By Luke Williams
Around 40 years ago, Delta’s marching band was formidable, going to state level competitions with both their band and color guard. However during the 1990s, the band slowly started to get less and less attention, until the marching band was something of the past.
Now that the marching band has been reestablished, there’s still one thing left to rebuild.
In years past, including this school year, the color guard was attached onto the woodwinds class, and they went to work on color guard routines whenever they could. However, starting next school year, Delta will provide a specific “dance” class for color guard performers.
“This class is going to offer a place for the people competing during the winter,” says Ms. Dottie Schuler, color guard director. “A place to practice every single day; (this year) we couldn’t practice after school every single day due to other sports and conflicts.”
Whereas previously they were relegated to simply practicing after school with the marching band, now they will have a class that will meet daily.
Color guard is a part of the marching band that involves all the visual components of a performance. These can include flag waving, dancing or using other props for a certain show.
The difficulty of meeting up wasn’t the only challenge facing the color guard. An additional challenge was getting the dance class up to state standards.
“You can’t just create classes out of thin air. They have to match state standards of what classes can be offered and taught in public school,” says band director Zach Enos. “So we had to find the class that matched the closest that could do color guard, [which] turned out to be a dance class.”
This class has been talked about previously by Enos and the school board. According to Enos, they have been discussing this class for about two years, as it takes time for the approval process.
Delta’s previous marching band was successful, but at some point in Delta’s history, it slowly started to stop receiving attention.
“[The marching band is] kind of like the dinosaurs, I can’t figure out what happened. It just disappeared,” Enos says. “It was gone by the mid ’90s, and I don’t think it was an asteroid like the dinosaurs, but it definitely was just wiped off.”
Freshman Jocelyn Moody says that she is excited about the introduction of credit hours
The dance class will also be a two-semester class, as there is much to do over the course of a full school year.
This class will be available for everyone to take next year, according to Schuler. “I would say that the limit would be as long as you try out (for color guard), then it’s for anyone that makes it.”
Tryouts are on March 29 and March 30 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., and March 31 from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
