scheherazadesghost

Vanguard hires BB, is called out for hiring someone with his track record on youth safety. BB out in less than a year. Vanguard later hires RCA, whose previous employer folded after accusations that a long time instructor violated a member. RCA out in less than a year. All in the last 5 years. Shall I go further back for more examples? I'll probably be censored again so I'll save the mods some work and not. Anyway, the concern is valid.

What happened at WGI finals?

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Seconded, @TRacer and @84BDsop.

This wasn't ever our code of conduct. It's word salad masquerading as such that inexperienced leadership passed down without questioning some of the contents. Don't get me started on what was said about the pyramids. And guaranteed that the standing at attention was implied, as you can't put a show like 03 on the field without the utmost attention and care for every single rep. Anyway, if you followed the cymbals' example, as I did, you got back to your set faster than everyone else so you could add in a few extra pushups before the next rep. Do we also love the part about committing to the corps before you commit to eating your lunch bc the corps is way more important than food? Edit: second time I've been censored in this thread alone... for the record only.

It's more efficient and more poetic than other descriptions available when I marched... ‘The Way’ The tradition, philosophies, and inside protocol of being a Santa Clara Vanguard Presence No swearing in your uniform at all. This is out of respect for the people who wore the uniform before you and did the same thing. They are watching you all the time. No signs of affection in uniform. You may walk arm in arm, and that is all. You have plenty of time away from the corps to do what you need to do. Don’t swear in your corps jacket around [sic] other SCV people. When you wear your jacket, like your uniform, you are wearing everyone involved with the corps past and present. When you say thing it is often difficult to know who you are around. The walls have ears. Show respect for the star on the front of your jacket. There are people who have died and been buried waring that star. When you put your jacket down on the ground. Do not throw it down. Take the time and the pride to fold it neatly and lay it somewhere safe, where it won’t be stepped on or STOLEN. Fold your corps jacket with the SCV Star showing, it matters NOT what your name is, you’re a Santa Clara Vanguard. Do not Smoke, or Drink in your Jacket EVER! What you do on your own time is your business, take your SCV stuff off and leave me out of it. When you smoke at the hall, it is a basic rule of thumb to go off corps property. Never ever spit on the field of honor. (The Field of honor refers to any field you march on) You are spitting on me, you and all your friends. The field is your stage, it is good to you, lets you march on it, and do what you love. Never pick your Aussie up by the rim. It will bend, and it is disrespectful. Always hold is [sic] level in your left hand and be proud to carry it. Be courteous to people when with the corps. They will remember you long after you have forgotten them. NEVER ever litter! A true Santa Clara Vanguard knows how to take care of themselves, clean up after themselves, and leave things cleaner than how they found them. IF there is trash left from the corps on the field, it is your responsibility as a SCV to pick it up and throw it away. Swallow your pride a little bit, humble yourselves and do what’s right. You are the to thank the parents that feed you on tour and at camps. Thank every one of them as a matter of habit every time you receive food from them. The things you do in private with your friends are you business. When around other than SCV people conduct yourself in a matter with which upholds the name Santa Clara Vanguard. Responsibilities as a corps member RUN! SCV is known for being a very intense and hard working corps. Run to your sets because they mean something to you. Run because you want to make it better the next time around. Run because that’s ‘The Way’. Know when talking is appropriate on the field. If there is any question of that in your mind than [sic] keep your mouth shut. If you have a serious problem with an instructor, take it to your drum major. If harsh language is your problem, join the real world and GET OVER IT! You are not always going to be patted on the back and told how great you are in your lives to come. If there is one thing the corps will teach you, it is how to perform under pressure. Rise above; listen to the message, not the words. When you receive a correction, it is to be fixed forever by the next rehearsal. That means if you get a comment before lunch, you take part of your lunch break and fix it. You have a bigger responsibility to the corps than you will ever have to lunch. You owe it to yourself, you fellow members, and your predecessors. If you receive a comment more than once, YOU’RE WRONG. Practice what you preach or KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! “I can’t” is not even in your vocabulary. “I can’t” is the weakest thing a person could possibly say, and is unacceptable in the corps. Thousands of years ago the ancient Egyptians built the great pyramids. The mystique, awe, and utter greatness of that accomplishment is mammoth, and to this day baffles everyone that studies them. Though there is some question as to where the technology came from to build these works, it is certain that will power built the pyramids. Will power will enable you to accomplish things you didn’t ever know you were capable of. The power if human spirit goes well beyond what your experiences have led you to believe. I can = I will = I did. ‘The Way’ as an approach to rehearsal on a higher level. Never be afraid. Whether it be push-ups, one more run through, a new venue, cleaning, new drill, or new music, face every challenge with enthusiasm and zeal. When you conquer the challenge at hand, you will know true triumph and happiness in your heart and in your being. Take all criticism (positive and negative) to heart and as your own. This is your corps. When the staff gets after you, it’s not because they enjoy being jerks. It’s because they want you to be better than they were. You are the one of the field now and we all know that no one (especially you) enjoys a performance that sucks. Have the hearts and pride of a champion. The judges, the crowd and other corps, may not give you the recognition you deserve so put out to you maximum potential at all times and no matter what your score reads, you will be a champion. Feel it and know it your heart and mind. Approach all you perform with passion. If you can not be passionate about what you’re doing. You will never feel complete. Passion supports all emotion!! INTEGRITY: Doing what you feel in your heart is right, even if you think no one is watching. THE STANDARD: Similar to ‘The Way’ the SCV Standard is reaching far beyond what you feel possible. The Standard you set today is obsolete tomorrow. ‘The Standard’ goes hand in hand with ‘The Way.’ HUMBLE: On the field performing you can be as cocky, as brash, and as aggressive as your show requires. Off the field you are to be polite, and congenial while representing SCV. Being proud is encouraged, being rude and self serving is forbidden. PRIDE: Contrary to some conventional wisdom, having pride in one’s self is not a moral crime. Being proud of what you do and standing a little taller has no negative value in itself. Pride should be practice in harmony with humbleness. Hence the once said ‘humble pride.’ FOCUS: At times this activity will be chaotic. It is at these times when your rehearsed attention to detail and what you are doing will manifest itself positively or negatively. The more focus you rehearse with, the better your performing experience will be; and the better and faster you will recover from errors. Focus goes hand in hand with intensity. INTENSITY: Intensity is not an ugly face. It is the way you approach what you do. It is an approach with vigor. It is an aggressive approach that could be deemed intimidating. The eyes are the window to the mind and the soul. Your eyes speak volumes about what you are feeling in the present. Normally the more focus you have, the more intense you are. COMMITMENT: Commitment is a word largely thrown around by our sensationalist American media. When you are committed to something, your life should resemble that. When you join SCV, you are essentially married to the corps for the summer. You are married to the corps and have a commitment to learn you drill, master your music, polish you approach, and be at rehearsal. If you don’t learn your share, and drag your feet, your marriage will fail, and your summer will be lost. Marriage is not a part time job!! CHAMPION: A Champion is not necessarily a person who has the highest score in the end. Many people have gone through SCV and left their unforgettable mark on the hearts of the people whose lives they touched without ever winning a trophy. A true champion is a champion in the heart. A champion with no heart is not a champion at all. ‘The Way’ ‘The Way’ is much broader than what I have listed here. These are some SCV traditions that will lead you down the thoroughfare to ‘The Way.’ ‘The Way’ is an approach to life and what you do that you adopt [sic] while in the corps, and it will do nothing but help you when you apply it to life out of the corps. There is always more to learn about ‘The Way’ . This basic guide line only provides you with some traditions that SCV has acquired and passed down through the years. The Zen philosophy of ‘The Way’ is never in reality understood by every member of the corps. It is just understood by those members that open their hearts, minds, and bodies to it. Of those people, different people will take different amounts of time to gain understanding of it. Even then, they will learn something new everyday. Just as long as you’re making the effort to learn and giving 110% to the corps, you are on the right track. Never quit, take what you learn here, and apply it to your life. Once you have done that, you will be on your way to ‘The Way’.

