Should I hire a choreographer?

If you are a director - whether it be of a marching band, color guard, dance studio, theatre, or any other performing arts organization - there has probably been a point in time where you had the thought "Should I hire a choreographer?" If you've had that thought, the answer is probably yes. But there are some things that you should do in order to have a successful experience with that choreographer.

1. Have a vision in mind.
With a clear vision, you can move forward with your choreographer and achieve the product that you are most desiring. If you don't have a clear vision yet, it's definitely possible that a choreographer can help you get there, but keep in mind that you need to be very open to communication, and some choreographers consider this a part of their design services any may charge extra for it.

2. Have materials to send.
Knowing how many students you have and what level they are on is a great start to having information to send to your choreographer. Unless you are hiring them for design services as well, most choreographers also require you send them some sort of map of the show design before they can write anything. In marching band, this will be your drill. In winter guard, your staging. In theatre, your blocking. This can often be seen via video or pdf file. You should also send all scores and/or recordings to your music.

3. Know what everyone is wearing.
Again, costuming is usually considered a design service and an extra charge for your choreographer to do that as well. If you are simply choosing costumes from a catalog or you already have them designed, make sure that your choreographer can see pictures (or even better videos!) of the costuming. Dresses lend themselves to very different choreography over pants, and things like sequins, loose fabric, sheer panels, and anything else can come into play.

4. Set deadlines.
Make sure that your deadlines are reasonable. If you have ever written a piece of music, a story, or created something else artful before, keep in mind that choreographing is an art form and it does take some time to create quality work, then deliver it. On the other hand, you don't want your deadline to be the first day of your camp or clinic as some choreographers who are overbooked might put off working on your piece until the last minute if it is a later deadline than other clients.

5. Find a quality choreographer.
It's not always easy to trust what a person says about themselves online. Finding a choreographer with the skill, ability, training, and time can be quite a task. That's why Spintronix is seeking to ease the burden of this part through the Instructor Database. In a simple search, you will be able to see verified certifications, experience, and reviews of a large number of instructors, designers, and choreographers.

We can't wait to see what you and your team puts together in their performance this season. If there is any way that we can help, please contact us!

Major website changes!

Good morning, spinthusiasts! Welcome back to our blog and come check out some of the fairly major changes we have made to our website over the long weekend. Here's a little summary of some of the useful items that are here so you don't get lost:

CONTACT MENU
Under Contact you will find a couple of new pages that will help you get more involved with the Spintronix community both online and in real life.
          The first is a project we have been working on for a long time and are so pleased to finally open to the public (in beta format) - the INSTRUCTORS DIRECTORY! Here you can browse an entire directory filled with guard instructors, performers, Spintronix staff, and more. This should make life much easier when searching for someone to help with your show, getting your name out then when you are a beginning instructor, and collaborating with other instructors to put color guard content into the world. Some cool features that this will be capable of over time include:

• Certification badges on personal profiles to provide reliable access to certified instructors.
• Ability to list experience and links to work samples like videos of past shows.
• Searchability of profiles.

Currently, if you would like to have certification badges show on your personal profile, send your certification documentation in an e-mail to director@spintronixguard.org in order to have them added. Eventually, we will set those up so you can have them verified through our website!
          The second page is one we are very excited about - it is an overhaul of our APPLY page. Here you can see what volunteer positions Spintronix is currently seeking to fill. If you are interested in paid positions, definitely fill out an application as those paid positions are more rare and are generally filled from our volunteer pool when they do open.

PROGRAMS
Here you may notice that we have removed some of our pages that are not currently active. We still have those programs, so don't fear! We are simply overhauling the way those pages function so they are easier to access, easier to use, and have all of the information in one place instead of scattered all over social media. Some of these programs include:

• Summer camp
• Single-day clinics
• Instructor Certification
• Plus more coming soon!

These pages will be overhauled and then made available as they are ready for the upcoming events.

