Exploring Life & Business with Monica Drohan of Evoke Performance Collective

Today we’d like to introduce you to Monica Drohan. She and her team shared their story with us below:

Monica Drohan

Monica Drohan began her performing arts career by training with Mary Skiba’s School of Dance in Clinton Township, Michigan, at the age of 5. She trained in the Cicchetti method of ballet, as well as jazz, tap, lyrical, pointe, contemporary, lyrical, and musical theater dance before moving to the world of color guard at her local high school. Her marching experience includes Henry Ford II High School Falcon Marching Band, where she marched in the Tournament of Roses parade in 1996, and UCS Pride Winterguard, which competed in the Michigan Color Guard Circuit.

After high school, she taught color guard for East Detroit High School for several years (1997-2000) before returning to her alma mater (HF2) from 2002-2007. During this time, she founded eXstatica Winterguard, which competed within the Michigan Color Guard Circuit, and they won “Most Improved Color Guard” in the 2005 season. In 2008, she joined the staff of Fraser High School and helped develop the existing Fusion Winterguard, an independent group that competed within MCGC and rose through the ranks from Regional A to Independent A class (2008-2013), winning gold medals at the state level in 2009, 2010 and 2011. In 2017, Monica moved on from Fraser HS and founded Resurgence Winterguard (MCGC 2018 Gold Medalist) when she returned to teach at her alma mater (where her daughters were now a part of the color guard program). Monica “retired” from coaching in 2019 when her daughters graduated from high school having taught thousands of students during her tenure as a color guard instructor and director.

Following the Covid 19 Pandemic, Monica HAD to get moving again, and so she went back to her roots and began instructing in a dance studio, where she taught ballet, jazz, tap, acro, lyrical, musical theatre, and hip hop to 2–12-year-olds. It was this teaching that made Monica realize she wasn’t done with the color guard activity just yet! It was through this passion and renewed sense of purpose that Evoke Performance Collective was born.

Evoke Performance Collective is a group of dedicated and passionate individuals who want you to be able to experience all that color guard has to offer on your own terms. The goal at EPC was to create a new digital space for the color guard community-both students and instructors. With multiple levels of participation available, the  instruction and education is mostly virtual, with monthly webinars, a podcast, Google classrooms filled with content, and a BRAND-NEW instructor training and certification program! EPC also hosts in-person clinics for performing arts programs around the country!

EPC’s goal is to culminate a set of superbly trained and educated performing artists (students and instructors!) to proliferate GOOD personal and group movement training, better color guard equipment standards, and provide color guard staffs around the country with personal support for their developing programs. EPC offerS community education classes in Macomb County, Michigan for students 4th-9th grade to prepare them for their high school color guard programs. They also host a parade team that marches in local community parades to spread awareness of the color guard activity. Additionally, EPC  offers personalized consultation for clients virtually AND in-person all around Michigan, including schools such as Chippewa Valley HS, Linden HS, Otsego HS, and Oxford HS!

During its inaugural season, EPC hosted 3 affiliate contacts with novice groups (in Georgia and South Carolina) who grew both in skill AND in score from their previous season. Because of its virtual format, EPC also gained new staff from Missouri, Georgia, Louisiana, and California! Additionally, their community education programs brought two semesters worth of classes, followed by a small group production put together for the “Funtime Channel’s (YouTube) Virtual Color Guard Competition-2023, where the team earned a superior rating, a 2nd place finish AND “Most Entertaining” program for the contest.

Monica’s story doesn’t end there, though! She spent the competitive winter seasons in 2022 and 2023 training within the WinterGuard International’s “E-certify” program so that she can become certified as a local circuit adjudicator (judge!)! Monica, a Type 8 enneagram, never lets “the impossible” stop her, regardless of how crazy the idea is. She is VERY excited for this new adventure!

When she’s not moving to music, Monica spends her time with her husband, Mark (former director of Fusion Winterguard and a small business owner), and her son Dominic (a drummer in the Chippewa Valley High School batterie) on crazy road trips to see all the great things nature holds in the Mitten!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has NOT been smooth at all! That which does not kill us… or so the saying goes!

