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How do you want your guard?


SBrancheau

If it were up to you, how would guard be?  

82 members have voted

  1. 1. If it were up to you, how would guard be?

    • Emphasis on dance, some equipment work, lots of props & costumes
      0
    • Equal balance of dance and equipment work...but with props and costumes
      26
    • Emphasis on equipment work, some dance...some props and costumes
      39
    • Majority of equipment work, little dance, no props or costumes...uniformity of guard apparel
      14


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For the most part, I would have no problem with "new style" if it were executed cleanly. The cleanliness of execution is what gives performance its impact. It's what creates those "Wow!" moments. Without it, a lot of what's happening on the field is in soft focus . . . a blur. Put it in sharp focus--meaning, execute it cleanly, make a solid catch without the excess body/hand movement I'm seeing on catches (unchoreographed; people are just moving around to catch their equipment), wobbly catches, shuffling of feet, twitching and fidgeting while equipment is in the air, etc

BRAVO !!

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That's it! Execution! Being able to do a 7 is impressive. If you have to shuffle to the side four steps to catch it with a wobble destroys the skill of doing a 7 in the first place. It doesn't mattter if you're marking time or prancing around.

Thank you, that's what I've been saying all along in this post....very well put!

The basics still matter, whether your catching standing still, or running through the hornline, or on an 8 foot box, or wherever and whatever.

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I'm doing just what people are now discussing. This is my last year of my own 5 year test.  I've walked away before, came back, gave it 5 years, only this time, along with guard, the amps and voice have put me over the top.  I'm not saying it's not great, it's just not entertaining for me.

It was the guard thing back in 93, and I ended up only marching in 94 and not buying any tickets. 

I won't bore you with who I now sponsor and from what corps, I should give back, it was my life for a long time.

I may still even sponsor, but I will not be buying tickets to any show, and there should be plenty of people to take my place, of this I am sure.

I will not be spending the kind of money it takes to travel to Philly, Allentown, Orlando, Denver, or any where else to see something I no longer enjoy and to listen to music that I don't like (3/4 of it)!

There was a time I would spend any amount to see a guard or drum corps show.  I answered the poll how much would you spend to see a finals performance, there was a time where I would have spent over $250, that was the highest the poll went.  It was once worth if to me, but in my opinion, I can put my money to better use at this point.  :(

True 27th Lancers rifle line did high leg-lifts, lie on their backs and kick out their leg at the end of Niner Two, but come on...apples and oranges kids!

We basically ended high leg lift prior to my aging out. The corps may have been doing it but we weren't.

And execution along with a difficult move is not apples and oranges. I have to tell you I think that that move at the end of Niner Two would be considered difficult in any era. ^0^ Clean is clean is clean, and although I realize that it no longer matters because of the judging, I believe many instructors do their guards an injustice as the work that is being done would look so much better if it were cleaner.

But I do have to say, if it doesn't matter, why waste time on it.

Between the dancing, the movement, the different pieces of equipment and props that must be mastered by each individual, they'd have to double the season or make move in 2 months earlier to actually execute to the level we're talking about.

What is being done is not only beautiful but difficult in some cases, but there is something missing for me and it is very different. It makes no era right or wrong. It's preference! :)

To the DCP Team, I wish we had a clean/executution emoticon....

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It's what I and many others have been saying all along...

It doesn't matter (so much) what you do, it matters HOW you do it.

Execution is the key...any group of people can toss something up and catch it any which way.

To see a group of disciplined, trained individuals do something together in unity...thats the excitement.

~G~

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What is being done is not only beautiful but difficult in some cases, but there is something missing for me and it is very different.  It  makes no era right or wrong. 

nodsnodsnodsnodsnodsnodsnodsnods

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~G~, I think a lot of us have been saying this over and over again. I'm also glad that the foot toss was brought up as well...because to me that would be difficult, can be seen from the stands, and can be clean....a WOW moment to me...but I'm old school militant!

Sally, I absolutely love that picture!!

Edited by LancerFi
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But I do have to say, if it doesn't matter, why waste time on it.

I understand exactly what you're saying, Nancy. The judging doesn't reward cleanliness the way it did when we marched, and there's not enough time in the season to nail everything down.

But I have to admit, it still frustrates me.

If it's not important, then why would it be important to my aforementioned examples? The Bolshoi Ballet and Mikhail Baryshnikov. (There are countless more. But those are the most obvious ones that come to mind, for me.) There's no judging system that rewards them for cleanliness. I'm sure those performers don't have loads of extra time to work on technique (though obviously, they're all professionals). But they brought technique and a fastidious training in basics with them. That attention to detail no doubt permeates the entire company. So if it's important to them (even though it's not rewarded by any competitive judging system), then why shouldn't it be important to everyone wanting to perform at that level? After all, the focus in guard now seems to be on dance. So shouldn't the standards for executing dance with equipment be just as high as they were before, even if the system doesn't reward it?

Rhetorical question. It's probably pretty obvious what my opinion is.

Edited by byline
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byline, I was just trying to soften the blow...I don't want to be perceived as a kid hater! You know it's all about the members, etc.

I too believe that their basics program should have them clean as well, but where it isn't happening, I thought I better just fahget abud it! LOL

And I am still frustrated by it, but this will be the last year I am!

By the way, I voted for the last one!

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byline, I was just trying to soften the blow...I don't want to be perceived as a kid hater! You know it's all about the members, etc.

Understood. I guess I should add that really, my comments are directed more at the training the guard members are getting, not the guard members themselves. I mean, when I marched, I did what my instructors asked of me (and then some . . . which is, I'm sure, the way members are now, too). But the expectations of my instructors set the standard for what I expected of myself. So I guess I feel like the instructors need to be setting the same standards for execution as when they marched. But I see a gradual shifting away from that, like that's not a desirable thing. That's the part that frustrates me.

I know it's a "Catch-22" situation, especially with time factored in. But I don't think we'd have nearly as much of a "now vs. then" debate as we do now--with people confusing a dislike of changing styles with decreased emphasis on execution--if that one thing were changed. Sure, you'd still have people saying they didn't like what guards are doing now. But you wouldn't have nearly as many people complaining about the way guards are doing it. And those are two very different things.

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