CorpsFan710

Only saw the VOD, but they were hands down the best package in Louisville. Will it be the same in Indy 2 months from now? Who knows, but IMHO they need to fix a couple of things - the biggest one being the guard costuming. The costumes might make the "super heros" look like "Common men", but the drill missed the mark in that endeavor. It's just stock guard staging, and when combined with similar colors, it just looks cluttered. What's interesting about clutter? Change the costumes or rewrite the beginning drill. The most frustrating thing about watching this corps is that they'll have moments of the show that are spectacular, and then they'll just forget about everything in between. Also, to the OP, who on their staff is from Avon other than Matt Harloff? I didn't realize they were so closely related??

Or you'll get wet to hear nothing due to cancellation.

Look at recaps (not just finals) from the past 4 or 5 years. Visual effect and visual ensemble are consistently their lowest scoring captions. Even when they're up there in visual performance and colorguard these two captions hold them back... not to mention last year when their drill held back even the music captions. Percussion seems to be a problem lately too, but I'm clueless about percussion.

Something tells me this thread will end with a great organization's name getting dragged through the mud. Different corps are for different people. Seems to me like the OP answered his own question in the original post.

You're missing my point, the rule wasn't stretched, it was broken... by doing something that was specifically addressed prior to the season beginning.

The rule, as it was passed, allowed for communication (wirelessly) between a staff member in a remote location, and the staff member controlling the sound board. In the discussions that preceded and followed the voting, it WAS explicitly stated that the remote OPERATION of the sound board was not going to be allowed. If the corps director (or other representative) did not pass this information along to the staff member that is responsible for the sound board, it by no means "excuses" them from breaking the rules.

Your group has IW medals from WGI championships? Then please, continue and tell us all how you do it for so cheap. I'm sure many people want to know.

Giving an organization cash wouldn't be a good business decision for DCI. Any resources dedicated to helping startup corps should be used in a way to develop those organizations' infrastructures. Throwing cash at problems is an easy way to run your business into the ground. If DCI would dedicate some resources to providing practical training sessions for potential corps directors and board members, they could help them find their own funding, and, more importantly, teach them to run their organization properly. The Academy has done it. Carolina Crown has done it. Obviously there are people in the activity that know how to do it. I think a starting point would be to organize workshops that will give very specific ideas on how to run a drum corps as a not for profit business. Getting the people who developed these (recently) successful corps to lead the workshops would be ideal. A workshop like this could be done for far less than what would be considered a "significant" donation to a single corps. Ultimately it's about how valuable you can make each dollar you spend...especially when running a non-profit.

if your design choice is to transition poorly, that should be your design choice, and you should be judged accordingly even if it fits your concept. If I title a show "Bach Chorales and triplet rolls" and just play bach chorales and triplet rolls, should i get rewarded the same as people who make design choices which give them the opportunity to display higher levels of coordination in their musical book? The fact that their horns, drums, and props transitioned just as poorly as their colorguard should've affected the ensemble and effect sheets even more. Bad orchestration isn't a motif, it's bad orchestration. You can't claim things as fitting your concept and expect words written on the sheet to be ignored because of it. That's part of the game of design: Design a show that creatively explores the parameters agreed upon by the rules committee. Theoretically, that's how you make sure it's an even playing field - Everyone knows prior to the season what will be rewarded and what will not. BD smoked everyone in achievement...which is acceptable... it's been obvious for a while that "achievement" no longer means "derived achievement" in the judging community --- it now means "cleanliness". My argument isn't even that they shouldn't have won guard. I just think they should've been 3rd in the top box at BEST. If that means they were 9.5/10.0 and second place was 9.8/9.5, so be it. You have to rank and spread correctly within subcaptions also.

Quarterfinals looked way smaller than usual. Finals looked very similar to last year. Was there another event going on Thursday that might've kept people away?

Top 3 things that confuse me about BD's guard: 1.) Lack of spinning on the move - Well, they have 2 of the 3 down....Body and EQ. 2.) Functional transitions - BD's guard was the only guard in the top 5 that would just hold their equipment and run across the field to their new spot....stop....then spin. So distracting. Surprised they didn't get nailed for this in Ensemble too. 3.) Lack of vocabulary (comparatively) - Not nearly the amount of EQ variety as the other top 5. (ok, as Cavs, BC, and Crown...they have more than the Cadets). Those 20s should have been 19.5 at the most....I can see a 10 in Achievement, but there's no way they deserved above a 9.5 in Content when they're being ranked within the box with the other top 5 guards. I thought they'd be at least 3rd in Content behind Cavies and Crown...very close to BC. I bet there's a lot of discussion on how the top box is supposed to be judged this off-season. Scott Chandler has put a spell on the DCI judging community.

Your gut is right on both accounts. No encore after Quarters and Semis. Only champs on Saturday night.

I don't see why people are reacting so negatively over this. It seems like a good starting point to increase the strength of the activity as a whole. If you think DCI can continue to operate as it currently does - and survive - you're not being realistic. Sure, there are some things that will be debated/adjusted, but at least someone is putting real work into the future of the activity. I honestly don't see how anyone can be upset with the ENTIRE proposal. There are some great ideas in there.

I'm pretty sure EVERY corps has colorguard openings right now.

Carolina Crown isn't a drum corps. It is a non-profit with many programs intended to provide educational opportunities for young people through the performing arts. ONE of these programs is a drum corps. All of Crown's programs are in need of affordable and consistent facilities in order to continue/expand.