NORTH PORT (SNN TV) – You might have to think “out of the box” for this show.
Before Hurricane Ian hit, it was Florida weather screwing up the Alliance marching band practices. We were stuck inside when I first visited in September, but we finally had a full day outside when I returned in October.
I conducted these interviews before Ian, so going into this season, band captain Hanna Borntreger thought this would be her second normal year.
Well, it’s not hard to find some of the damage Hurricane Ian brought to North Port High.
Since they’ve been back, they expanded practices from 3 to 8 in the evening. And Sophia Signh gets to conduct this band as a junior.
“What seniors did you disappoint?” I ask her.
“Hanna actually! Unfortunately! We really wanted to be [co-drum majors] together, but we really just wanted to help each other out and have at least one of us to make it,” Sophia says
Well, one of them did, and Hanna is band captain anyway, so they do work together for a show called Pandora’s Lament.
“We have Pandora, which is our guard soloist. She’s just really curious at the beginning,” Hanna says.
As you might guess, the box is opened.
“The color guard comes out of the box and basically is the evil of the show. They spread the evil around the band,” explains Hanna.
It’s almost fitting that the show deals with breaking out of a box considering Hanna broke out of hers through the program.
“I came in my freshman year really shy, didn’t really know what to do. And everybody really brought me out of my shell, and that definitely helped me with my confidence,”
“I love just walking to the band room and then knowing that my friends are there, knowing that I can just be myself and I can just be passionate about something, and just being with a group of people that have the same goal in mind is just something truly transformative.”
The band is directed by husband and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Alegria. Their final performance is this Saturday at 7 p.m. at Palm Harbor University High School in Palm Harbor in Pinellas County at a marching performance assessment.