbilly budget) don't forget that covers are an awesome option! We found that Sabrina Carpenter and Jasmine Thompson recorded a beautiful cover of that song and it was WAAAAY less!

Anyway, I hope this is helpful to all of you as you are preparing for a season of fall indoor or winter guard. And if you have more information to share or more questions, please do share! There are a lot of entities who have been nailed with copyright violations recently, all because nobody really understood the copyright rules in the first place. And like I said, I'm not any sort of be-all expert on the topic, I just realize its importance. Opening this discussion could potentially save some tails in the long run, especially when a lot of us are running smaller guards at smaller schools and couldn't afford to take a financial hit or bad press like that.

<3 Jackie

SIG18 Opening Contest Weekend!

This weekend was a wonderful weekend for Spintronix Indoor Guard; We had our first contest of the season! On Friday night, we had our rehearsal, which was shorter than usual (We went to bed earlier so we could be contest- ready). We made sure to work through choreography that we struggled with to make sure we had it. We then blocked the show and had a timed run-through. Rehearsal was finished around 10:45 and lights out was at 11:00, so I decided to do some journaling and meditation before going to bed. 

The next morning, we left at 8:00 AM for Republic. We were running a tiny bit behind so as soon as we got there, we ran to find the guard we had agreed to help with floor. We found them just in time. Things were kind of a blur between time to get ready and performance time. I remember my heart beating really heavy and quick; I was so nervous for the performance, even though I have been doing this for two years. You never quite get over the pre- performance butterflies and the adrenaline rush during the performance. I dropped once, but overall had one of the best runs I’ve had this season, so far. After our performance was captain’s retreat, and we won first place! We were so excited! Although we won, we have quite a bit to improve on and we know we will only go up from here! 

          We celebrated by having dinner at iHop. The waitress we had was really nice and funny. It was my first time eating there and the food was really good. I loved how amazing our waitress was. The night was filled with good friends, good food, and lots of laughs. I’m glad to be a part of this group and I’m very excited to see what else we do this season!

- Cas