dcifanforlife

Cities get corporate sponsors to cover their parade costs. $ 3,000 is the average per parade plus one night housing. Corps don;t need practise facilities so many stay in fitness centers etc and shower at pool locker rooms.

Seeding into San Antonio will be more important than ever this year. The sixth highest scoring corps could draw the fourth to last spot and the ninth highest scoring corps could draw the seventh to last spot. Seedings will be announced Sunday July 16th after the shows in Fort Collins, Rockford and Little Rock. Mandarins need to keep improving every day.

Cavaliers, Blue Stars and Phantom in Cedarburg on July 3rd. Blue Stars will be the most rested. Neither Blue Stars or Cavaliers will be beat Phantom this year if Phantom beats the them in the next three shows.

Want an example of slotting just look at the Mandarins situation. They were not competing against the Blue Devils but against the scores already posted by Phantom, Blue Stars, Cavaliers and The Cadets. Blue Knight,s will be slotted in once they arrive on West Coast. Bluecoats will be slotted in on Wednesday when Boston gets to Cincinnati. West Coast corps will be slotted until Fort Collins when Boston gets there. For the corps (Crossmen, Genesis and Spirit of Atlanta) yet to complete they get slotted in on July 8th. This is what is caused by the imbalances in the regions. Mandarins spread with Blue Devils may increase.

Can;t use if windy. How was the wind?

It is only second show of season and first view by judges. Stop nitpicking over the recaps and just enjoy the journey. Beth is a top judge that the Blue Stars will probably see two dozen times this season. Judging anomalies occur almost every night but in the end the placements are usually correct. There was a judges critique last night so the staffs could plead their cases and they probably good feedback from the judges.

Crown is the home corps. Draw between, Cavaliers, Blue Stars, Phantom and Draw between Colts, Troopers. Performance order set for all shows up to San Antonio.

Show will not be cancelled or delayed. Photos from show site show site show a nearly clear sky. If you read the Air Quality Alert for Rockford Mi. The alert is for Sensitive Groups only. Corps members are not in the Sensitive Group. Weather forecast is for 80 degrees and zero chance of rain. DCI can't catch a break from some of you. You complain about everything. Show is almost sold out and corps have already been paid their appearance fees. DCI would be in violation of their Flo Marching contract and subject to being sued. Let the season begin.

If you donate $ 250 to the corps you get VIP membership and get to watch live the final run through most nights and video is kept up for several days. Best donation I make every year. I watched the Friday night dress rehearsal and I was impressed with where the Blue Stars are. They had a outstanding spring training with few blocks lost due to rain and the wind was not that bad. I have seen three corps live Phantom Regiment, Troopers (five times) and The Academy (Corps to watch in 2023). Get your Flo Marching subscription and get ready for an outstanding 2023 season. The hype is real.

Made the trip this afternoon to Phantom's Spring Training site at Eastern Illinois University. Caught the four hour rehearsal block with the entire ensemble. Concert side stands are high enough that everyone was in the shade the entire rehearsal which was nice since is has been sunny and hot since the corps arrived. All sections appear to be strong and putting in the work. One tuba sitting out probably due to injury otherwise corps full. Killer battery and brass as good as expected. At the end if the day it comes done to has the Design Team given the members the right show? Ten more days in Charleston IL the a few days in Evansville then home to Rockford for Music in The Park and then the season starts.

Troopers held all but one of their Winter Camps except one in Indianapolis area and they are holding spring training for 32 days in Tipton IN. They have the second shortest drive to Rockford MI after Cavaliers.

Order of appearance is one of the few benefits from your placement at semi finals the previous year. You are seeded or draw in a group of two or three. You get go on last at home show (Blue Knights= Fort Collins) Madison sponsors three shows so they get to go on last at all three.

Group of three;s draw has been the norm at shows if all three are present. Non top twelve can't appear before a finalist corps. Hence the draw for Ft Collins.

I agree Vicki doesn't meet any of the requirements (Resident of Erie area, Experience with non profit Musical Groups in Erie Area etc) that they listed for the new CEO. There is a small group alumni that still control everything that goes on within the organization and long as they find the money they control everything that the BOD and CEO does. I wish The Cadets well.

Cadets don't have the tour schedule to move up this year. Boston beats them badly the first three shows and then Crown and Bluecoats put big spreads on them the next several shows. Cadets will be part of the middle pack once everyone gets together in Texas. Cadets have not solved their financial issues. They continue to be the poorest of the finalist corps.

They are a World Class Corps competing in several Open Class shows. Questions are 1) Are they getting any appearance fees for these shows? 2) Will DCI show their score separately from the Open Class scores? With a move in date of July 1st. it will be difficult to have a show ready by July 16th unless they hold several weekend camps before move ins. Tour fees appear to be $4600 which makes Surfs statement on "Total Cost of Participation" incorrect. The entire announcement from Surf and DCI is nothing more than them trying placate one individual.

Model didn't work last year so this is just a desperate attempt by Surf to justify fielding a corps in 2023. Last year they reduced fees and it did nothing to increase membership. Surf has always started later then everyone else. No mention of what fees will be. If you don't have members you don't have money coming in so you can't pay the tour bills. This tour will cost more than Surf can ever hope to raise. They would have been better off just announcing that they are not fielding a corps in 2023 and let those few contracted seek spots with other corps . Instead we will have to endure the pain that is sure to follow. My predication is that there is only a 25% chance that Surf will field a corps in 2023.

VMPA entered into these employment contracts willing in order to attract talent to live in an expensive area of the country. Now that they have had to buy out these contracts it is not the fault of those that received them. Have all of the settlements been made? Probably not. A contact is a contract that needs to be honored. Just another example of poor decision making over an extended period of time.

Many of the corps have returned to premandemic level of auditionees. So the ability to pay is the number one requirement for getting in a corps today. Scholarships are for vets. If an organization reduces its membership fees it is devaluing its brand. We will see who still needs members when DCI starts its Fill All Spots in a couple of weeks.

It is not complicated VAMPA has debt that they need to pay off and they have little revenue coming in to pay off the debt. Cut costs and increase revenue coming in. Solutions that they have proposed will not got get they job done per many that have seen them. Granted we are early in the process and VAMPA has promised transparency. Hopefully we should get at least bimonthly updates. They have only nine months to right the ship. End of September is when corps need to commit for the 2024 tour.

What the 2023 contracted design staff needs to do is donate back to VMAPA all or part of their salary for the year and take a tax deduction. None of this group is living paycheck to paycheck. One year of work and four years of pay is hard for most people to comprehend.

Moderators Please Close. As usual same group has taken it off topic and highjacked it.

Are we talking paid attendance or overall attendance? DCI sold more tickets for Prelims, Semi Finals and Finals in 2022 than any other year at LOS. On Thursday night there were more than 2,000 tickets sold than tickets scanned at gate. Many people didn't use their tickets for Thursday and didn't sell them. Which was great for the seat poachers since there where a lot of great seats open.

New record for Indianapolis

If marching members and corps staff can't stay after they perform there will no one to poach seats except those that think they have a right to a better seat than what they purchased. People are going to be surprised with the size of crowds all three nights.