By Nandini Kuppachi,
The Prowler Arts Editor
Bridgewater-Raritan High School was the main attraction on Saturday, March 8.
On this day, a total of 45 winter guard teams from throughout New Jersey as well as New York participated in the Bridgewater-Raritan High School Home Show in Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s Vaughn Stapleton Gymnasium.
The field was the largest ever to participate in Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s annual and highly popular event.
Nick Mossa, who is the Band Director along with Dr. Tom Bourgault at Bridgewater-Raritan High School, was impressed with the number of spectators and performers and the crew who were on site to lend their valuable support.
“By the numbers, we had just over 1,800 people on campus for the event, including performers from 45 different winter guards, their staff, volunteers from our Bridgewater-Raritan High School community, and spectators,” This was our biggest guard show we've ever hosted and it couldn't have happened without your support and assistance before and during the event!”
The competition started at 12:30 p.m. and lasted until 9:30 p.m., but students of the Bridgewater-Raritan High School were there as early as 10 a.m. to begin preparations, which Mr. Mossa touched on.
Along with serving as the host for the competition and presenting the awards, the Bridgewater-Raritan High School Winter Guard performed an unscored exhibition performance at 9 p.m. The piece was titled “Le Café”, which clearly enthused the audience, with its references to cafe culture and elegant flow of the show overall.
Other teams’ themes for their performances included a Medusa theme, a domino theme, and a show referencing the 1960’s.
Bridgewater-Raritan High School has been the home site for this state-wide competition for over 10 years. Nevertheless, the Band Parents Association and Mr. Mossa and Dr.Bourgault spent hours beforehand planning the event to make it a success.
Student volunteers were also recruited from the band program to pull shifts throughout the day, from guiding different teams around the school to behind-the-scenes setup and breakdown.
Once all the teams performed, all performers and Bridgewater-Raritan members gathered in the main gym for the awards ceremony.
For Independent Junior, the independent team, Pegasus Too Jr., placed first with a score of 64.080.
For the Scholastic Scholastic Novice Division, Tenafly High School placed first with a score of 80.980, while Westfield High School Junior Varsity placed second with a score of 69.160. A close third, Franklin High School took bronze with a score of 68.060, and Middletown North High School was next with 66.940. With just a 0.300 difference, Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School placed fifth with 66.640, sixth place was awarded to Manchester Township High School (66.400), and Burlington City High School came in seventh with a score of 62.470.
Pegasus Too took home 1st in the Independent Novice division with a score of 76.000. Two independent groups each won a title. Empress Winterguard took first in Independent Regional A with a score of 68.600, and Emanom Open placed first in Independent Open with 73.900 as their aggregate total.
This will be the last season of Color Guard for several members of the Bridgewater-Raritan, including seniors Lily Singer and Shravani Bichkule. The Bridgewater-Raritan High seniors were presented with flowers at the close of the show on Saturday, and recognized with their families before the awards ceremony.
Before awards, the Bridgewater-Raritan WinterGuard performed its unscored, exhibition performance. Despite not being scored, many members felt that they put their best foot forward in their performance, especially after a long day at the competition.
Several performers found it a good practice in preparation for their upcoming competitive performances, such as WGI (Winter Guards International) East on Saturday, March 22, at Liberty High School in Bethlehem, Pa.
Competitions are held most Saturdays all over New Jersey. Championships for Winter Guard are underway and will continue through March and April.
Mr. Mossa closed with this comment.
“And most importantly...our winter guard performed a fantastic show for a full gym of supporters -- it was a really special event, and something I'm sure our students will remember for many years to come.”