It’s been two weeks since the South Brunswick Regional and WGI guard is back on FloMarching back.

This weekend, we’re bringing you all the action from not one, not two, but three WGI Guard Power Regional competitions: the East Power Regional in Pittsburgh, PA, the Mid-Atlantic Power Regional in Rock Hill, SC, and the Southwest Power Regional in Denton, TX.

We’re bringing you coverage of 202 guards in one weekend, featuring some of the most exciting programs in the activity.

First up, we’ve got the WGI Guard East Power Regional in Pittsburgh, PA. With a total of 65 guards in prelims, the East Power Regional is the second-largest Power Regional, this weekend. This includes 28 Scholastic A (SA) divided into three Rounds, 9 Independent A (IA), 9 Scholastic Open (SO), 10 Independent Open (IO), 4 Scholastic World (SW), and 5 Independent World (IW) units. 

Watch the 2019 WGI Guard East Regional LIVE on March 16-17

WATCH LIVE | Schedule

Of these, 14 SA, 5 IA, 7 SO, 8 IO, 4 SW, and 5 IW will advance to Finals competition on Sunday.

We saw a lot of these guards two weekends ago at the South Brunswick Regional, so this week we’re going to preview some of the programs we haven’t yet seen.

Dartmouth HS - Scholastic Open

First up, Dartmouth High School in SO. Dartmouth finished 13^th at the 2018 Scholastic Open World Championships in Dayton, last year, and wound up being voted Fan Favorite with their program, “Lilith of Eden,” a fantastically visual and dark vision of life in Garden of Eden just prior to Eve consuming the apple from the Tree of Knowledge…told from the perspective of the snake.

This program benefitted from smart visual and set design, with the floor and uniforms designed to look like a vibrant snakeskin. The uniform and makeup design had a lot of great use of sequins and neon greens with continued up the right side of the performers’ faces and into their hair. Really, the show just had a great design aesthetic that followed through on the theme – the opening silks were a combination of blues, greens, and gorgeous magenta flowers that were stunning when they opened, and the closing flag had a large red apple on it, with a black snakeskin pattern that shimmered as it spun.

We'll be looking for another great show from Dartmouth HS this weekend at 5:37 PM ET.

Trumbull HS - Scholastic World

Next, we have Trumbull High School in SW, coming off their 2^nd Place finish at the 2018 WGI World Championships, with their program, “Bound.” Each of the performers began the program with fabric binding their hands together, allowing them to spread their hands only about 1.5’ apart, which they used to their advantage in the opening sabre and flag statements.

This really showed off the performers’ abilities to rely upon their underlying weapon technique training, even with their hands bound, to execute both complicated work and releases.

Trumbull also moved incredibly well, both with and without their equipment, able to emote throughout their performance and tell a story not only with their equipment, but with their faces and bodies. 

As the show progressed, the guard transitioned from the dark brown uniform bottoms and flags into warm reds and oranges. The writing also made this transition from phrases that were furious, close to the body, and percussive, to more lyrical phrases with equipment work that opened up away from the performer, taking up space and traveling pathways that are more open, than closed.

Their 2019 program, “Liberty,” looks to be another fantastic program, and I can’t wait to see it.