Indeed, porque no los dos? It also looks like a blast to perform, based Dame Judy Dench's arc with it alone.

When the game is made up and the points don't matter, it's easy to manipulate. Been away from drum corps too long to know if this directly applies, but if it doesn't, then it's certainly fertile ground for such. It's a big reason why the competition aspect bores me so. Always has. And I've always been curious about Vanguard's role in the G8. Lots of turnover during that time, I think, though so probably difficult to tell. Despite recent commentary, and including official and unofficial info out there, I'm still holding out hope for a solid comeback at some point. And again, the org is too, so they're really good liars if the last page of the thread is to be believed.

According to Sondheim: "It's a theater reference meaning "if the show isn't going well, let's send in the clowns"; in other words, "let's do the jokes." I always want to know, when I'm writing a song, what the end is going to be, so "Send in the Clowns" didn't settle in until I got the notion, "Don't bother, they're here", which means that "We are the fools."

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Shielding anyone from rigorous feedback does not help lead to improvements. This whole thread/situation is case in point.

The amount of foot extension (pointed feet, curled toes) varies depending on the dance's culture of origin. There are many cultural dances that don't point their feet while jumping. Colorguards, often at best, feign ballet and American modern dance techniques though. Those techniques rely on 1) safe, sprung floors and 2) years of technical training for most people. BD has had the most consistent legacy of excellent dance technicians.

I'll be suppressing info or opinions of my own outside of the recent public comuniques that came from VMAPA or VAA proper. Not doing so previously has put me in the dog house. They are out of debt because of unexpectedly high bingo revenue. Active fundraising is paused, but they will happily still accept unsolicited donations. The whole apparatus is trucking along under the assumption that 24 is happening. We're about a month out from DCI's requested go/no go deadline. It will likely be radio silence until then aside from the official comuniques.

curtsie.exe I thought that review was hilarious. As well as the subsequent argument that ensued. 🍿 But to be fair, I could probably point out unsafe technique at Vanguard from any year you put in front of me, so they're not off the hook for that. But yeah, I don't use my experience to negatively criticize the aesthetics of drum corps shows. That's like using chop sticks to cut a well-done steak. (The one time I commented on BD's choreographic aesthetic it didn't go well, valid as my point was.) Trying to use it primarily to diminish injuries. Pointing one's feet only appears aesthetic on the surface, but it's actually training for safe jumping and landing technique. And it's foundational in the techniques colorguards are attempting to teach. Pair poor technique with cement or linoleum floors and poof, you get injuries. I don't like any corps' colorguard to have unsafe technique. Imma point it out hard when it's happening in my home corps tho.

