Dance in Film · 2016
Contemporary Color (2016)
Ten elite winter-guard teams translate original live scores into synchronized dance, flag, rifle, and saber work. The Ross brothers alternate arena-scale patterns with close views of the athletes' focus and recovery.
Contemporary Color is a 2016 dance documentary centred on Cheer, Pom & Guard. For dancers, it's a chance to see the style performed on screen — the phrasing, partnering, and musicality that the same dances carry onto a real floor.
Jump to the 11 indexed dance sequences ↓
Dance styles featured
Where to watch: Fandango at Home (US rent/buy); Pluto TV (US free listing); Oscilloscope DVD/Blu-ray. Playback and checkout were not transaction-tested.
The dance sequences in Contemporary Color
11 sequences — what is danced, by whom, and where to find it.
All-team finale
Winter GuardDanced by Les Eclipses; Ventures; Mechanicsburg High School; Black Watch; Brigadiers; Shenendehowa High School; Somerville High School; Alter Ego; Field of View; Emanon
All ten teams filling the arena with unison flags under kaleidoscopic light.
Bringing all ten teams together turns separate choreographic vocabularies into one shared pulse. Synchronized flags and kaleidoscopic light make scale itself the finale's expressive material.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
David Byrne + Les Eclipses — 'I Was Changed'
Winter GuardDanced by Les Eclipses
A full winter-guard floor answering David Byrne's live score with coordinated equipment arcs.
The ensemble lets the live score breathe through massed equipment pathways instead of treating the flags, rifles, and sabers as decoration. Group timing makes the arena floor read as one changing composition.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Devonté Hynes + Black Watch — 'Black Watch'
Winter GuardDanced by Black Watch
Black Watch holding the arena with a simple song and concentrated ensemble lines.
The spare, resonant score gives the guard's unified equipment lines unusual clarity. Rather than filling every beat, the staging makes restraint and collective focus carry the emotion.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
How to Dress Well + Mechanicsburg High School — 'How Could This Have Happened? (Version 2)'
Winter GuardDanced by Mechanicsburg High School
Mechanicsburg's disciplined ensemble moving inside a newly live musical environment.
A rehearsed winter-guard score meets live music, so the dancers must hold exact counts while remaining responsive to the room. The tension between fixed staging and a live collaborator gives the sequence its edge.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Lucius + Shenendehowa High School — 'What's the Use in Crying'
Winter GuardDanced by Shenendehowa High School
White dresses flipping to blood-stained red as jungle-gym structures rotate.
The Hitchcock-inspired staging combines rotating jungle gyms and reversible costumes with exact ensemble transitions. Theatrical reveals land because the guard maintains clean timing while the visual world changes around them.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Money Mark + Ad-Rock + Somerville High School — 'Quattro Mentos'
Winter GuardDanced by Somerville High School
Somerville's black-and-burgundy ensemble snapping into synchronized formations.
The instrumental groove supplies a crisp rhythmic grid for synchronized black-and-burgundy movement. Repeated equipment accents make the band's pulse visible without reducing the guard to backup dancing.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Nelly Furtado + Ventures — 'World Premiere'
Winter GuardDanced by Ventures
Ventures' purple-and-yellow uniforms cutting bright geometric patterns across the floor.
The guard's purple-and-yellow field turns synchronized equipment work into a bold visual counterpoint to the song. Clean ensemble spacing keeps the color blocks legible at arena scale.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Nico Muhly + Ira Glass + Alter Ego — 'What Are You Thinking?'
Winter GuardDanced by Alter Ego
Alter Ego leaping and spinning sabers beneath the sound of their own interview voices.
Recorded interviews expose the performers' inner thoughts while long jumps and spinning saber work continue in public view. The contrast makes athletic precision feel intimate rather than anonymous.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
St. Vincent + Field of View — 'Everyone You Know Will Go Away'
Winter GuardDanced by Field of View
Field of View's dark, haunting interpretation unfolding beneath St. Vincent.
The guard translates the score's haunted atmosphere into controlled, unsettling group motion. Its restraint lets small changes of facing and equipment direction register as dramatic events.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
tUnE-yArDs + Emanon — 'Body Code'
Winter GuardDanced by Emanon
Emanon's equipment accents locking into tUnE-yArDs' layered percussion.
Percussive loops invite the guard to treat bodies and equipment as parallel rhythmic instruments. Sharp accents and collective resets keep the busy musical surface readable.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Zola Jesus + Brigadiers — 'Something Beautiful'
Winter GuardDanced by Brigadiers
Brigadiers opening the floor beneath Zola Jesus's soaring live vocal.
The singer's broad vocal scale gives the guard room for sweeping pathways and suspended equipment arcs. The dancers turn sustained sound into spatial expansion across the floor.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Poster artwork from TMDB.
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