Why

[CitBos]

more international corps come to the US for a tour, or even a few show? Or a US corps to to Europe, for example? Is it just too expensive for them to travel for so long so far away? Is there any way that maybe DCI/DCA/DCE/DCUK help them financially?

[Grumpy]

It has been done, a few times...Beatrix and Jubal from Holland have come over and done a limited tour, the Yokohama Inspires have been to DCA a couple of times and there was a corps from Taiwan that actually competed in DCI in what was then Div. II/III for at least a couple of years (could be others, those are the ones I remember). There is a corps from UK coming this summer, Kidsgrove Scouts, and will be competing in a few DCA shows and the DCA championships. On the flip side, although it hasn't been done recently, Blue Devils, Madison Scouts and Empire Statesmen have all gone to Europe for short tours in the past (again, could be more and sorry if I missed anyone). I recall the corps from Taiwan having to perform in street clothes one time, because when coming back to the U.S. after a show in Canada, Customs held up their uniforms at the border.

[CitBos]

I know it has been done before, but what I want to know is why corps don't travel internationally more than they do?

[Gary Matczak]

I know it has been done before, but what I want to know is why corps don't travel internationally more than they do?

I heard somewhere, and it might now be fact, that it cost Inspires 250K to come to the US in 2002 and again in 2005,...................that's a lot of money!

[akira]

I belong to a japanese corps.

If japanese corps play in america, they start the season very earlier than usual.

because japanese drum corps competition is took place mainly from September to next Junary.

in addition, players march 5 meter in 8 steps in japan, not 5 yard.

Its make them difficult to play in america. However, I hope playing at DCA someday.

[BigW]

I belong to a japanese corps.

If japanese corps play in america, they start the season very earlier than usual.

because japanese drum corps competition is took place mainly from September to next Junary.

in addition, players march 5 meter in 8 steps in japan, not 5 yard.

Its make them difficult to play in america. However, I hope playing at DCA someday.

I'd argue the 8 to 5 meter vs yard isn't that different, it equates to @ 5cm/2 inch difference per step, which is easily taken into tolerance with many football fields) and with modern drill adjusting step sizes from form to form like it does, the whole 8-5 issue is more for basic block/establishing style rather than the actual show except in certain circumstances. My guess is I could adjust to 8-5M step size inside a good 1 hour marching session block.

The seasonal difference is the real reason- They're indoors in mid-winter for their finals in Japan- my guess is it conforms best for Japan's vacation times and holidays. Trying to prep for our champinship schedule would require a lot of work to get people off work for vacations, etc.

[Grumpy]

I heard somewhere, and it might now be fact, that it cost Inspires 250K to come to the US in 2002 and again in 2005,...................that's a lot of money!

That's probably the biggest reason, and it wouldn't surprise me at all at the cost when you think about it...right now, I probably drop between $600-$1,000 for the weekend, not counting the DCA tickets themselves-just hotel, meals, misc. and we are within driving distance to DCA, so gas and tolls. Add in international airfare and having to rent a car once you get here, added cost of getting their instruments, uniforms, props, etc. from Japan to Rochester and the fact that if you are travelling all that distance, you will probably want to stick around afterwards for a few days for some sight-seeing and 250K would probably end up being on the inexpensive side.

[InspaDave]

I heard somewhere, and it might now be fact, that it cost Inspires 250K

I paid just over $2,000 in 2002 for the Inspires first DCA trip. That figure does not include related expenses such as travel to and from rehearsals.

I'd argue the 8 to 5 meter vs yard isn't that different, it equates to @ 5cm/2 inch difference per step, which is easily taken into tolerance with many football fields) and with modern drill adjusting step sizes from form to form like it does, the whole 8-5 issue is more for basic block/establishing style rather than the actual show except in certain circumstances. My guess is I could adjust to 8-5M step size inside a good 1 hour marching session block.

The difference in field size was not a factor. The difficulty, if any, came from the way the field is marked. Over here we have two center lines, vertical and horizontal, and a small marking every eight meters. I don't remember the field difference posing any serious problems. Marching was our strongest ability back then. The real problems came with the field we actually marched. It was a baseball field and the bases were not covered. The baselines were still marked, so the line from first to second formed a "43rd" yard line on side 1. If you watch our perlims performance you can see one of our contras make a mistake because of that. Of course, the next day presented issues to all corps due to the rain.

The seasonal difference is the real reason- They're indoors in mid-winter for their finals in Japan- my guess is it conforms best for Japan's vacation times and holidays. Trying to prep for our champinship schedule would require a lot of work to get people off work for vacations, etc.

The DCA finals weekend comes at perhaps one of the worst times. It was very difficult for people to get the time off from work/school. That and DCA comes before the start of our regular season. Our first performance in Japan was three weeks after DCA. Quite possibly the worst performance of our lives. Also, the show length here is no more than 8 minutes. DCA minimum is ten. So, two different shows were learned. To minimize rehearsal time most of our selections in 2002 and all in 2004 were from shows a year or two before.

[BigW]

I find the show length difference interesting, Dave. HS Bands here in the NE US have gone to a show window of about 7 minutes to 7'30". It makes sense in many ways to learn a slightly shorter program and perfect it IMHO, especially with the time constraints and students we deal with.

The different field references would take getting used to. You're keying mentally as to what to be looking for all the time and when it's not an indoor floor gridded as you described, it would be disconcerting without a lot of rehearsal to be comfortable with learning what to see on the field as one performs.

I thought about the step size as well-- I sat in on a Pete Emmons Clinic in 1982 where he said they were using a 7 1/2 to 5 yard step size with the Freelancers because it equated to a 24" step (@ 61cm-- I used to be a physics major, no problrm converting from English to Metric measurements here! ) which is much more similar in step size to what the Japanese standard is.

The reasoning explained by Emmons was odd- it was because floor tiles in the US were about 24 inches square and they could use tiled floors inside in the off season to train and rehearse. I never really understood why they bothered in that way, but he seemed sold on that at the time.

In any event, we do like seeing the Inspires here in the States- it's good to see a highly aggressive corps with high levels of quality perform at DCA regardless of where they hail from.