About two dozen girls, dressed in summer clothing, are standing in the parking lot behind Bayonne High School on Friday, July 7. Each breathes a bit hard after undergoing a vigorous dance-like routine. Although it’s a warm night, a cool breeze blows in from Newark Bay, bearing the sharp tang of brackish water and the cry of seagulls. Kim Scully and Molly Zervoulis, the two captains of this year’s Bayonne High School Color Guard, appear before the assembled group, modeling the motions they want the girls to copy. These basic movements will give them a clue as to who among the recruits will be able to later pick up on the more complicated routines for which the Bayonne Color Guard is known.
With exaggerated slow motion, the captains count off each step, showing the girls what they want before directing them to imitate the routine.
The group rises, twisting torsos, waving arms, stretching their hands high above their heads. Each girl – depending on her talent – attempts to imitate precisely what the captains demonstrated.
This is the first of three tryout sessions that will determine the membership of the upcoming Bayonne High School color guard.
“We’re hoping to build up the ranks this year,” says Tina Casais, color guard instructor and high school teacher. Although the color guard comes in with 15 veterans from last year, Casais says she is looking to boost the ranks. She needs 25 girls just to fill the ranks of the competitive team and more for the team that performs in parades, during high school football games and other special events.
The color guard’s close association with the Bayonne High School Band gives them a vigorous yearly schedule – adding this year a new event called the Bayonne Band Festival slated for Oct. 25.
While most performances are local, the band and color guard make the annual trip across the Hudson River to New York City to perform in the Pulaski Day Parade (scheduled for Oct. 3).
When accompanying marching bands, the color guard adds a distinct visual element to the performance, often featuring flag twirling and numerous other aspects of performance art. For this reason, the Bayonne Color Guard often seeks people with a dance background – although this is not a prerequisite for joining, and anyone with movement skills can learn the routines.
When asked how many routines the group learns, Casais sighs and says “a lot,” although the tryouts expose newcomers only to the most basic techniques.
The group learns more during two camps slated for August, the Guard Camp during the second week of August and the Band Camp the next week.
“Most of the routines are learned during those two weeks,” Casais says. “But we never stop learning.” Each performance, and the numerous drills during the year, helps the group perfect the skills.
“A dance background helps with many of the routines,” Casais says.
Joanne Kaniewski, the assistant color guard instructor and currently a substitute teacher in the Bayonne school district, was once a member of the team, and says the routines are learned by repetition.
“It is a lot of physical movement, and it helps to know dance, since our routines are done to music,” she says. Kaniewski, who has been working with the group for about four years as an instructor, said the routines get easier with time.
Co-assistant instructor Anne Ryan, who has been working in the program for about three years, calls it a matter of “structure and discipline.”
Dancing on the swamp
This year, the Bayonne Color Guard has a special incentive. They will take their annual trip to New Orleans, where they will do a swamp boat tour, a tour of the city of New Orleans, and a trip on the Mississippi River. They will also perform in a competition at Six Flags amusement park.
Ryan says musical score selected for this year’s performances is centered on the New Orleans trip. “We’ll be performing to a jazz theme this year,” she says.
The color guard tryouts are open to students from eighth through 12th grade, and people trying out must have attended two of the three sessions in order to determine how well they might do.
The next sessions are scheduled for July 14 and July 21, behind the high school near West 29th Street, from 6 to 9 p.m.