Challenges Don’t Stop Mandarins’ Journey To 2016 Championships

The fantastic news is that our Mandarins Drum Corps is having a great start to the 2016 season. For the second year in a row we are marching a full corps. The talent and dedication of our members and staff has never been greater. The corps is performing very well and we have climbed up in placement in the early part of the season and we are definitely a corps to watch.

Off the field, the individual members are some of the most polite and respectful members that I have ever seen in the Mandarins (yes, including years that I was a Mandarins member!). In many of the states where we are touring there have been news stories of tragedies often stemming from racial and social diversity issues. I often tell the corps members that we can’t change the world, but we have direct control over how we treat each other. We respect the individuality of each member and embrace our diversity. And at the same time when they put on a Mandarins “uniform” (defined as “one-form”), they unite as one corps. We have the opportunity to demonstrate the strength of our diversity through every amazing performance of the Forbidden Forest, which explores the themes of mystery, intrigue, seduction and ultimately triumph!

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