Color guard (flag spinning)

and emotional connections (facial expressions and dance and sometimes voice) to the audience to enhance the meaning and feeling of their show.

[6] One tradition that contributed to color guards in American marching bands is the Swiss art of flag swinging or Fahnenschwingen.

The invention was first featured by the University of Arkansas marching band at the Cotton Bowl on January 1, 1966, and later manufactured by Kraskin Batons of Minneapolis.

Pioneers from these corps traveled to other areas of the country to teach, introducing color guards to more traditional bands.

"[12] The University of Wisconsin, where Leonard Haug first introduced conference flags, has since discontinued the practice of having a color guard.

In a marching band or a drum and bugle corps, the color guard is a non-musical section that provides additional visual aspects to the performance.

The purpose of the color guard is to interpret the music that the marching band or drum and bugle corps is playing via the synchronized work of flags, sabers, rifles, the air blade, by dance, or by using non-traditional equipment specific to the show theme.

carriage bolts or the like- in the bottom and top of the pole to make it easier to toss the flag into the air.

However, even with the weights, weather conditions such as wind and rain can affect a flag's spin and disrupt a toss if not correctly taken into account.

WGI frequently partners with companies that provide services and products to competing groups, as well as leading educators in other fields to highlight the activity.

Winter Guard International, known as WGI "Sport of the Arts", in which teams of highly skilled individuals work to create and perform complex sequences of dance, music, and use of special equipment, such as sabres, rifles, and flags, to compete by division.

[14] This organization refers to winter guard as the "Sport of the Arts" due to the equally athletic and artistic nature of the activity.

Co-founded in 1977 by six people, the goal of WGI was to organize and standardize the activity by creating skill levels, scoring systems, venues, and competitions.

WGI hosts many regional competitions which lead up to the World Championships, a three-day event in which hundreds of winter guard groups come together to compete.

The judging community is a body of professionals who are working to perpetuate the unique experience WGI Sport of the Arts offers.

""On Guard: A Story of American Youth" [15][16][17][18][19][20] is 2023 documentary film directed by Allen Otto and executive produced by Jim Czarnecki.

The film follows the journey of an all-female color guard team at Bel Air High School whose goal is to qualify for the 2020 WGI World Championships, which were ultimately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a performance dedicated to the victims of the 2019 El Paso Shooting.

The film was produced as a collaboration between David Byrne, Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey and Josh Penn.

Color guard members from groups including The Blue Devils, Santa Clara Vanguard, Fantasia, and Diamante were featured on the television show Glee during two musical numbers – Hold It Against Me and Celebrity Skin.