Double European Champion, Year 12 Student Savannah Jeffrey Hopes To Create New Dance Troop.
We just love it when our students have a personal passion and want to teach skills to others. TGS's very own Savannah Jeffrey introduces us to the world of Colourguard/Winterguard and is keen to lead a troop of her own!
Savannah describes in her own words her amazing achievements and future hopes here at TGS.
I’m really excited about the possibility of sharing my passion with TGS. I have been involved in this activity since the age of 4, with this upcoming season being my 13th. I've had the opportunities to perform and compete throughout the UK, Europe, and this year the United States. Which has led me being a 2-time European champion and a 7-time UK champion.
To give more context, colourguard or winterguard is a performance activity that combines dance, equipment work (flags, rifles, sabres), and theatre. Internationally, it’s showcased in two main arenas: Drum Corps International (DCI), which highlights colourguard as part of elite marching ensembles, and Winter Guard International (WGI), which is often described as the “Sport of the Arts” and provides a stage for indoor competitions. I have put some links below.
This is a link about DCI, This should explain what I want to do this summer.
https://www.dci.org/about-drum-corps-international/
This is a link about WGI, which I am going to be travelling to with my dance team, Mayflower Performing Arts in April.
https://www.wgi.org/about-wgi/what-is-wgi/
This is a link about WGUK, which is the UK host organisation, which I am a part of.
https://wguk.org.uk/about-wguk/
These two links are to both of my shows where I became a European champion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4fEJYGPt-8&list=RDA4fEJYGPt-8&start_radio=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q51opeRnLxg
This is a link to one of the corps that perform out in America , Phantom regiment, My sister performed in this show and I'm hoping to follow in her footsteps, auditioning and if successful performing with them this summer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKSvCq0HuH8&list=RDIKSvCq0HuH8&start_radio=1
This is a link to the scholastic world champions in 2024, Avon high school - this show is absolutely stunning and I love it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zm-OR0qo_c&list=RD0zm-OR0qo_c&start_radio=1
My whole life has been surrounded by this activity with my family members being involved in many roles from board members, performers, and instructional staff. I hope to follow in their steps with teaching and performing a lot more.
At the moment, This type of dance isn't popular or well known in the UK which I want to change to show the joy of what I feel when performing to others.
There isn’t a formal structure for scholastic colourguard here in the UK with all teams being independent. That’s why I believe TGS has a really exciting opportunity to be a leader in this space. I would love to help create something new, whether that’s a club, performances, or links with the music department. The UK host organisation being WGUK, we could be able to at some point in the future do a performance, exhibition, to showcase our performers the club, if successful.
Being a part of DCI has always been such a big dream of mine, and teaching is even bigger. I know it would be tough to teach as it's such a big responsibility and with this type of dance it can be quite challenging, but I think it is possible. I want to teach others the joy that dance can bring.