STORE
Our store is full of merch that we have been building up all summer! Go check it out (it does lead you to our store on teespring.com, which is a separate website but still totally secure and they will make your awesome items for you to be shipped directly to your house).

SITE SEARCH
Top right hand corner of the website. You can find anything we have on our site!

LOGIN
We finally have site memberships! You can log into yours using Google, Facebook, or your e-mail address. This will help you keep track of your service orders, events, certifications, and so on through our site. Just use the Log-in button on the top right corner (under site search) to create your account and log in to edit your profile.

We hope that all of these new improvements and services will help you along the way to be more involved and informed in the world of performing arts! If you have any feedback please don't hesitate to contact us using our contact form and let us know what you think. We are working hard to constantly improve our site and sources to give you the best experience - and best of all, it's FREE to use!

<3 Jackie

Stress and Your Students

I recently had the pleasure of sitting in a presentation given by Dr. Romie, a physician from Orlando, FL who has made herself known as a life coach through her breakthrough research on the physical and chemical effects of stress on the brain. She has some incredible articles about this and other closely related topics on her blog on her website http://www.brainbodybeauty.com if you want to go check them out. The biggest take away I got from her speech was how a very small and slight addition of just three minutes of detachment from the stressors of the world can have an incredible affect on the level of senseless neural activity in the brain.

This will look different when implemented in different teams, so what might this look like on your team? 

Well, at Spintronix we always pause and take deep breaths as a team right before we do a run through, no matter if it is in rehearsal, at a contest, or even just a partial run of the show. We also implement a full 15-minute yoga practice in each weekend rehearsal. Not only does it help with sore muscles, but it clears their lungs and clears their minds to help everyone sleep (since all of our rehearsals are sleep-away). When I was marching DCI we had a staff member who insisted we get daily meditation time as a color guard, and honestly I think that's what kept a lot of our members from beginning overwhelmed by the experience. I've also recently heard from a director who has his guard do a light zen meditation once per week, adding ten seconds each week to increase their endurance for sitting still and being focused.

As you can see, this is something that can be implemented in the way that best suits your team. With the prevalence of stress and anxiety disorders in our society today, why not take a few minutes to take care of the mental health of your students? But don't take my word for it, go see what Dr. Romie has to say.

❤️ Jackie 

The Truth About Showering in Drum Corps

When I first thought about auditioning for a corps, showering was one of the things I was scared of. Who wouldn’t be? You’re butt naked in front of a bunch of other people. So I looked into it. Most of the threads and stories I saw said, “everyone showers, it’s not a big deal,” or, “it’s only awkward if you make it awkward.” The truth is, not all of us can take the awkwardness out of our heads. I want to help people not feel so scared about it, so here’s how it goes. You come back from rehearsal and for most corps, snack and shower will be in the same block (block is basically just a period of time). Before or after you’ve had your snack, it’s time for the showers *dun dun dunnnnnn*. You gather all of your toiletries and walk in there. There are a few types of showers. They can be big, or small-dirty, or clean. 

Here are a few that I experienced during tour:

-Individual showers with curtains (yessss)

-One big, open room with shower heads on the wall

-A big room with rows of walls and shower heads

-A column with shower heads around it, pointing outward 

-A room with columns with walls coming up in a * shape, sectioning off the shower heads

Now you’re in the shower. Let’s talk about shower etiquette. Leave your phone. Don’t bring your phone into the shower. It’s a common knowledge thing, but I’ve seen people do it. It just makes others uncomfortable. If you need to keep time, someone will probably have a watch. Next, don’t be afraid to talk, or even sing. It may seem weird at first, but sometimes it can ease your mind. If you’re waiting for a shower, don’t sit there and stare at people who are currently in the shower. It just makes things weird. Sometimes you’ll be on a time crunch and have to shower with other people in a small space. It gets very personal to say the least. Not much you can do about that except take a fast shower. To wrap this up, it will be weird at first. People are all different shapes, colors, sizes...so you shouldn’t feel self conscious. In the end, it’s something everyone has to do, and everyone’s focused on one thing - showering.

