The 2017 Blackhawks Winterguard team is pictured above: back row – Jasmine White, Destiny Moe, Jr. Captain Renee Farmer, Team Captain Breanne Brandenburg, Chloe Degen, Adriana Salas and Brooklyn Swenson; front row – Juliet Yeoman, Coach Brett Kroeger and Josie Weber.

The Sanborn Central Woonsocket Blackhawks Winterguard team traveled to the Minneapolis area to compete in their first competition of the season in the North Star Circuit (NSC) on Jan. 27. The SCW Winterguard team performed their routine “Insideous Desires” to the song “The Devil Within” by Digital Daggers, and worked to express the meaning of the song with their routine.
The song and performance portray a struggle between the main character and the others. In the beginning, they stalk her and then they come up with a plan to get revenge. The song is about never knowing what will hit you. It’s almost like karma. The audience will witness a combination of slow and creepy to angry and aggressive emotions, like watching a scary movie where you don’t know what will happen to the protagonist.
Winterguard combines the elements of music, dance and military-like precision. In this performance art, guard members perform a choreographed routine using flags, rifles, sabers and other props. In competition, winterguard teams are judged in the areas of talent, precision, creativity and horizontal orchestration (how all the elements create the larger picture/effect).
The NSC Premiere Show competition was at Minnetonka High School, where the team received third place in the Regional Scholastic A division with a score of 45.2.
Winterguard coach Brett Kroeger says, “This third season of Winterguard has been very different from the first two seasons with the addition of four new members. The skill set of the group is very diverse, but they do a great job of bringing it all together to put on an exciting show. We have been playing against the odds with the weather and our scheduled practices. It always amazes me how hard the girls work at practice, never getting bored, and trying to make every new rep even better!”
The Winterguard team travels back to the Minneapolis area on Feb. 11 to compete in two shows, the Eclipse Show at St. Cloud and the Sauk Rapids Show.