Two drill team members make it to All-City

Two Hollywood High drill team members have been nominated to participate in All-City to march in the Rose Parade on Jan 1, 2013. Senior SAS student Kelly Flores and Junior SAS student Cinthya Guzman are the two girls representing Hollywood High school in numerous parades such as the Martin Luther King Parade, Bandfest, the Disneyland Parade and the Rose Parade.

“Well it’s my third year and I can say I’m happy to be back,” said Flores. “My first year was my best year, I can say that I was very ambitious.”

“I’m really glad I made it this year”, said Guzman. “I tried out last year but unfortunately didn’t make it. This year I was more prepared both technically and mentally and I’m also really looking forward to going out there and representing our school.”

“My teammate Kelly who also made it to All City, she told me what to expect and of course my coach. Before the auditions she taught us new flag techniques which did come in handy. My coach was a member of the Hollywood Drill/Color Guard team so she also had the chance of being part of all city for two years. She is currently a part of the PCC color guard so she is a very big help”

Flores will be dancing with shields while Guzman will be in Color Guard. Guzman said she is “…expecting to learn a lot of new things. Being a flag bearer is going to be a bit of a challenge since I’m drill team, not colorguard year round.”

Flores was in color guard her first year and then decided to do shields her second and third year. According to her, the audition process is very rigorous.

The performers must go to En Sereno Middle School where they first stretch and warm up. Afterwards, the performers participate in an exercise across the floor where they have to do kicks, leaps and turns.

Following this procedure, they are then broken up into different groups depending on what positions (such as color guard, shields, and band) they would want to audition for.

For color guard and shields, they are given a choreography to learn by a specific time and have to perform it twice in front of judges. The first time they perform the routine, it doesn’t count just so that the dancers can get rid of the nerves. The second time it counts as the actual audition, then there is a two week waiting period to see who made it to All-City.

With the exception of the month of November, practices will be held every Saturday, even during Winter Break.

Flores and Guzman would like to “Give credit and thanks to Coach Adele Paez, Ms. Thomson, our sponsor, and the 15 alumni’s.”

Flores and Guzman are both very excited and honored to be part of the 2012-2013 All-City Drill Team.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.