NakedEye Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 (edited) A few (ha!) thoughts on the Orlando show, mainly dealing with color and visual details, as that's my world. There are plenty of Brassheads and Drumsticks around who will no doubt discuss other aspects of the performances. Overall - the doomsday "100%" chance of rain during the whole show period (we're getting it on Sunday big time) was a red herring, as instead we had high cloudy skies and and a lovely cool and refreshing breeze for the entire night. I was with two former Cadet guard types, who have since had extensive professional dance careers, and one person who had never been to a show before (or really even heard about drum corps). We just made the call to attend around 5 PM after looking at the radar throughout the day. Apparently everyone else had a similar game plan, as the line to buy tickets was MASSIVE when we arrived about 6:45. The box office lady said it was nearly a sell-out and there was an even bigger line behind us, so the people, they did show up. Our tix were for off in the weeds to the left somewhere, but we went up the wrong aisle in a rush before Crossmen and "temporarily" sat in seats that turned out to be Premium, right on the 50, 2/3 up the second deck. Doing our best to act nonchalant as people came up the aisle towards us between each show, we managed to hold our claim for the night. Score! While I'm not sure about the value proposition of 4 corps for $30, after years of aching backs at long shows, sometimes filled with corps you didn't necessarily want to see, the 4 made for a refreshingly compact experience. See your performances and get on your way to dinner by 9:15. We liked that a lot. Not as much a fan of the instant encores. The intent is nice, but they sort of break up the show momentum, and it seemed to us, let the air out of the excitement balloon a bit. The shows - in performance order: Crossmen - This seems to be a good step toward heading back to their most distinctive style, but the word we would use to describe the overall performance was "tentative." My two friends had both taught Crossmen during different years in the wayback, and we all agreed that groove and swagger is not quite there yet. The concept seems to be good and when they all lay down in continent shapes at the beginning, the crowd roared its approval. People like stuff that they can easily identify (more on this later). There is what seemed an army of black human silhouette cutouts standing all over the field, which the corps moved throughout without incident. No cutout man casualties! Seriously dating ourselves, we were all reminded of the legendary Union High School winterguard show from the 80's, with cutouts dressed as mannequins. Alas, no flags were pulled out of these dudes like had been done back in the day. I"m not sure of the symbolism of these gentlemen, but I assume it has something to do with how man ruins everything, etc. They didn't look like cheerful types, and the guard used bright and effective animal print flags for a bit, which were followed by blood red ones. That can't be good. Quit shooting the giraffes, people! The guard is in earth tones, which are not my favorite thing on the field, but these definitely looked better than some. Lots of golds with the browns. Some of the kids seemed to struggle a good bit with backward marching and at one point the horns lay down (again) and there were about 15 different interpretations of the best way to stand up from that. That can be fixed with some more attention to detail. I would say overall that the show was ambitious, but needs a bit more punch or commitment from the performers to really sell. It currently has a soft ending, but for this performance level, that can be tricky. Please take every opportunity to get the crowd fired up. It will give the kids great feedback to put more fire into what they do. Carolina Crown - And now, for something a little different! Coming on directly after Crossmen, they pretty much blew down the stadium. As has been the case recently, the sound appeared to be glorious. It's goosebumps, it's major loud, it's like a warm placenta of sound that envelops you. Now visually and conceptually is another story. Man, there's a lot of cream down there. Enough to make you reach for the Lactaid. The whole monotone uniform thing can be tricky, and the past is littered with both visual successes and failures. Extra attention needs to be paid to form shapes, clarity and especially transitions. Right now, the last thing seems to be giving them some trouble. The drill appears to be quite challenging and in moving from form to form, there is a lot of clumping going on. You get picture, milkshake, picture. Some of this may improve with cleaning, but I think at least part of it is in the writing, as Cadets, sporting their similar look didn't seem to have the same issue. As has been said by others, color is at a minimum in the show overall. New closing flags are in, but they are....cream and gold, to mirror the uniform. I don't get the purpose of the guard being in such a heavily creamed uniform for the first part of the show. If you really want to drive home the stated point of individual vs. the whole or whatever, please make the contrast of them changing costumes more obvious. Right now they take off the superhero black accents, but the change is not that dramatic. Also, if they are individuals during the beginning, perhaps they need more individualized outfits? Perhaps I am just missing the concept completely, but at least I was not alone on this. I had read the description, but my friends had no idea about it. At the end, I asked them what they thought it was about and the consensus was, "Aliens are Among Us." LOL That came from the hooded guard suits sort of looking