OLD ORCHARD BEACH — The groups are made up from marching band color guards that perform in the winter after the marching band season is over. Hence the name Winter Guard.
Their performances can be called graceful, edgy and creative. They’re all different, all finding some niche to call their own, all finding some way to fly a flag, toss a “rifle” or a sabre or do a dance step that sets their team apart from the others.
Teams from several Maine schools came together Sunday at Old Orchard Beach High School for the first Winter Guard meet of the season. There will be two more performances sanctioned by the Maine Band Directors Association.
They dance, they spin flags, they entertain, all the while showing how working together makes a pleasing performance.
Winter Guards have been around since the mid-1970s, according to online sources. Teams compete annually at a world series in Dayton, Ohio.
Sunday’s performances included teams from Sanford High School, Wells High School and Marshwood High School, along with South Portland High School, Edward Little High School in Auburn and Greely Middle School of North Yarmouth. Rounding out the teams was Maine Attraction, a private Winter Guard group that includes students from Old Orchard Beach, Biddeford, Buxton and Westbrook.
Maine Attraction member Luke D’Alessandro is from Biddeford, where the high school no longer has a marching band. Unlike the school-based Winter Guard teams, Maine Attraction takes part in competitions in other states, mostly in Massachusetts, said Director Margaret Pitt.
For the Wells Warriors Winter Guard from Wells High School, Sunday was their first-ever performance. Most of the 17 members are part of the fall color guard that performs with the marching band, said coach Bailey Johnson.
What do members like about it?
Well, what’s not to like, suggested Wells team member Mary Berger.
“It’s fun. You get to dance to music and throw things in the air,” said Berger.
What does Debbie Erwin of Sanford like about Winter Guard?
“Everything” she said.
The performances take lots of practice and a limber body, however. That’s why Maine Attraction and other teams do stretching exercises for 20 to 25 minutes before a performance, said Pitt as her 12-member team, dressed in a variety of reds and oranges, warmed up before their turn.
Performances are set at 10 minutes, which includes set-up. Then the music starts, flags unfurl and movement, choreographed to the beat, triumphs.
Brooke Hume, another member of the Sanford team, said she was in the band in junior high school and learned about color guards at Kid’s Club.
“I like it a lot,” she said.
— Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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