It's UK finals day!!!

And just like that, it's UK finals.  This season has flown by in a blurr!

The World guard had a short 4-hour rehearsal in a great facility on Friday before heading up to Worcester (after some terrible traffic).  The finals venue is a fantastic place and is a good dry run for Dayton (it's like a mini Dayton!).

Today we get the honour of performing first (UK finals prelims is in reverse order World, Open, A, Junior prelims, then Cadets finals then Junior, A, Open and World finals).  So it's an early start for us as we kick off the day with our prelims show at 11am.  We have been simulating the experience of Dayton/UK finals with body warm-ups transit to equipment, pre-entry etc. so prelims prep went like clockwork and the members were calm, prepared and excited to bring Fleur De Mai 2 more times in the UK.

Prelims was also our first time amping the live accordion (and you may notice slightly different music to play 'back up' to the live accordion).  We had a few technical / feedback issues that we ironed out in finals.  Prelims was a good run to a small but appreciative crowd and we scored an 85.85

We then got to support our A guard before heading out for some lunch. Then back to support our Cadets (congratulations on placing 2nd) and our Juniors, who had an outstanding finals run and were once again crowned British Junior Class Champions.  Our A guard also had a fantastic finals run and placed 2nd as well as winning the FAN FAVOURITE award, a new award for 2019!

So the World guard were back in movement and equipment warm-ups.  An emotional time for all (but especially our US members, as it was their final UK performance), which the members channelled into their finals performance - having an outstanding run and being rewarded with a standing ovation and a score of 88.6.

After a great party on retreat, it was time to take the silks off the poles, dismantle the props one more time and get ready for the airport on Monday.  But not before some serious partying into the early hours of Sunday!!!

Everyone is now packing ready for departure to Dayton (via Chicago) tomorrow morning!

See you on the other side.

WGI Prelims order has been announced

Today was the day that WGI releases the order for Prelims.  Given that there are no WGI regional shows within 400 miles for Mayflower, we submit a video of the show in early March and WGI uses that to seed us and that is used to determine our prelims performance order.  Given that we havent been seen by any judges, the later the performance time, the better for us (so they have more comparisons with other World groups).

In 2013 and 2016 we had great performance times, so we have been very fortunate in the past.

So it's a bit of a nervous wait until the schedules are released (and of course then we can start planning our prelims day schedule).

In 2019 we have been scheduled to perform 2nd to last at 8.30pm (UK time) which is 1.30am (Friday morning) UK time - so set your alarm clocks!!!

Welcome to our 2019 WGI trip blog

Welcome to our 2019 blog, documenting all the action from here on out.

What an amazing season it has been so far!  We will be bringing you daily updates from this weekend (UK finals) and the following week as we embark on our 9th trip to WGI!

We are super excited to show the world what we have been working on as we debut "Fleur De Mai" in the USA.

This year's blog is going to be enhanced by regular video as well as write-ups and pics.  Also, look out for some facebook live videos on our Mayflower page (make sure you have 'liked' the page so you don't miss out on all the action!).

More to come from this weekend's WGUK finals, where we get the be the first and last guard to perform!