2011 Phantom Regiment Guard

[ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar]

Interesting news. A few points ....

1) How "discrimination" became a subject on this thread makes my brain hurt. Shouldn't even dignify such things with a response (even though this first point is kind of doing that ... but whatever).

2) I knew a few guys that marched during the 2006 - 2009 years. All were incredibly talented and loved being a part of this really unique organization. There's going to be a lot of disappointed male performers going elsewhere in 2011. Even though some seasons weren't too memorable, most of the theatrical years were really cool. Lots of drama and emotion.

3) Even though I see more drawbacks than benefits, I'm pretty sure the staff made this decision with a lot of thought and reason. The timing of this announcement probably means there wasn't enough interest based on pre-audition stats. And as a previous poster mentioned, there was an aesthetic to the all-female groups of yore that I kind of miss. But doing it solely for the sake of tradition doesn't make sense. There's got to be more practical reasoning behind this move.

4) Phantom will turn away a lot of good performers. But the "20 great performers replaced by 20 mediocre performers" argument doesn't hold up. If Phantom was struggling to make finals, that would be a different story. They'll get members that are good enough. It's the instructional and design staff that will determine how far the unit goes.

[Abbevillekid26]

So the "logic" here is that a single gender Guard has worked well for these 2 Corps, but it won't for another Corps that goes from a co-ed gender Guard to a single gender Guard. Is that what I'm hearing ?

seeing as how they had some very good placements as coed and then are switching back puzzles me. i didn't say it won't work i said i don't understand but assume the staff has a plan and that i'd like to see how this plays out.

[warsawstory]

Here's secret:

Whenever you hold auditions, you're always "eliminating options"

I personally think the all-female Phantom Regiment guards were more memorable than the coed ones. Everyone will point to Spartacus, but there are so many Phantom Regiment shows that got it done, and got it done WELL with all women.

While we're on the topic...what are some Regiment shows that you think would have been better with a coed guard? I'm not being facetious, I'm really interested in people's opinion. Personally, I think the tango show they did in 2004 would have benefitted from having males.

Didn't that turn out to be about the drum majors? I think they could have done just as well with a female guard. I did enjoy the shows when they had a featured male/males but don't think an equally divided guard is necessarily better.

[Lance]

I don't think it's a great idea for Phantom, but I don't think it's discriminatory or anything like that, either.

[Jeff Ream]

I think if if they think it's best for them, more power to em

[Tansea]

We'll see. It is an amazing staff and it would be awesome for Phantom to have a great guard!!!

I don't think that this is great news - I understand the feelings that alot of people have for the all female history of the Phantom guard...

But all female guards are simply not competitive in today's world class corps. I just don't see them becoming more competitive by reverting to this. Even the best all female winterguards (Blessed Sac) eventually added men to give them a competitive edge. The energy derived by a mixed guard along with the added writing opportunities and strength moves will be greatly diminished in my opinion.

It just seems like a very strange thing to do - and I think it will end up hurting them competitively.

Later,

Mike

[chealion313]

Count me as one of the few who was hoping this would happen. I don't see it as discrimination, I see it as what's better for the corps. If you compare the co-ed guards from every other finalist corps the past few seasons, the male and female members were equally talented. I don't know why, but the male members in Phantom's guard just didn't seem to be up to par talent-wise with males in other guards, or with the females in their own guard. The guys weren't weak, exactly, but they weren't as solid as they could have been. I'd much rather have 30 strong females on the field than 15 strong females and 15 average males. Seems as though maybe they just weren't recruiting the 'cream of the crop' of male guard members, who probably chose to march with corps with traditionally strong males, such as BD, Cavies, Crown, etc.

If anything, I think it'll be a huge improvement for their guard.

[Hook'emCavies]

When I first saw this post I was thrilled to see it. But now thinking about it... I am not so sure about it.

My reason is very simple... what about those guys wanting to return? Also I like to remember exactly what they did in 08... It had such a great impact on me and the fans. So... will be as good as that? I don't know maybe but then again maybe not. I am excited about this still but I am worried.

[BRASSO]

When I first saw this post I was thrilled to see it. But now thinking about it... I am not so sure about it.

My reason is very simple... what about those guys wanting to return? Also I like to remember exactly what they did in 08... It had such a great impact on me and the fans. So... will be as good as that? I don't know maybe but then again maybe not. I am excited about this still but I am worried.

The guys in the Phantom Regiment Guard can't come back.

This is no different than Corps that won't allow a talented female Guard member to march in the Cavaliers or Madison Scouts Guard..... or Corps that routinely cut returning veterans all the time, and won't let them march..... or staff members cut..... or G-7 Corps cutting off other Corps.... and on and on.

I have some sympathy for the male Guard members that wont be allowed to march Phantom this year, but good grief, lets get real here, you'd think that loyalty was something that is valued in DCI Drum Corps when nothing could be further from the truth. Marchers change Corps all the time. My suggestion is for the male Guard members from last year's Phantom Regiment to just suck it up, move on, and find another Corps. Who knows, they might bump a returning vet from that Corps if they're talented enough. Their plight is no big deal, imo.... given the realities of modern DCI Corps participation regarding the movement between Corps as well as the usual and customary cutting of potential marchers and staff from year to year in the off season.

Edited November 5, 2010 by BRASSO

[corps8294]

It's amusing how many people are going off as if this is the first year Phantom has marched with an all female guard; must be all the kiddies out there in DCP land.