Drill team

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A drill team is a marching unit that performs military style maneuvers in parades, at air shows, football half-time shows, and other public venues. High school and college drill teams also often compete with one another in drill meets.

All of the United States military service branches have an official drill team part of their respective service Honor Guard or Ceremonial Guard. The service academies have drill teams, as well as many ROTC colleges and universities and many high school JROTC organizations. In addition to standard drill commands, drill teams also perform exhibition drill in which they may perform intricate marching maneuvers along with spinning and throwing rifles, sometimes with fixed bayonets. Other types of drill teams include high school civilian drill teams that include dancers, flag twirlers, and non-martial performances. These teams perform routines that may be danced in unity to a variety of instrumental upbeat music.

These high school drill teams were started back in 1928 by Gussie Nell Davis. She created the first drill team, then called a pep squad, at Greenville High School in Greenville, Texas. They were called the "Flaming Flashes" and they performed at every halftime show. After creating the Flashes, Davis was called to Kilgore College to form a college drill team. She created the world famous "Kilgore Rangerettes" to perform at halftime at the college. The Flaming Flashes and the Rangerettes now consist of a line of performers with the officers in front of the girls leading them at every game.

In Washington state, the phrase "drill team" usually refers to high school performance/spirit teams that compete in the "Drill" category at local, regional and statewide "Dance/Drill" competitions. Drill routines (sometimes referred to as "drills") typically entail (indeed some argue should entail):

highly regimented procedures for entering and exiting the stage;
perfect or near-perfect symmetry and/or spacing in the teams' formations (a.k.a. line straightness);
highly intricate transitions between formations that do not compromise line straightness;
perfect or near-perfect synchronization and sharpness in the teams' marching and other bodily movements; and
interesting music selection.
(Many drill teams incorporate kicklines into their routines, however this is entirely optional. Many, many successful Drill routines have been accomplished without them.)

Although many deem Drill to be "robotic", Washington drill teams still exhibit a significant amount of personality and individuality, which typically manifest in the form of head bobs and/or head tilts (or lack thereof) during right- and left-face turns, as well as signature moves and maneuvers. Teams that have developed distinct identities tend to do well at each year's state competition.
A Washington drill team member, or "driller", is not a dancer, but a dancer can be a driller. Since the foci of Drill are presentation and spatial precision, drillers do not necessarily need attributes typically ascribed to dancers, such as a high level of flexibility or an aptitude for expressing emotions with the body. This generally allows for larger team sizes, with most teams having about 20 or more members.
Well-executed Drill routines can and often do evoke a strong, positive emotional response in audiences of all ages and cultures.

From the WASHINGTON INTERSCHOLASTIC ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATION (WIAA): "Drill: A Drill routine is precision oriented. A variety of marching and traveling steps, ripples, contagions, group work and good use of levels are common in a Drill routine. A variety of styles may be combined, or one single style may be used. Examples of Drill styles include traditional drill, show drill, military or precision drill. Themes may be used. The emphasis should be placed on presenting a well-balanced mixture of precisely executed dynamic moves, creativity, difficulty and maximum visual effect created by the use of floor patterns and movement. Backdrops, sets, portable dance floors, props and poms are not allowed in this category."