An Unyielding Passion
March 11, 2010
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By Angela Capton
In some ways, Kristina Blalack’s experience has been similar to the average teenagers’, but her unyielding passion for performing has helped her overcome obstacles and launch her to new heights of maturity and appreciation.
Blalack has been a member of Flanagan High School’s winter guard for the past four years. However, she was a competitive baton twirler throughout elementary and middle school. When she first joined her high school’s guard, she was able to quickly learn to spin sabre because of her long history of twirling. Once she had the basics, she was able to excel and blend her twirling and guard skills. “I've become recognized as the ‘Turn-Around Girl’ in our local circuit,” she explains, “because I've had a multiple turn-around solo in each show since I've been marching.”
Many performers deal with difficult situations throughout their marching career, but nothing’s been more influential on Blalack than the passing of her best friend and boyfriend, Myles Davis. They shared a passion for the marching arts and since his passing, Blalack has dedicated each performance to his memory. “It is almost as though through his passing, I've become immersed again in an expression of my emotions that words could never communicate,” she described. “As a result, I remember each day that color guard is more than spinning to counts and putting choreography to music; it's speaking a language that no one understands but you and your audience.”
Her renewed passion for the activity has intensified her motivation and appreciation for performing. Even when school and other commitments become stressful, Blalack is able to channel that energy into constructive use. “If my life outside of guard has affected my performance in anyway,” she explains, “it has most certainly been in a positive light, allowing me to catch stronger, stretch longer, dance lighter, or move faster.”
For Blalack, color guard has been irreplaceable: “Without color guard in my life now, I don't believe I'd have been half of the places I have been since my involvement, both literally and figuratively speaking.” From being a means of paying homage to a lost love to an outlet for daily stresses, Blalack has had an incredible journey, enriched through performing. “I'm able to express myself in a way that not everyone at my school understands except the other 28 kids I perform with,” she continued, “I'd say color guard is much more than a hobby, but it's become a way of life.”
She’s learned and grown immeasurably throughout her performing career. Blalack has made a name for herself in the color guard activity, coped with what could have been a debilitating loss, and was able to engross herself in her passions. After everything, she was able to articulate the one idea that’s powered her through: “The most important lesson I've learned during my involvement is that everything we do as human beings has life. Through our passion, we breathe life into every aspect of our existence.”
