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Color Guard 2015


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Think about this before looking it up: which Color Guard was the last to beat the Blue Devils for the final trophy? (tick...tick...tick) Hint: 2007. Yes, BD has won CG 7 years in a row. Unprecedented for any caption.

A quick bit of research shows their dominance. In '09, '10, '12, '14, they scored 20s in Finals (2010 was a clean sweep of 20s in all 3 shows).

Frankly, it's not my "kind of" guard. There was so much WOW over the years watching Cavies (2007 especially) and Cadets (A. Gilligan's 1989-1996).

That all said, which corps has any shot at topping them? Crown was close in 2013, finishing 0.1 behind. Seriously, that's quite an accomplishment given these last few yrs. My guess is the Blue Stars, given their staff and a 4th place finish last year.

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Cadets, Crown, SCV. Cadets were second in 2014, Crown was second in 2013 and SCV has a beautiful guard. BD's guard can be beaten. Just need one of these groups to have the show design. Hard to put guard in top spot if you're corps is seated 5th and four more corps have yet to perform. Judges number management isn't easy.

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Tobias is correct in my experience, but a shout-out should also go to the Blue Stars.

Michael Shapiro's work there is often underscored but this corps' show design is a perfect example of the ups and downs the previous poster references for whole design relating to caption placement.

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I don't know much about guard. I am impressed when all their flags are moving together, their rifles are catching together with that "snap" sound. I'm not really a fan of the sabres (sp) or the dancers, but I do see how they contribute to the shows. To answer the question, I am not really sure. Understand that Cadets have a pretty big veteran line this year so I would put them as the ones to possibly beat BD, but I haven't heard much about any of the other corps so you can take my answer with a grain of salt.

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I'm looking forward to great things with Madison's guard this year. As stated in other posts, there are a number of people there who were part of a great team when they were with Phantom - the same team that produced the 2011 Phantom guard.

On the other hand, BD's guard is like a professional entertainment company. There are many great guards, but BD just has this edge that's hard to describe - as if they are professional actors doing guard work.

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The last couple of years SCV's guard has been pretty amazing. The staff has been stable plus their success with the winter guard program has put them 2nd to BD imo. If a guard is capable of beating BD maybe SCV has a shot.

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The last couple of years SCV's guard has been pretty amazing. The staff has been stable plus their success with the winter guard program has put them 2nd to BD imo. If a guard is capable of beating BD maybe SCV has a shot.

It's always interesting that most of SCV's Winterguard design staff and one of their tech staff is actually Bluecoats staff. They definitely put out an incredible product this past winter.

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Unlike BITD when world class corps and world class guards were local based, locally sponsored, and almost always comprised of local participants, that has not been the case for several decades of DCI and WGI. Those organizations which sponsor winter and summer programs are more often dealing with different clientele each season of the year. Blue Knights are a perfect example as are Cadets, Bluecoats, and Pioneer.

While Jeff Fiedler, CEO of SCV, does publicly make mention of more members of his winter ensemble being members also of his summer corps in 2014-15, both the staff and membership of the winter and summer organizations are not the same. From my own personal experience far earlier than Dayton in the season I shared an East Coast airport waiting area with several members of SCV's winter guard of recent seasons who flew in to Calif for practices and shows from colleges on the East Coast!

http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=5dc9406a-a08f-4bc3-8959-928bdde532bf, http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=7c0a2e2b-8667-44b5-a09a-f2def88dfd15

Though BD is notorious that when one joins the organization one moves into California, frequently simultaneously enrolls in RCC, and spends the off season along the Pacific. That is not true with most of the other World Class corps today and often not in World Class non-scholastic guards and percussion ensembles.

Any correlation between the two organizations of winter units and summer corps seems more coincidental for most. Then again the Left Coast had has that name for many seasons for many reasons; this may be another.

Edited by xandandl
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It's always interesting that most of SCV's Winterguard design staff and one of their tech staff is actually Bluecoats staff. They definitely put out an incredible product this past winter.

I think Greg Lagola from Cadets worked with SCV winter guard too.
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Greg Lagola has been working with SCV winter guard for many seasons now, maybe as far back as when Jon Vanderkopff and Denise Bonfiglio both joined the staff. Greg will also be consulting with the Bluecoats summer corps as well as working with Cadets. His commute will not be as difficult as one corps will be in Ada, Ohio and the other at Grangeville, Ohio, not all that far apart as drum corps measure travel distance. Of course, Skype and the computer make everything as near as his apartment in NYC.

Edited by xandandl
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