Hosted at AB Miller High School in Fontana, CA the 2019 WGI Riverside Regional will host a total of 34 groups. Including 4 SRA, 13 SA, 4 IA, 4 SO, 3 IO, 2 SW, and 3 IW groups, it's going to be a good day of color guard across all skills levels. 

Between WGI Riverside and WGI Dallas, this regional will feature a more diverse variety of groups, with more Independent Open/World and Scholastic World groups. With only 13 Scholastic A units, no rounds will be used for this contest.

Prelims are set to begin at 10:00 AM PT (12 PM CT) with West Hills High School in SRA kicking things off. Prelims will wrap at approximately 4:00 PM PT.

Finals will pick back up around 5 PM PT and come to a close around 10:15 PM Saturday evening. 

Returning 2018 WGI Championships Semi-Finalist and Finalist competitors include Rancho Cucamonga (SA), Vox Artium (IO), Arcadia (SW), Diamante (IW), and Fantasia (IW).

Rancho Cucamonga HS (Scholastic A)

Rancho Cucamonga placed 12th in last year's WGI World Championships (out of 132!) with their program, “Between the Lines,” set to Diana Krall’s cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind” (featuring Sarah McLachlin). 

The 2018 program stuck out to me because of its excellent use of staging and dark space, capitalizing on the WGI-provided black curtain to create shadows with their bookcase set pieces. 

The flag designs worked incredibly well with the floor image, and there’s an excellent flag feature where performers perform work while holding books in the other hand—a skill not often used in A Class competition. If all holds, excellent set design with some unique skills are something to look forward to from Rancho Cucamonga in 2019 as they head down the path towards Dayton.

Vox Artium (Independent Open)

Next up is Vox Artium Independent Open, which is coming off of their 9^th Place finish in Independent Open in 2018. 

Their 2019 program, “2 Steps Away,” set to Patti Labelle’s fantastically emotional song of the same name, had an very well-written and performed full-unit partner rifle feature, with a great musical rifle six that hit the high note (both literally, and in terms of design) in the middle of wonderfully layered work from the other performers.

Their 2019 program, “Will You…?” promises to bring great things to the 2019 guard scene.

Arcadia HS (Scholastic World)

Arcadia High School has been a perennial Semi-Finalist and Finalist at WGI Championships. Their 2018 program, “Melodica in Blue” – set to an acoustic guitar and accordion cover of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Jason Vieaux and Julien Labro – finished in 18^th in Semi-Finals, just outside of qualifying for Finals. Arcadia’s biggest strength, last year, and in general, has been their excellent movement program. They move beautifully both with and without their equipment.

This year, Arcadia’s guard is under new direction, although their website doesn’t provide a staff list or any show information, so looking at last year’s production probably isn’t the best predictor of their 2019 program. It’s anyone’s guess what we’re going to see, this year, but given the high quality of their performances for the past decade, we can be certain that whatever they bring to the table, they will be impressive.

Diamante (Independent World)

Diamante's 2018 program, “Don’t Blink,” finished 6^th in Independent World, and their 2019 program, “If It’s Meant to Be” promises to be one to watch. Last year’s program dragged so much emotion out of its performers and featured a beautifully designed flag that provided the only hint of color in the program: a red rose set against a black and white dichromatic floor. Again, using minimalist design aesthetics, Diamante’s show demonstrated the amazing movement capabilities of their performers, as well as intricate weapon phrases that challenged them to move beyond the equipment.

Fantasia (Independent World)

Finally, we have Fantasia, whose 2018 program, “Judy,” brought to light the complicated life and world of Judy Garland, with a vocal track that highlighted her struggles with fame, fortune, and substance abuse. While many portrayals of Judy’s life focus on her music, this one was darker…less romantic. The show relied heavily on intricate weapon work set to spoken word, which is always difficult to time, because every catch of the equipment is audible – if one performer is late, what’s supposed to be an ensemble “SNAP!” is more like a bubble wrap being popped. Perhaps my (and the audience’s favorite) moment is the partner rifle/sabre feature, where the rifles throw an ensemble six while stepping over their lying sabre partners to catch in the silence. It’s truly an awesome moment.