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When did corps start to roll their feet?


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Could you clarify the question? You have to roll your feet to march smoothly enough to play well on a brass instrument.

If you can give an example of rolling, maybe someone can give a better answer. You may be referring to a specific style of movement and not using the correct term.

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Could you clarify the question? You have to roll your feet to march smoothly enough to play well on a brass instrument.

If you can give an example of rolling, maybe someone can give a better answer. You may be referring to a specific style of movement and not using the correct term.

Actually, have drum corps ALWAYS used a roll step?

I know that the glide step (straight leg) technique wasn't in use until the 60's...Don't know about bicycle step. I also don't know how prevalent high step/high mark time was in the pre-DCI era.

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I think high mark time, bicycling, prance stepping, and things like snap pivots were the norm until mid, late 80's.

um.

I think most marching styles have always had to roll the feet. I know of only one marching style that's exempt..

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I evolved really because I got kicked out of HS Band beacuse I refused to do that stupid high stepping march. But as I see old vid's from the late 70's there was still a little bit more of the high step than there is today.

The roll step was starting to really come out about 81 82 I think. Each year though it became smoother.

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I downloaded all the videos that Phantom have on their website. The video from 1978 when they are in the company front and are playing Ode to Joy I noticed their feet. It looked like they were trucking through the grass. Very painful to watch. I also had some marching instructors from marching band who marched in the '70s and when they would demonstrate marching they would not roll their feet at all. What I mean by "rolling the feet/toes" is when the audience should be able to see the bottom of your shoe when you march foward. Madison does this very well/to the extreme. Thanks.

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Well, it was a little difficult to "roll" our feet wearing white boots. We did manage to roll them enough though so that we moved smoothly and the tops of our poles didn't bounce up and down when we had them in our holsters. It wasn't as extremem as I see them do now, but we did roll them in the 70s.

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Wow, I think this is my first post ever. Anyway, my high school band did the roll step in 1978, and all we did was parades, so obviously it was pretty common practice back then. The Phantom Regiment was about the only corps that did not use a roll step. It was just part of their style--you know, when a corps could have an individual style. I thought, for their style of powerful music and visuals, that it was the best marching style out there. My corps, the Geneseo Knights always used the roll step while I was in, from 1979 to 1983.

Bob Blomberg

Knights, '79-'83

Kilties, '01-'02

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Well, it was a little difficult to "roll" our feet wearing white boots. We did manage to roll them enough though so that we moved smoothly and the tops of our poles didn't bounce up and down when we had them in our holsters. It wasn't as extremem as I see them do now, but we did roll them in the 70s.

I wasn't talking about the color guard. Your right, it would have been hard to do that with boots. I was referring to the hornline mostly since that is where the camera was at the time. Could the need for roll step come about when Zingalli's (sp?) fast paced/hard drill for Cadets '83 started to become a popular trend?

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Well, it was a little difficult  to "roll" our feet wearing white boots.  We did manage to roll them enough though so that we moved smoothly and the tops of our poles didn't bounce up and down when we had them in our holsters.  It wasn't as extremem as I see them do now, but we did  roll them in the 70s.

I wasn't talking about the color guard. Your right, it would have been hard to do that with boots. I was referring to the hornline mostly since that is where the camera was at the time. Could the need for roll step come about when Zingalli's (sp?) fast paced/hard drill for Cadets '83 started to become a popular trend?

Sorry, thought your question was about Corps and I always thought the Color Guard was a part of the Corps :P .

I know that our hornline also rolled their feet during the seventies because M&M was taught to the Corps as a whole in October. We all had to learn to roll our feet while marching in company fronts to achieve a smooth gliding step. It seems to me that the faster the drills have become over the years, the more elaborate the roll has become.

And since all the guards do now is dance, run and emote, I guess they don't have to learn to roll any more except when laying down on the field.

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