like E.T. from a distance, and then everyone in shiny gold at the end. As far as concepts go, I'm a big fan of the Keep It Simple, Stupid approach. The Cavaliers were masters of this for years: "4 Corners!" Spins!" "Bond!" "Machines!" Blue Devils as well: "Casablanca!" "Gangsters!" "Cool!" "Absurdity!" "Reflections!" Even Cadets are now onto it, after laying an egg with trying to be too nebulous, "Angels and Demons!" "Christmas!" This stuff just plain works and can communicate an idea to thousands of people within the limiting parameters of kids in polyester suits running and blowing horns. People love it when they feel they "get it." The corps plays just beautifully, and they seem to have really upped the difficulty factor on many fronts, but championship shows often (but not always) seem to contain that intangible level of communication with the audience that is key, and this product seems to be currently missing on that. People responded well to the loud stuff, and chuckled at some to the rolling on the ground and other antics at times, but one didn't get the sense that people were on the edge of their seats for a lot of it. I'm interested to see how the staff shapes this package over the next month. Cavaliers - Well, I don't know what to say here. I have read numerous people pick apart their details and execution, and the scores seem to be reflecting that, however, I found the show very enjoyable. They are by no means at their clear concept best with it, but you can certainly tell that what they are doing goes with the show title. The guard looks much better when they take off the silver jackets, and the turquoise pants seemed like they were going to be horrific, but actually were pretty fun. They have new flags in the opener with silver "15"s and a printed face with glasses. Still keeping the Warhol-esque 4-color groupings. Some of the music was really pretty and the clarity of the drill was just such a huge contrast after Crown. There was one particular set, with the horns in a big arc that contains a rectangular box in the left top of it. The box creates a stage for a solo dancer and it was just so clear and very effective. You knew exactly where to look. I would assume execution is killing them right now, but the show has potential if they continue to work at it (which they will). It was an entertaining spectacle in need of more clarity. We all enjoyed it and, in the sort of astute comment that can only come from someone who has never seen this stuff before, my first-show-attendee friend asked, "if it is 15 Minutes of Fame, why are they dressed like cavaliers?" Of course we know why, but that sort of points out the way the corps are boxed into self-limiting creative situations. To the world at large, details like that don't make sense.I found it interesting. Cadets - This was, hands down, the crowd favorite. People just really seemed to respond to it, more than I expected. We had a "senior statesman" type behind us telling his female companion (who was a new fan) that he "likes his Christmas music at Christmas," so he was very skeptical. Her response was, "oh, do they always play Christmas music?" much to our amusement. By the end of the show, he was raving about it. Even though I was with Cadet alumni, we are not exactly homers for them. If anything, we are more critical, and we all liked it. I would say it is, at this point, good, but not great. In the Battle of the Cream, they are really winning big time right now as far as drill readability. It's just a really noticeable difference, with far less clutter. They were also louder than Crown, though their sound is bright rather than placenta. Overall the show is low on drama. There are hints of different moods here and there, but they don't fully develop. Carol of the Bells sounds rather mysterious, but the guard is doing gymnastics in parts of it. The ballad goes for more reverence, but the guard is doing belly slides down triangles. It is sort of all the same, without bringing the audience through different stages on a journey. They totally nailed that last year. I think this has that potential, but they need to make choices about what mood each section is supposed to be. For me, Jingle Bells is the part that goes off the rails a bit. Its a marshmallow fluff super-fun jam, but....right after Carol, you were sort of ready for things to get a bit darker, and then resolve/brighten in the gorgeous ballad. JB can be treated as a chaotic, borderline nutso song (listen to the Barbra Streisand version for confirmation of this), and that might have brought a stress/shopping frenzy idea, which is then resolved by the beauty after it, and the joyous conclusion. We'll see where they go with it. They already have the spinning packages there (not all that effective). If they maximize that effect with some music changes, it would definitely add to the frenzy. So let's address the guard costumes, shall we? Man, that's a lot of color, or as Tim Gunn would say, "a lotta look." We found this particularly ironic as their staff, freed for the first time ever from being saddled with maroon as a base color for the show (and with virtually zero alumni squawking at that), chose to dump a Crayola box all over the guard. The idea is fun, but it's just A LOT. The sparkly present overlays are actually a very clever design, but there are some major individual tailoring issues from person to person with them. On some the package suit is just below the waist and on others it is mid-thigh. This really shows in contrast to the skirt length on the girls. They fit snugly on some and on others are like a sandwich board or "frumpy housedress." We're hoping these details get addressed when they have time and sewing folks available. Also, the one unifying element on all is the "ribbon." They have chosen to