A Center Grove Tradition
By Jenny Lyons On the eve of WGI Finals, Olivia Gooch sat with her mother, Julie, in the upper echelons of the UD Arena and talked about the looming prospect of finals night with giggly excitement. Her bright young eyes, still framed with vivid pink eyeshadow from her semifinals performance, lit up as she looked […]
WGI Hall of Fame: Daniel Wiles
By Michael Reed For over 30 years, Daniel Wiles has been a WGI mainstay as a performer, instructor and designer. Following successful stints at Lincoln-Way HS and Southport HS, he has led the Avon HS guard since 2000, winning titles in Scholastic World in 2009 and 2018 and Scholastic Open in 2001—in addition to medaling […]
City of Naperville Celebrates Howard and Victoria Mogil
WGI fans will most likely recognize Howie and Vicki from their longtime service at the WGI World Championships. For over 25 years, they have been raising money for the WGI scholarship fund and volunteering for their local color guard circuit. Their hometown of Naperville, IL honored them this past weekend as the Labor Day Parade […]
Putting the “I” in WGI
By Caroline Meister 1978, Hoffman Estates, Illinois—Winter Guard International, known commonly by their acronym, WGI, holds its first ever color guard championships. The organization is practically unknown. 1993, Dayton, Ohio—Fifteen years later, amid growing momentum and recognition, WGI holds its first ever percussion championships. 2015, Dayton, Ohio—WGI, known now as America’s premiere destination for the […]
A Global View: WGI Hosts 2017 Japan Clinic
On Saturday, August 20, WGI Clinician Michael Shapiro hosted an educational clinic in Japan. Eager students from all over the country attended to enhance their color guard skills. “It was a great pleasure to offer multiple classes to the almost 200 students at the Japan Summer Marching Festival,” stated Shapiro. The Festival included a beginner […]
Lights, Camera, Color Guard!
By Jenny Lyons Streaks of white light, rain slicked pavement; a sleek car in deep red, gliding down the street. A beautiful woman in a smooth ponytail grips the steering wheel and stares down the road ahead with a smile and a confident gleam in her eyes. Ariana Grande’s “Bang Bang” plays buoyantly in the […]
Controversial Shows: Northmont 1997
By Dan Schack My original idea to publish a series of interviews through WGI on iconic controversial shows was spawned through one production alone. This production was one I was introduced to almost immediately into my own experience with the indoor activity. It seems as if watching it was a right of passage for the […]
Road to China: James Bowie HS
In May 2019, the James Bowie High School World Guard (Austin, Texas) will be the first and only United States group to perform in WGI Sport of the Arts’ inaugural WGI China Regional, held in Beijing. No stranger to travel, WGI China will be the group’s second international performance. “We could not be more excited about […]
A Beloved Fan Favorite: Aimachi
By Jenny Lyons To performers standing in the tunnel of the Dayton Arena on WGI finals night, with their bare feet standing on the cool cement, hearts pounding with anticipation within their chest, anxious hands reaching out to a wall lovingly speckled with lipstick, and focused minds imagining what lies beyond the thick black curtain […]
Remembering Stanley Knaub: Part III
This is Part III of a three-part series. To read Part I, click here; to read Part II, click here. By Jenny Lyons Stanley Knaub’s legacy lives on not only through his technical contributions, but through the educators who continue to preach his wisdom. Many influential members of the color guard community, such as Karl […]
The Trip of a Lifetime
Edinburg North HS Introduces WGI Winds to China By Michael Reed Many people dream of taking a bucket list trip to an exotic, faraway place. Some want to go to a tropical island, or perhaps the castles of Europe or on an African safari. For the students of Edinburg North HS Winds from Texas, their […]
Remembering Stanley Knaub: Part II
This is Part II of a three-part series. To read Part I, click here. By Jenny Lyons Beyond his generosity within the drum corps activity, Stanley became integral in the creation of Winter Guard International. Not only was he among the six original founders—including Don Angelica, Shirlee Whitcomb, Bryan Johnston, Marie Czapinski and Linda Chambers—Stanley […]
Immersed in Mystique
By Kathryn Hardison They’re gasping; they’re pleading – they need oxygen. Clean air, however, is no longer an option. Because of “the hand of man,” the last of humanity is left to fight for their lives. Music City Mystique’s 2017 production of “The Hand of Man” has brought a dark twist to WGI Percussion World […]
Remembering Stanley Knaub: Part I
By Jenny Lyons “The sun used to stream through the old hatch windows in our gym and light the floor. Someone once told me it meant that Stanley was there.” It is rare that an educator’s influence so clearly and widely transcends generations as that of Stanley Knaub’s. One of the most prolific figures in […]
WGI Celebrates Fabulous 40th Anniversary
By Michael Reed Oh what a glorious season it was! WGI’s hallmark 40th anniversary season is now in the books and it was a season full of memories to last a lifetime. A total of 596 entries participated in 20 different classifications across WGI’s three divisions at two weekends of World Championships. Increasing entries mean […]
You Could Win!!
2017 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
By Jenny Lyons On the eve of WGI prelims, amid the bustle of Championships weekend, members of the color guard activity took pause for a moment to celebrate three prolific creators, the newest inductees into WGI’s hallowed hall of fame: Michael Shapiro, Peggy Twiggs, and Jon Vanderkolff. In introducing Michael Shapiro, Fred Feeney says that […]
Medals May Fade… Friendships Remain
By David Hill To help usher in Winter Guard International’s 40th Anniversary, let’s tell the stories of some of the activity’s first “Super Guards,” each a World Champion: Quasar, Skylarks, Erte, State Street Review, Odyssey, San Jose Raiders, and Emerald Marquis. Who better to remind us all of the impact these units made than the […]
Hall of Fame 2017: Michael Shapiro
By Jenny Lyons What are the elements of a winter guard show that make us, as an audience, remember? We gravitate towards the shows that shock and awe, the ones that show us something we have never seen before, the ones that push the limits of what we thought possible within the arena. We hang […]
WGI 40: Disruptive Design
By David Hill To help usher in Winter Guard International’s 40th Anniversary, let’s tell the stories of some of the activity’s first “Super Guards,” each a World Champion: Quasar, Skylarks, Erte, State Street Review, Odyssey, San Jose Raiders, and Emerald Marquis. Who better to remind us all of the impact these units made than the […]