👍🏽 A terminal degree is the highest level advanced degree awarded in a field of study. It's the level of degree needed to teach in most universities as a professor and go tenure-track. In the academic field of dance there are two, the MFA (for studio practice, 2-3 years) and PhD (for research, 3+ years.) I earned mine from one of the few universities in the world that maintains both tracks, just blocks away from UNT's excellent music program. I chose to become a professional dancer because I wanted to learn how to prevent the colorguard injuries and poor colorguard teaching practices I endured. If a person with a terminal degree in music were here arguing that poor musician technique was injuring members, this group would listen to them. Same thing here.

I have two dance degrees (one of them is a terminal degree) focused on pedagogy and movement invention, have taught dance and dance theory at TWU, Denison U, Ohio U and others, as well as danced professionally. On top of my dance non profit leadership creds and a legacy signature solo drum corps performance. I'll agree that she's more qualified than the majority. But she's either not teaching her members to point their feet (something I teach toddlers how to do) or she's not being given the time she needs to do so. Either way, members are getting injured and the buck stops with the movement coaches. None of this would matter if I hadn't seen the injuries myself, in person last season.

💯 I know the ones of which you speak and I know my comment probably read like I was directing it at you. Apologies, I wasn't. It was directed at the crowd who can't distinguish the two kinds of critique and jump to defend her no matter what. Have been thinking of ranking corps by the movement techniques displayed by their colorguards this season for this very purpose.

Wishing Madison well this season.

Okay yeah I'll go there. If a person has extensive, rigorous performance and pedagogical experience in the same profession as the child and consistently sees (how shall I put it as diplomatically as possible) gaps in the technique of their student-members that could generate or perpetuate injuries, it's not punishing them for Hop's sins. Especially if that person experienced drum corps injuries themselves and has researched drum corps-style injuries. In this case, what it is is calling out instructor performance. But that's not unique to this individual, it's a technical failing across drum corps. And it's probably why we see so many colorguard injuries season after season. This failing is plainly visible on the field in-performance just like any other instructional failing across captions. It's related to both the design of choreography and its instruction. This is where I land because few others on this forum in this industry seem to be trained to see the aforementioned gaps in movement technique, which are so glaring to me I have trouble watching sometimes. But instructors who perpetuate bad technique and observe subsequent, numerous related injuries keep getting rehired. This, even as incorrect movement technique abounds and directly contributes to the safety and security of colorguard members. 💯 Agreed on management's role here. In this case, there's a safety issue first that's of the utmost importance... but there's also a PR issue, both of which must be mitigated by management. Vanguard got blasted last year for the appearance or possibility of letting Hop close to the corps. I sent emails begging them to make a public statement about it. ...and by extension, why advocacy is my chosen method of approach for this problem. If I can't influence leadership or instruction, which I obviously can't, all I can do is hopefully catch the eyes of a few people who can step in during worst case scenarios and protect the members when it matters most. All other entities seem to have washed their hands of responsibility and accountability. Predators flock to such industries for those reasons. 💯, if a member experiences a violation that calling 911 could mitigate, do it. Alas, there is an ocean of gray area between violations that are illegal and some of the abuse/neglect/harassment I get reports about. As drum corps exists now, there is no entity to ensure protection against violations that land in that gray area. There is also no entity to hold violators accountable. That leaves it in the hands of young, idealistic, and impressionable members to protect themselves. 😬 Still. But SafeSport, amirite?

Really love hearing about the good food. Keep it up. Here to stand up for ice cream, though. 🍨 Are there sweet options that pack more nutrients? Sure. But from an ayurvedic perspective, dense, sweet, cold foods (ice cream included) can help keep fat on body types that have trouble doing so, especially under the demand of drum corps summers. Also helps to tame a hot digestive system. I say enjoy all the ice creams, Boston. Going after whales is tough work that deserves sweet treats. 🐳

I loved last season's show. That is what makes Scouts the corps I'm looking forward to the most this season. 😎

And don't "libel/defamation" only actually apply in the case that accusers are lying? In the case they're telling truth, they could still get dragged to court to prove it sure, which obviously, most survivors of abuse in drum corps don't need. But to be clear, just cause they're accused of lying doesn't mean they are. (I'm always posting with the intent of sharing info with other survivors.) I'm just not so sure how helpful it is for the libel/defamation threat to keep cropping up without more nuanced dialogue about it. Without nuance, it continues to be a scare tactic that protects predators in the end. The truth remains their best ally. Ultimately, we're talking about glorified bando-predators and their enablers protecting themselves by threatening use of this legal mechanism. Never forget that (not directed at MCG specifically.)

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Reached out. Ty for pinging.