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  • The Tulsa Union eighth-grade Winter Guard team, which won first in its division Saturday, performs at the Winter Guard and Percussion Contest of Oklahoma competition at Fort Gibson High School. Staff photo by Wendy Burton

    ww ColorGuard 100p C.jpg

  • The Fort Gibson High School Indoor Percussion team performs an exhibition during the Winter Guard and Percussion of Oklahoma competition at Fort Gibson High School on Saturday. Staff photo by Wendy Burton

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February 11, 2012

New FGHS team wows at state competition

By Wendy Burton Phoenix Staff Writer

FORT GIBSON — A new competitive group from Fort Gibson High School wowed everyone Saturday during a Winter Guard contest — wearing silver masks.

FGHS’s Indoor Percussion Team is brand new. They won first place in their first competition two weeks ago and gave an exhibition performance at the Winter Guard and Percussion of Oklahoma competition at the high school Saturday afternoon.

The drum line and other band students performed “Apolcolypto” for the audience — a dramatic, eerie performance that ends with a graceful ballet dancer trapped by silver-masked drummers.

“Wow. Just wow. That was really good,” said a young man sitting in the audience after a few beats of silence.

Then, the crowd erupted into cheers and applause.

Director Eric Hopkins was pretty pleased with the performance. He and wife, Diane Hopkins, who is also the middle school band director, are working together with the new group.

“We’ve been wanting to do this for a long time,” Eric Hopkins said. “And this has been a really good year for the marching band and the drum line.”

All of the students in the new group, as well as the traditional Winter Guard group, are Royal Regiment members, said High School Band Director LaNell Spyres.

Spyres also directs the Winter Guard group, who placed first in its division in Saturday’s competition with a routine called “Beauty from the Pain.”

Spyres said before the competition that the group to watch at such an event is the Tulsa Union varsity Winter Guard group. And they didn’t disappoint the crowd.

But the Tulsa Union junior varsity group really won the judges attention, placing first in the school’s division.

The Tulsa Union junior varsity group performed “Isolation,” a routine that mixed music and the sound of teenagers’ voices talking about how it feels to be isolated.

The audience was particularly excited with the groups moves — tossing flags across the floor from one to the other and acrobatic moves, too.



Reach Wendy Burton at (918) 684-2926 or wburton@muskogeephoenix.com.

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