Born and raised in Southern California, Cristian Rodriguez (he/him) is a full time ColorGuard instructor and the newest addition to the VMAPA Organization. With performance experience spanning over 10 years and a keen interest in developing and evolving his skills as an educator, he is very excited to be Joining the Vanguard Cadets family!
Cristians ColorGuard career started in 2011 in his sophomore year of high school and has grown into a passion for the marching arts. It has inspired him to achieve many successes from marching in the famed Rose Parade in 2014 and 2015 to earning multiple high auxiliary awards for his very own ColorGuard guard programs in his time of teaching. His involvement with DCI started in 2015 as a ColorGuard member for Pacific Crest and continued in 2017 and 2018 with the Sacramento Mandarins. Cristian’s skills and commitment to improvement was one of the many factors that helped elevate the Mandarins to a top ten world class finalist spot for the first time in the Corps’ history in 2018.
Cristian is also a 3 year member of the independent world class winter guard group Diamante (2016, 2017 & 2018) and a current member of a new independent open class winter guard group called Zoetic. He is proud to have a broad educational background from a wide range of sources including over 40 units in formal dance training from Mount San Antonio College. From here, he plans to obtain a degree in dance education and continue creating an everlasting contribution to the marching arts in any way that he can.