danguernsey Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 L.H.O.O.Q. They would need monkeys on stilts, three headed goats, sound poems and kittens riding kites just to get the true DADA idea started. Yeah, anything goes. L.H.O.O.Q is the title to Duchamps's graffiti piece of the Mona Lisa with goatee and mustache. The title is a French word play that means "She [the Mona Lisa] has a hot rear end." It's an instance of Duchamps's anti-art aesthetic (i.e., subvert fine art masterpieces of the museums like the Mona Lisa). During the segment dedicated to Duchamp, BD would also need a cross dresser replicating Duchamps's female alter ego, "Rose Selavy," which is another Dada word play that phonetically sounds like in French "Eros c'est la vie," or "eros is life." It's another Dada pun on sexuality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasgre2000 Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 This is just my opinion, but BD's approach to visual design a completely different direction this year (though 2008-2011 had elements of it). More emphasis on staging over drill formation/transition and more highlighting of individual performance as opposed to ensemble drill effect. Whereas as Crown (and pretty much every other DCI corps today) gets its effect from ensemble impact and progression, much of BD's effectiveness from a design standpoint comes from the performance of the individuals. While some may not like this new approach to design (though I do), it's definitely different. Musically, I wouldn't say they are as "innovative" per say, but I think BD's use of electronics definitely is ahead of the curve - the use of voice as a musical element in particular. BD also makes outstanding use of directional playing to create a certain ambiance during parts of their show (beginning of ballad and ending buildup in particular). Additionally, BD doesn't follow a formal "opener-drum break-ballad-closer" format (though not all corps do), but instead maintains a continuous musical book with no real breaks, just gradual ups and downs, climaxes and valleys. I completely agree on the use of voice. People complain about the voice over, but the voice over isn't being used for what is being said. It is being used for its sound. People complain about the voice covering up the music. The voice is PART OF the music. You aren't supposed to be hearing the music without the voice. That doesn't mean you have to like what they are doing, but saying that their show is badly designed because the voice covers up the music doesn't make any sense. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Powell Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 looking for the "like" button. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasgre2000 Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 +1 Agree. BD's show doesn't go far enough to succeed as a Dada show. The formal aspects of the show are too tame and stylized for a Dada show, the aesthetic values the Dadaists rejected. If BD wanted an authentic Dada show, they should have had the performance spill into the stands to create mayhem with the audience in a visceral way, which is what the original Dadaists attempted to accomplish in their performance pieces--i.e., to break down the aesthetic distance between the performance and the audience. Despite the subject matter pertaining to Dada, the formal style of BD's show--the "ruptures," "fissures," and "simultaneity" of discordant sound and image--is essentially the stylized dissonance we've seen from BD on replay the past few years. "Cabaret Voltaire" is PoMo (postmodern) posturing without much substance. I'd rather see again "Midnight in Paris" for an enchanting view of the European avant-garde of the 1920s than watch BD's nightmare in Indy. I don't think they are trying to do a "Dada show". They are doing a show about Dada and its relationship to other styles of music/art. Satie isn't Dada. Bird and Bela isn't Dada. By the end of the show they are in full uniform and marching in a much more traditional style. They are certainly not trying to be Dada. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasgre2000 Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 BD is hands down the most cleanest of all the drum corps, and are deserving of their win last night. However, if you aren't trying to please the audience, please get out of the circuit. Because if you alienate the people who pay for the tickets, why bother? Who will show up in 10 years to see you perform something only the performers and a few other people will understand? The audience must be the #1 factor when designing a show. I'm glad you are smart enough to know what the entire audience thinks of the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle B Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 I'm glad you are smart enough to know what the entire audience thinks of the show. When I'm surrounded my thousands of people in a stadium and some are clapping, some are going nuts, and most are looking at each other like what the hell just happened, I don't claim to know what they think, just be observant to what's going on around me, plus hearing several other people's experiences at live shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euphplayer07 Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 (edited) If you want to talk about needing a new bag of tricks Crown has been doing that same "knee move" for the past 3 years. It started in the Puck section in 09 (which I thought at the time was very fresh and brililant.) Now it's just the same ole' bag of tricks. The same could be said for all the leg articulations that are done on musical unison "stabs." (inverting leg shape in a plie etc.) No arguments, Crown's visual book is badly over-written. But they do a heck of a lot of stuff very well, too. Everyone knows you aren't supposed to hear feet in the horns. But at the beginning of the show, Crown's contras drop to their knees in one step, take a "step" with their other knee, and then rise to their feet, all smoothly, in succession, without a break, WHILE PLAYING. Feet in the horns? You can't even hear KNEES in the horns. It's a five second bit in a twelve-minute show, but Crown's show is constantly doing new things, trying to find new ways to explore the talent of their performers, both visually and musically. The Blue Devils know what they do better than anyone else, so they keep going to that bag of tricks over and over and over again. It's so "avant-garde" it's boring, because while the performers are technically doing different movement, the underlying principles/concepts (body movement/body control/dance choreography) are always exactly the same. BD has reached a point now where their visual book is 60% dance and 40% drill, and I think that's WAY out of balance. But DCI rewards it, so maybe my problem should be/in reality is with DCI. Very possible. But I don't think variety of content and difficulty should be a small area. My problem isn't that their concept isn't executed, it's that it's style over substance and you need a balance between both. Part of my problem is that BD only does enough to score good on the sheets and no more. They have mastered creating a show that will take maximum advantage of the scoring system. Admittedly, the fact that this type of show (and 1930 in 2009) can score so well is a problem with DCI, not the Blue Devils. The entire reason DCI moved away from the tick system in 1984 was because the innovators were getting punished. The system was only about error, and corps that were doing less but cleaner were being rewarded over the corps that were trying new, complicated, difficult things. And yet here we are again. The corps (plural) really pushing the envelope on the activity get very little credit for the intricacies of their programs and are punished for being dirtier than corps trying to do half as much. Undoubtedly the design staff in Concord is full of geniuses and their concepts are rock solid pure throughout. But their shows are like sandwiches that are almost all bread and no meat. It's tasty bread, but it's not very filling and it's all the same flavor. Edited August 10, 2012 by euphplayer07 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falcon Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Without even knowing Dada, try to watch the show as more of a piece of modern/interpretive art, instead of just another drum corps show. You can't look at it's shell and try to connect with it. You must try to let it effect you. I guess that's a way of putting it? I may be way off base here, but isn't it kind of sad that someone needs to be "taught" how to like the Blue Devils? Why can't we all agree to like what we like and dislike what we don't like. I saw the Devils last night for the first time this season in the theater, and although I must agree that they have a sophistication and confidence about them that I did not see in any other corps, I just didn't like the show. So, if you want to judge them on sophistication, they won hands down, if you're going to rate them on excitement produced in the audience, I don't think they were anywhere near close. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Njfritz Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 I may be way off base here, but isn't it kind of sad that someone needs to be "taught" how to like the Blue Devils? I don't find it sad. It just proves BD's shows are very complex and require multiple viewings. They know their true fans will see the show multiple times. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbass598 Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 (edited) I don't find it sad. It just proves BD's shows are very complex and require multiple viewings. They know their true fans will see the show multiple times. True fans?!?!? I thought the focus of the activity was trying to grow new fans? Edited August 11, 2012 by gbass598 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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