Submitted by Payton Abner

Follow on Instagram: @justmarchingbandthings

I Quit Because it Hurt my Knees - The Importance of Injury Prevention in Color Guard

Knee injuries are so prevalent in the color guard world. Every year it amazes me how many students drop out and/or quit because they hurt their knees by performing movements incorrectly. Oftentimes, doctors who don't understand dance and the mechanics behind it (or behind how it SHOULD be done) advise their patients to completely stop dancing in order to prevent an injury. However, this can result in a weakening of the tissue of the knee and become even more prone to injury! Resting an injured joint is definitely one option to go about healing it, but don't let yourself become lazy. Using the joint is the only way to get it back up to good working order, just make sure to start slow and work your way up if you've had a serious injury.

The best way to go about dealing with a knee injury is to prevent it from happening in the first place. To do this, there are several things you need to do consistently as part of your movement technique.
1. Keep your knees over your toes. Whether you are in a jazz first or you use turn-out, any time your knees bend, they should be aligned directly over your toes. To check for this, look down without curving your back. If you can see your big toe on the inside of your knees, then you are great!
2. Always bend your knees to jump AND to land. Bending your knees to jump is just helpful in getting off the ground in general, however a lot of guard members I see have a really hard time landing on a bent knee. Bending the knee on the landing will help your knee operate as the shock absorber that it is built to be.
3. Place your feet, don't stomp them. Have you ever heard someone walking around like a herd of elephants? They are probably going to have knee problems in the future. Be conscious of how you walk, run, dance, jump, and so on. Make sure you are always placing gently and carrying your weight so you don't plow it into the ground with every step.
4. Don't take painkillers before practice. This might sound counter-intuitive, but taking painkillers before you practice will cause your body to be unable to tell your brain anything about pain. This means if you do get an injury or you aggravate an old injury, you won't know until it's very serious. If you have to take painkillers, I strongly suggest that you only use them about 20 minutes before you go to sleep, and ice the painful area after taking them.

I hope this helps you all in your seasons! It's something I try to impress upon my students, especially since our rehearsal space has a concrete floor in it. I have had some students come through and absolutely destroy their knees by not using them properly, but I've had far more students able to change their techniques to help prevent knee damage. It's up to you as a performer to take care of your body, and up to you as an instructor to help other students learn how to do the same.

Disclaimer: this article is not intended as medical advice, as we are not doctors! If you have injured yourself doing color guard and/or dance, you should definitely go see a doctor about it - just find one who is used to dealing with dancers!

#SIG19 Presents "Show Me"

Spintronix Indoor Guard (SIG) proudly announces their 2019 production, “Show Me,” featuring “Songs About Missouri” by Michael Tyler. Executive director Jackie Brown explains the show concept as an homage to their Missouri roots: “Our team is diverse, so we decided to focus on what really unites us,” states Brown. She is joined by assistant director Anna Carter in leading the team in their ninth competitive season and their WGI debut.

Justin Surface constructed the design and staging for “Show Me,” his fourth production for the two-time MCCGA Independent Regional A Champions, with additional assistance from Merideth Stoecker and Leah Cunigan. New to Spintronix this year is WGI veteran designer and consultant Michael Vazquez, lending his expertise to assist SIG in their move from IRA into the Independent A scene.

Tune in to the SpintronixGuard YouTube channel every Wednesday to see the show come together during their weekly vlog. Or catch SIG live at one of the following competitions this season:

• January 19, Francis Howell North High School, St. Louis, MO
• February 9, Ozark High School, Ozark, MO
• March 2, Nixa High School, Nixa, MO
• March 9, WGI Regional, Willard High School, Willard, MO
• March 23, Kickapoo High School, Springfield, MO
• March 30, Mid-Continent Color Guard Association Championships, Springfield, MO

For more information, visit spintronixguard.org or follow on social media @SpintronixGuard.

Read the original WGI press release here.

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