CrownBaritone Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 But their drill isn't much more insane than what the Cadets march with straight leg. Cavies drill is just so well designed... and kind of deceiving to the eye. This is something I always tell people, because that's always been one of my biggest criticisms of the Cavaliers. I do agree, the drill makes it look like they're working a lot. But you have to admit, they take a lot of 4-to-5's and larger during their shows. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burgerbob Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 I think that was a joke about the misplaced apostrophe: Cavalier's (belonging to one Cavalier) vs. Cavaliers' (belonging to many Cavaliers). Totally missed that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Getintoyourcolor Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share Posted May 18, 2012 I think that was a joke about the misplaced apostrophe: Cavalier's (belonging to one Cavalier) vs. Cavaliers' (belonging to many Cavaliers). oops... Thanks for the input. I sometimes find the technique to be distracting...but the explanations make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccerguy315 Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 This is something I always tell people, because that's always been one of my biggest criticisms of the Cavaliers. I do agree, the drill makes it look like they're working a lot. But you have to admit, they take a lot of 4-to-5's and larger during their shows. yes, Cavaliers often take large step sizes... when they aren't playing. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsband Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 (edited) Yes that is the goal of any technique, but straight leg is much less realistic to create a smooth motion. More moving joints=smoother in any machine. Including the human body. Even when all the motion is identical, the differing geometry of the individual marchers (different leg lengths, different proportions of femur/tib, etc..) make the Cavaliers technique "look" dirtier. IMO the advantage of straight leg is that it minimizes those differences and looks much more uniform. Cavies technique always looks messy to me -- even when it's clean. And to me - dirty is strictly visual thing. I don't really care if you're physically all together if it still "looks" dirty. Just a preference I know. But rooted in the simple idea that if it doesn't 'look" identical, it's not clean. Edited May 18, 2012 by corpsband 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecoats88 Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Except when you run into a grass field that hasn't been mowed prior to a show, such as West Covina, CA 2003....SOOOOOO glad I was on the podium. Every corps EXCEPT SoCal Dream had falls (and how we avoided that I do NOT know), which I blame on the uncut grass combined with straight leg technique. try learning your show on pavement all spring and then get to your first show and the grass is ankle deep. happened to us (bushwackers) in 1995. I litterally saw one move where the sopranos were going from one side to the next and one of the older guys was getting passed by the rest of the line cause the thick grass was slowing him down so much. My legs were burning after that show Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zach_8vb Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Who's seen an action shot of a cavalier moving that had legs in it? I sure haven't. That technique just doesn't look as good as straight legs. Bent knee is easier, certainly, but I have yet to see a cavalier looking anywhere near as good as someone from another team that uses straight leg from an individual body control standpoint. Irrelevant, but I a rumor that the green team takes turns playing movements of their show. Thoughts? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplemountains Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 (edited) Who's seen an action shot of a cavalier moving that had legs in it? I sure haven't. That technique just doesn't look as good as straight legs. Bent knee is easier, certainly, but I have yet to see a cavalier looking anywhere near as good as someone from another team that uses straight leg from an individual body control standpoint. Irrelevant, but I a rumor that the green team takes turns playing movements of their show. Thoughts? Actually, I've seen plenty of photos where the Cavaliers (and their legs) look great. I don't know enough about it but it seems like they march in a style that's more natural then anyone else's. It's all a matter of taste, I guess. Straight leg seems awkward to me - very stiff and contrived. What's much more interesting to me will be seeing whether things change or stay the same this year with a new drill designer. I wonder if they'll move more or less, have fewer sets, stand around and play more frequently, etc. And even to see if they change the way they use the dot system or their marching style. Edited May 18, 2012 by purplemountains Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Who's seen an action shot of a cavalier moving that had legs in it? I sure haven't. That technique just doesn't look as good as straight legs. Bent knee is easier, certainly, but I have yet to see a cavalier looking anywhere near as good as someone from another team that uses straight leg from an individual body control standpoint. Irrelevant, but I a rumor that the green team takes turns playing movements of their show. Thoughts? Oh tosh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsubone Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 (edited) It just seems that this comes down to an individual opinion point. Some people love the Cavaliers' technique (I'm one of the them), and some people just don't like it. Some people swear by the straight leg stuff. I've marched both, and for sure prefer the bent knee stuff, both because it's much easier on the joints, and I find it's a much more efficient and easy to march technique and high tempo/large step size One point though, if you go back in your DCI Time Machines (known as the Fan Network) and look at backward marching pre-1994, you'll probably see a lot more corps using a Cavalier-esque technique besides the Cadets. The straight leg technique we see today really came into its own with Todd Ryan at Star and BD. The bent knee backwards marching was kind of the standard for most corps. Edited May 18, 2012 by fsubone 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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