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Les Eclipse


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Here was a corps that was on the verge of greatness and then BAM...Gone!

Seems like it happened with a few Quebec corps...Offensive Lions, Les Etoile. Les Chatelaines too, although tey won an All Girls title.

Thoughts?

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The last two seasons Eclipse was on the field (85 and 86) were the most amazing. They started out the season scoring in the 30s and wound up in the mid-80s, just out of the DCI finals.

When I saw them those years I was amazed at the way they moved in those French gendarme uniforms (10th in visual in 85). Played Bernstein's "Fancy Free" both years.

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I first saw them at a show in Oswego, NY (maybe 1981)and really loved what I saw/heard. Yes the gendarme uni's were great too! Weren't they a merger???

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Weren't they a merger???

Not a merger. This Eclipse corps, from Longueil, began prior to the DCI era. There was also an Eclipse corps from Verdun that began as an all-girl unit, finally going co-ed for the 78 and 79 seasons.

Still another Eclipse corps came from Clermont, and they were only around in 84. None of these were products of, or involved in mergers.

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The last two seasons Eclipse was on the field (85 and 86) were the most amazing. They started out the season scoring in the 30s and wound up in the mid-80s, just out of the DCI finals.

When I saw them those years I was amazed at the way they moved in those French gendarme uniforms (10th in visual in 85). Played Bernstein's "Fancy Free" both years.

I believe Todd Ryan was their M & M guy (or whatever that is called today) in the years you mention.

Probably the reason you were amazed at the way they moved.

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Yep,

we usually sucked the bag at the beginning of the year. One year we were even beat by a division II (or A-60) corps at the startof the season!!!

School here in Quebec lets out end of June - so we usually started the season with half a show done and about 30 holes on the field. But man did we work hard - it was just part of who we were as a corps - we always said that we needed to be twice as good as an American corps just to be considered on par with them.

After the '86 season - we just couldn't keep the corps afloat financially. We merged with Connexion Quebec for one year ('87) and that was pretty much a disaster. The two groups never really meshed and the show was not written to the caliber we (Les Eclipses) were used too.

In '88 we pretty much all went on to march in American corps and ended up with Cavaliers, Phantom Regiment, Vanguard, Star, Magic, Madison Scouts, etc...

Later,

Mike

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Yep,

we usually sucked the bag at the beginning of the year. One year we were even beat by a division II (or A-60) corps at the startof the season!!!

School here in Quebec lets out end of June - so we usually started the season with half a show done and about 30 holes on the field. But man did we work hard - it was just part of who we were as a corps - we always said that we needed to be twice as good as an American corps just to be considered on par with them.

After the '86 season - we just couldn't keep the corps afloat financially. We merged with Connexion Quebec for one year ('87) and that was pretty much a disaster. The two groups never really meshed and the show was not written to the caliber we (Les Eclipses) were used too.

In '88 we pretty much all went on to march in American corps and ended up with Cavaliers, Phantom Regiment, Vanguard, Star, Magic, Madison Scouts, etc...

Later,

Mike

A whole bunch ended up in Dutchboy in 88, i'd say twenty plus, most of the pit was french as well as the whole cymbal line :worthy:/>(DB got a Sabian endorsement because of the cymbal line).

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A whole bunch ended up in Dutchboy in 88, i'd say twenty plus, most of the pit was french as well as the whole cymbal line :worthy:/>/>(DB got a Sabian endorsement because of the cymbal line).

That's true - alot of drummers and a couple of guard and horn people ended up there too! Their drum major in '88 (Nathalie) was also from Les Eclipses!

Later,

Mike

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A whole bunch ended up in Dutchboy in 88, i'd say twenty plus, most of the pit was french as well as the whole cymbal line :worthy:/>/>/>/>(DB got a Sabian endorsement because of the cymbal line).

Pit was about half and half Ontario/Quebec kids. You're correct about the cymbal line, all french, plus a few battery kids, I think one each on snare, tenor and bass. Also a fair number of horn and guard members as well. Yeah, twenty or so is a good estimate.

I think most of the Dutch Boy Quebecois kids were from the Connexion side, rather than Les Eclipse per se. A fair number of them were still with the corps when DB made it into finals in '90.

regards,

Fred O.

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