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SOA '15


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Yes, it is the middle of winter and yes, certain corps are never heard from until late Spring.

In the meantime the only communication is rumor, innuendo, and half-stated truths.

Spirit of Atlanta and SCV seem particularly quiet this winter.

While SCV is in its WGI efforts plus a period of mourning for a key program director, SOA doesn't even make the DCI web page snippets of infos or photos.

It leads to wonder when CV posted this video today on the DCA thread: http://vimeo.com/117398692

Given the youth pictured in this video, I am curious..

Georgia and area does produce some great marching bands certainly. Other corps are speaking of the high rate of Floridians and other Southerners at auditions.

But does the rise and success of CV have an inverse proportional effect on Spirit of Atlanta which lately seems to be struggling?

The experience and depth of CV faculty leads me to ponder as SOA is in transition, again.

Edited by xandandl
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As was stated over on the DCA page, every indication that we get from people down here is that Spirit is doing just fine. This includes several CV members from last year that have been awarded contracts with Spirit this year. I would just wait it out and see what comes to the field in June.

Dan

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I attended the show and tell at their December camp and accordiong to their admin team about 350+ were in attendance including several from Japan, Netherlands and Italy. There were also a good amount of vets in attendance, especially guard! JW posted to the F&F page after the January camp that the corps was about 90% contracted and making decisions at the February camp on the remaining contracts. I would say they are moving along just fine! I cannot wait to see them on the field this summer...

Edited by SummerBandFan
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I'm not sure you can base the success of Spirit in 2015 on what is happening over at CV, although when I watched the video I was struck at how young the members looked. If they are drawing away potential members of SOA, this would be an issue. I've only seen Atlanta CV live once, and with the uniforms and being a distance from the field, I could not tell the age of the marchers, do I don't know if this is the norm for the corps.

In 2011 people thought SOA in finals was a long shot. 2012 and 2013 chatter was negative though reports from the organization were positive, and it turned out the organization was correct, so I paid very little attention to 2014 preseason negative chatter, which turned out to be somewhat accurate. Now as I look at last year, yes the show had flaws, and yes it was a better year for nearly all WC and OC corps, SOA being a notable exception. I did think it had some potential. But as the season progressed, the show did not, and when I saw then in Atlanta and Charlotte, the early season potential I saw when I saw them earlier in the Boston area was gone. To me, this seems more like a morale problem. Design issues can be fixed, look at Troopers in 2012 as compared with 2013 or Blue Stars in the same years. Morale is more difficult to fix.

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Glad to hear numbers, etc. are spinning positive. But the proof is in the pudding.

When we (dc fans) see and hear, then we will be convinced. Silence tells us nothing, admin. comments (of any corps) don't convince anyone but themselves.

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This is going to come off sounding arrogant and pompous maybe but why does any corps have to provide information or reports or any kind during the off season if they choose not to? Perhaps their experience has been negative when they have done this in the past (I know this to be the case in some instances). For instance, the perception that has been stated that we at CV appear to be much younger this year are not true. We have remained at basically the same average age for the past 4 years I have been a member. Trust me, there are enough of us old guys around to balance it out. (The average age of the drum majors this year is 50!) There are many corps that choose to remain quiet to the public during the winter months. If they deem it to be in the best interests of the corps, then who are we to question that decision?

At CV we have chosen to take a more "open book" approach to our marketing. It has worked well for us. That being said, our neighbor in purple chooses to remain silent...and it seems to work for them. Good for them! I am certainly not going to question their choices.

I understand the need as a fan to know what is going on, but...let's just let people run their organizations the way they choose and see what happens in June. At least that's my $.02.

Dan

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Your points are well made and have some validity.

It's that .02 cents that makes the difference.

While corps do need to be prudent with publicity until copyrights and licenses are secured (as much as possible in these changing times,) begging letters and seeking donors to fund the experiments of transitional instructional teams and admins that don't always have positive track records aren't always prudent or successful. Off season publicity is not just to feed the curious, the bored, and the lonely. It's sound business practice to build a horizon of confidence in the community that the corps is on solid ground, is using the donated monies wisely, and demonstrates that the investment made is reaping a positive return for student, donor, and far-away fans. Tee shirt selling during the summer helps, but it is not what pays a DCI budget. Off season efforts are requisite. DCP is but one rather inexpensive means to garner such benefits from interested parties who may be influenced to join, volunteer, donate, and/or provide support (e.g., housing, food, materials.) That's all.

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