Winter guard and Winter percussion held their annual home show in the MVHS gym on April 3. The hour-long show “Your Light Never Fades” featured a color guard performance portraying accepting loss, a solo by the MVHS front ensemble of Winter percussion and the full Winter percussion performance.
Dance instructor and color guard coach Andy Nguyen said this year’s show, titled “Your Light Never Fades,” was built around the idea of wanting to be remembered, with choreography developed through a collaborative process between coaching staff and performers.
“We started our evaluations back in November, and from there, it was just a lot of training throughout the last four months and building choreography with them,” Nguyen said. “In my process, I like to explore and develop choreography with their own bodies together. ”
After injuring her foot earlier in the season, junior Celene Chen said that one of the most meaningful parts of the performance was regaining confidence after her injury. Chen said she had struggled with high-difficulty tosses, including a four-rotation saber toss and a four-rotation rifle toss.
“Being able to master those tosses again really showed me that if I put my mind to something, I can do it,” Chen said. “So I think I’m really proud of myself for that. We all have the passion for this performing art, so just practicing, passion and time commitment all led us to this moment.”
Winter percussion choreographer freshman Lauren Vandrovec said the season brought out her creativity and determination, especially because she and another background visuals member choreographed the show. Vandrovec added that the performance — split into three movements — was centered on exploring love, loss and acceptance.
“The first movement is like making memories with the people that you love,” Vandrovec said. “The second is losing them. The third movement is coming to terms that they’re gone and celebrating that they were once here. My favorite part of the show is the first movement, because it has the most emotion.”
Nguyen also helped lead the team in training and choreographing the show. Helping with effective communication and brainstorming among the team, he is proud that the team overcame these challenges and was happy with the team’s performance.
“They’ve come a very long way, and the growth that they have displayed across the entire season has been very exponential,” Nguyen said. “So it’s amazing to see the maturity and the technical growth in all of them.”
