Behind the Scenes:
STRYKE Wynds at WGI

Take a look behind the scenes at the WGI Independent World Class Winds Champions, Stryke Wynds, at the 2024 World Championships!

Rehearsal Day

After a long trip from South Florida, Stryke took the opportunity to rehearse as much as possible with their cast of fifty performers to be mentally and physically prepared for their prelims performance. We caught up with them at Beavercreek High School on Friday, May 19th, as percussion semi-finals continued down the street at the Wright State University Nutter Center. 

 

Staff took the cast through a music and visual warm up, and cleaned chunks of the show to an audience of Beavercreek HS band students observing the rehearsal. 

Staff Spotlight

Jamar Kareem Morrison

“I'm proud to be an alumni of Stryke Wynds with this cast."

I chatted with STRYKE Wynds alum turned visual instructor and choreographer Jamar Kareem Morrison at their Friday rehearsal before prelims. He described the concept behind their show "Prisoners of Time" and his role in designing choreography that matches the show's theme, saying "What my goal this year was personally was to create new shapes, and new things that really play with the ideas of time, and seeing how clever I could get with it."  

Jamar was a member of Stryke Wynds in 2016 after graduating from Nova High School in South Florida, and continued to march in 2017 before joining the staff in 2018. He reminisced about seeing the cast grow, saying "I think this is a year where I"m really proud to see this cast grow and do their own thing. I don't have to do as much mentoring- I can kind of step back and say 'Oh, you guys have it handled.' It's nice. I'm proud- I'm very proud to be an alumni of Stryke Wynds with this cast."

Check out more of our interview with Jamar in the video below!

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Prelims Day

It was a sunny, but cold and windy day in Highland Heights, Kentucky at the campus of Northern Kentucky University, where winds teams gathered for prelims events while percussion finals continued at the University of Dayton Arena. 

 

Spirits were high and Stryke had an incredible first performance at the WGI World Championships with a prelims score of 95.150 that earned them a first place finish on their first day ahead of Horizon Winds (also from Florida), and Vaquero Winds from Texas. 

 

 

 

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Finals Day

Stryke Wynds prepared to take the floor at the University of Dayton Arena on Sunday, April 21st, seeded first from prelims. It was a cold and windy day outside in the lot and tent as they prepared for their finals performance.  

 

The crowd was excited to welcome them to the arena, and gave their finals performance a standing ovation. We especially loved the opportunity to see their stunning floor from the top of the stands as they brought "Prisoners of Time" to WGI for the final time this season. 

 

Stryke ended the day with a back to back Gold Medal and a new high score of 97.525. 

 

Thank you to the Stryke Wynds staff for allowing us to follow along and trusting us to produce your 2024 floor! 

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