Basic Guard Exercises

Carving exercised allow the color guard member to carve through space.  Not all color guard exercises are all in the flat plane.   Showing the member ways to care through space can allow the writer to create very interesting work.  A carving exercise may sometimes  be referred to as a coning exercise.  This is because this common exercise allows the flag to carve out a shape in space that is similar to two imaginary cones with their pointed ends touching in the middle with the circular tops facing away.  These opposite directions are usually the sky and the ground.  To start this exercise hand are place apart with on six inches from the pole end and the other where the silk meets the pole.  The pole is position on one diagonal of the two cylindrical cone shapes.  Both hands are used to draw one circle on the ceiling forming one cone and then transitions to the bottom to draw the second cone.  This transition occurs as the silk drawing the first cone
passes your forehead then slices the space passing through flat at the chest.  The silk end continues down to the feet with opposite hand from silk now in front of forehead.  Second cone is carved using both hands.  After second cone is carved second transition is made returning hands to start position.