What happens when people dedicated to color guard and winter guard look to pass on their twirling skills to a new generation?
The answer is Element-ary.
Element Winter Guards is a nonprofit organization focused on guard training and performance. While many children get into guard in middle or high school, Element accepts individuals as young as 4 years old.
Though the organization’s founders were Pickerington students and the directors – mother Dorinda Burley and daughters Rebecca Van Horn and Roberta Burley – are Pickerington residents, Element is open to people from all across central Ohio. All instructors are volunteers.
Element was formed in 2004 by a group of friends from Pickerington who sought additional opportunities for performance. When Pickerington High School North opened in 2003, the 45-person color guard team from the 2002-03 school year was split into teams of 20 at North and 23 at Pickerington High School Central. Many of them, including Van Horn, graduated at the end of the 2003-04 school year, which left the schools without enough members for a team.
“When you have 100 band members and only 15 or 16 (guard members), it’s very hard,” Van Horn says.
Roberta and youngest Burley sister Renee were also in guard, as was Dorinda when she was in school.
A year after Element was formed, its group for younger children came about, and it gradually evolved into a teaching organization as well.
Many participants start young and continue all the way through high school and beyond, says Van Horn. A number participate in their middle and high school teams as well as in Element; Pickerington’s high schools have revived their color guard programs in recent years.
The name comes from the initial performance troupe’s name of the Fifth Element, a reference to the 1997 science fiction movie of the same name, of which many of the founders were fans.
Anyone who’s attended a middle or high school football game is familiar with color guard, the marching band-supported twirling group that bolsters team spirit during games. Outside of football season, though, Element participates in winter guard – a similar production, albeit indoors and with recorded music rather than a live band.
Performances must take place in a smaller space, but troupes can enhance their visuals with props and backdrops. Instructors, performers and family members are all involved in the creation of costumes and backdrops.
Flags, rifles and sabers are all part of the Element repertoire, as are ribbons, hoops and dancing.
The directors work to find a role for every performer on the team, and they encourage the older team members to help the younger ones so they can grow as individuals, not just as a team.
“The only thing we ask is that you commit to it,” says Dorinda.
In addition to training, participants also come away from the program with their own flags and costumes, and they get to do quite a bit of traveling for competitions. They’re also assured of a good workout anytime they practice, with lots of movement, spinning and running.
“Practices are very upbeat – you have to use your arms and your upper body constantly,” says Van Horn. “It’s a workout almost every week for each group.”
Other participants have used their time with Element to participate in guard programs in college, go from introverts to extroverts and overcome personal obstacles.
“We’ve had kids with ADD and ADHD finding different ways to cope with that,” says Van Horn. “Chewing gum and spinning helps sometimes.”
Element’s two teams – the Wee Stars, age 4 to sixth grade, and the Fifth Element, seventh grade to age 22 – are currently in the midst of their competition season, which runs from January to March.
Competitions have already taken place at Licking Valley and Olentangy high schools, and forthcoming competitions will occur at Central Crossing High School in Grove City (Feb. 2 and March 10); Springfield High School in Holland (Feb. 16 and 17); Richmond High School in Richmond, Ind.; and Brunswick High School in the town of the same name (March 23). The 2013 guard finals take place at Wapakoneta High School on April 6.
The Fifth Element’s routine this year is set to Pirates and Mermaids by the Blue Sky Project, while the Wee Stars will perform to Stand Out from 1995’s A Goofy Movie.
The schedule picks up again during the Violet Festival, when the group holds a summer camp that ends with a performance during the festival’s parade and on its stage area on Saturday. It also performs during the Holiday Lights Parade in Gahanna in November.
Performances are always on Saturdays and rehearsals are always on Sundays, so participants have plenty of time for other activities that might crowd their schedules, Van Horn says.
Being part of the team has been a great experience, its members say, and it provides a great opportunity for those who do not want to wait until middle school to start.
“I’ve had a flag in my hand since I was 2,” says team member Makayla Estep, a student at Ridgeview Junior High School.
More information on Element can be found on its website, www.elementwinterguardboosters.com.
Garth Bishop is editor of Pickerington Magazine. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
