The Wake

Many, if asked what their dreams for the future are, start with the, “after college I plan to…” line. It’s rare to find people, at least at this stage, who are at the top of their game. Someone with the best-it’ll-ever-get-downhill-from-here-no-way-could-it-ever-get-better-than-this-living-in-the-moment attitude. Aimee Barmore, the Feature Twirler of the University of Minnesota Marching Band, feels this way about her twirling.

“I wanted to twirl for a Big Ten school, and it’s funny because my mom –- we just moved – pulled out a whole bunch of my papers she had. In second grade, ya know when you write, ‘When I Grow Up I Want To Be…?’ Mine was, I wanted to be a twirler for a college with a marching band,” says Barmore. She speaks in a thick Minnesotan accent, and blushes after telling the story.

Barmore’s start came from her mother when she was 4 years old. A former twirler at Iowa State, Sue Barmore began coaching a girls twirling team and allowed her daughter to attend practices. At first Barmore just played off to the side, but by the end of the year, she was a full-fledged member of the team. That was all it took to get Barmore hooked for life.

Barmore began competing with the National Baton Twirling Association also when she was 4 years old. Since age 8 she has been competing at the national level, consistently ranking in the top five or 10. When asked how she responds to people that refer to her as one of the best twirlers in the country she pauses, and says with a laugh, “[I tell people] no I’m not, but thank you.”

In working toward her personal best, obstacles have arisen. Two knee surgeries slowed Barmore’s progress, one took six months to fully recover. “It’s intense,” says Barmore. “All the leaping and jumping is really hard on the knees.” After the surgeries, she was left with two options: continue competing and risk another knee surgery, or quit and get through the next two years twirling at the “U.” She chose the latter, competing for the final time at nationals, last year.

“When I first started twirling my mom told me, ‘No matter what, you will finish your routine…I don’t care if you’re crying, I don’t care if you’re bleeding, you have to finish your routine, you have to salute.’ One time I broke my nose,” she chuckles, flashing a smile, and then looking down. “I threw up my baton and lost it in the brightness of the lights. It came down right on my nose.” She pauses, looking up. “[But] I finished my routine,” nodding, as if to silence her critics. “And so sure enough I finished my routine…blood covering my face.”

Barmore, currently a junior, began twirling for the University of Minnesota Marching Band during her senior year of high school. “I auditioned my junior year [of high school]. I did it more of a practice round to see what an audition was like, and then Professor Luckhardt asked me if I wanted to twirl my senior year. I said yes.” This solidified Barmore’s decision to attend the U of M after graduating from Bloomington-Jefferson High School.

Barmore enjoys performing at the Gophers’ home football games. “These are my friends and this is fun.” Post college, one priority is certain: “never let twirling not be a part of my life. I will always be involved in twirling,” says Barmore. Currently, Barmore has 14 students whom she teaches with her mom, in addition to daily practices with the marching band.

“This is what I wanted to do, this is the fun part of twirling,” says Barmore. She looks me in the eye with a smile. “This was a dream, this is what I wanted to do and I’m doing it, and I love it…this is so much fun.”

This interview with Aimee Barmore was recorded under an umbrella in the pouring rain on October 7, 2004.