Baton twirling is a sport that has been around for many years. First designed as entertainment during dance festivals, today there is a World Baton Twirling Federation and competitions.
“When I tell people I baton twirl people are kind of shocked and have never heard of it,” claims sophomore and baton twirler Lexi Gue.
“We have a couple different practices every other week. We practice all the way up to January, and starting up in January we begin to have competitions,” Gue explains. “As it gets closer to April, we have nationals and states.”
There are many baton twirling competitions in the United States and all across the world. “I actually just started to do competitions not too long ago and I’ve already gotten first in my solo but I’m still working on my modeling and strut, “ says Gue.
During competitions, in some there are subcategories that the performer can participate in, including the modeling/interview, strut, and solo performance. The modeling portion consists of the contestant walking across the stage and multiple turns until the judges give a signal for the interview to start if the interview is included.
The strut portion of the competition can either be the basic strut, which involves a minimum of four forward consecutive steps of basic strutting that shall be executed during four different intervals of floor pattern: first section, second section, third section, and fifth (final) section. The strut could also be the ‘military strut’, which implies straight marching in a square pattern with no footwork or legwork embellishment while carrying baton in either traditional or cradle position, according to the National Baton Twirling Association.
During the modeling portion, it may involve an interview portion where contestants are typically asked questions regarding themselves, “I’m a very shy person, so being able to get out there by myself and talk to people it was very intimidating to be able to do that,” claims Gue.
“I started baton twirling when I was 10 years old, I had a friend that was doing it, and I thought it was cool to watch her and from watching her, I wanted to try it.”