place this at different heights on different people, so it is no longer a unifying element. In contrast, they used the gold cummerbund as a unifier to tie the angel/demon uniforms together last year and it made the entire thing completely work and not seem fractured. During the ballad, they take off the sparkly coat and reveal a solid color (still package looking) undergarment, that is the same color as the skirts/pants. This is all more muted and we preferred it. Overall, I don't think any of us really loved the choice of this visual direction, but we all felt if you are going for the Dr. Seuss super-whimisical approach, they need to really visually own it. Complete the picture with crazy hairstyles and more detailing. This does NOT mean to cheez it up. Just keep going with where you are going, but finish it. Right now, they seem to be splitting the difference between fun and serious, and it is hard to be serious when dressed as a Christmas package. From a staging perspective, the ballad is a disconnect right now. The guard triangles (which are now loudly painted as presents, in colors that don't quite match the costume colors-ack) start out as rectangular boxes, with two triangles stacked on each other. These are all set in the left rear, way over. They separate them, with one of each pair stood vertically for a time, and that is just weird. It looked like an origami crocodile or something. Eventually they turn into shallow peaks, that the members pose on and slide down. The sliding is fun, but by its nature, uncontrollable. Lots of interpretations of that going on. A few spun around as they slid and that is a very neat toboggan effect. But...you are given a choice. Do you watch the guard, by twisting your neck way to the left, or do you see what everyone else is doing. I don't remember anything about the horns or drums in this part as all. There was just music coming from somewhere (including a great soloist that I never even looked for). It seemed to us that they should scrap all but a few triangles and stage them so they are better integrated. A little sliding is fine, but too much was a drag. Meanwhile, we have no flags or anything else that would bring more beautiful interpretation to the very nice music. They have some good ideas here, but are sort of tripping over them right now. I'll bet this is a lot different in a month's time. One more note on this - if you are going to have a girl do the splits on a triangle peak, better make sure those two halves are firmly placed together to form a tight peak. That couldn't have felt good Overall - they are quite good. Quite. Design issues need resolving, but they will stay very near the top of the heap. It was a fun night and we enjoyed everyone, though weren't blown away yet. Of course, it is still just June Edited June 24, 2012 by NakedEye 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayM Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Best review I've read so far this season. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splat-a-drag-a-phonium Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 It's goosebumps, it's major loud, it's like a warm placenta of sound that envelops you. There is a new quote to describe it....... Great review from a different point of view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splat-a-drag-a-phonium Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 (edited) . sorry double post Edited June 24, 2012 by splat-a-drag-a-phonium Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardguy89 Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Best review I've read so far this season. Thanks! Agreed! It's nice to read a more visual / color guard review...and I agree 100% with everything you've mentioned about the corps!!! Later, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 There is a new quote to describe it....... Great review from a different point of view. Methinks I'd rather bathe in chocolate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NakedEye Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 Thanks for the nice feedback! I went in and fixed a few of my more glaring typos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicdirect Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 The Tampa Bay Thunder Florida's only DCA Open Class Corps would like to thank all at DCI for allowing us to take part in some way at the Orlando show. Members really enjoyed the crowd and the response! Just the first step to a long summer for us! Check at our scheduled events at www.tampabaythunder.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwillis35 Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Bravo on the review! Very detailed and I enjoyed reading about the corps' performances from a guard, visual, color perspective. I, too, was quite shocked at just how good we thought The Cadets were in Akron. I think you hit the nail on the head. They need to focus on the things you detailed in order to better streamline their show. If they can do that, could be a killer show come Finals. I also agree with you about Cavaliers. Performance is hurting them now, but in many ways they have the color, the guard integration, the excellent drill, and they simply need to make more sense of the music and the show theme. Crown has all the good except for some transitions and the contrast in color. If the judges are not bothered by the contrast visually, then they could easily contend for the title if they clean the visual and fix a few transitions. Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 From a fellow writer, I must say your writing is thoroughly captivating. I hope to read more as the season progresses. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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