Our initial struggle was putting together our website! We hired one company, and when that didn’t work out, we found a way to make it work, and we built out OWN website, courtesy of our graphic designer Jill White.

Our initial goal was to hold virtual classes, with monthly “check-ins,” and then have our virtual members join in a one-day even to record a music video after 6 months of lessons. We met with singer Tiffany Thompson, who gave us creative license to put together this music video set to her cult classic “We Are The Dreamers.” As per the usual for Monica, the city of Detroit had permits for filming, and our set locations varied in ownership, so being granted those permits initially proved too difficult, and we had to postpone the project.

So, in December of 2022, we had a staff meeting to “PIVOT!” regroup and rebound our organization’s goals. And thus… EPC! Certify was born. Our staff spent two weeks pouring over all the details we, as staff, would have wanted to know when we started our “color guard instruction” journeys. We changed our format and lessons to be content-specific and offered them in both the EPC! Certify program AND as independent class offerings to provide variety for our members.

We continued our community education classes, with the long-term goal of creating an independent indoor color guard program for “sometime” in the future. We struggled through the community education program, as well. The local school district has 4 high schools, 8 junior highs and 32 elementaries…and we STILL couldn’t find space for our classes! Winter season is host to MANY indoor sports at the JH and HS levels, and often elementary-sized gymnasiums aren’t big enough for what we do. After months of trying to work with the district, we were able to find a location for both semesters worth of classes (even though it meant our staff was teaching on Friday nights from 7-9 pm!)

We also had a 2-day clinic planned for April in Georgia with our affiliate (West Laurens HS), but had to cancel that as the school picked up an additional fundraiser, and we lost THAT space, too! (Finding space for performance art practice is HARD in our community, as we are in direct competition for space with everything that ends in “ball” PLUS a whole host of other sports!)

It’s been one obstacle after another for EPC, but we’ve had so much fun along the way!

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about Evoke Performance Collective?
That our organization is FILLED with dedicated and PASSIONATE humans who want nothing more than to give back to the community that gave us SO MUCH.

We specialize in color guard education, training, and color guard show design. We are known for producing competitive, thought-provoking, entertaining programs throughout Michigan. We also have staff dedicated to personal and group training, movement (dance) training, color guard equipment training, performance, and team-building.

Monica (Founder) is going to be an adjudicator, which affords her additional expertise in the area of movement and design. Some of the EPC staff has designations for specializations (Zach Bez-dance adjudicator, and competition dance choreographer, Robert Jordan -WGI/DCI performance and design experience, weapons expert, Jill White-graphic designer) Because our staff is so diverse in subject matter expertise, education, and experience, we have the ability to provide ANY program, at ANY level with complete support of their program. WE can do what others can’t simply because of our backgrounds and connections to each other!

We are most proud of our Affiliate Memberships. These personalized contracts allow us to interact with more programs, connecting PEOPLE to OPPORTUNITY. We stand behind our name and offer exceptional training and education on how to live your BEST color guard life.

We are always looking for new members/staff to join us. We know that we don’t know it all, and believe that our programs are better and stronger when we are connected TOGETHER!

Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Founder Monica: As a Type 8 Enneagram, I AM a risk taker. I took a HUGE risk (personally) by starting Evoke. I took out a large personal loan to be able to finance the startup and put my name out there with a host of other humans…some I knew well and had worked with for ages. Some I didn’t know at all, and some I knew from connections with others. My integrity and “name” means a lot to me…. my husband’s grandfather (a 1st generation immigrant who came to this country with $3 to his name) always said, “Your name is all you have in this world.” But I knew there was a need for our type of organization to exist in our community, and my life motto on taking risks has always been “If not me, then who?” Not everyone is as crazy as I am, but I always figure it out. That being said, I am also neurodivergent and thus am oftentimes HEAVILY risk-averse. So, I am forever and always a walking contradiction on risk! My Type 8 always wins the argument though…because you lose 100% of the shots you don’t take!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.evokepc.com
• Instagram: @evoke_pc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EvokePerformanceCollective
• Youtube: @evokeperformancecollective7197
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/1qqp0b2GVcCfwdBvfKWEjz?si=8de3c336831843cf

Image Credits
Jill White
Monica Drohan