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Straight Leg or Bent Leg?


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I went through an old school program, being that my director marched DCI in the 80's, and we used bent leg. However, in all most of my experiences with DCI (shows/camps), we used straight leg. As far as I know, the only programs that currently use bent leg are Crown and SCV. Which do you think is better?

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I think Crown uses straight leg. To over simplify the Cavalier's technique, its bent leg.

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Marching technique is typically defined by what the passing leg looks like during the "and" count - in Crown's case, it's "straight". In the Cavaliers' and Vanguard's cases, it's bent. The front leg in every technique I've seen is straight (jazz running notwithstanding). Outside of that, there is some wiggle room.

I remember Andy incorporating both Blue Devils AND Cavaliers exercises at Crown, which was pretty cool.

Edited by CrownLeadSop
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I marched Glassmen who used straight, and SCV who used bent. Bent leg is definitely harder to clean and define, however once you understand it, it is way easier on the body. It's also a lot easier to play your instrument with bent leg... Way more natural.

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Currently, SCV, Cavaliers, Blue Knights, and Pacific Crest all use a bent knee technique for marching. The rest of the corps use a straight leg technique. Some very extreme, in the case of Cadets, some a bit more relaxed, like Crown or Crossmen.

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Straight leg looks better to my eye.

But, as much as it pains me to say it, if you care at all about the long term health of your knees/joints, bent leg all the way.

Not necessarily. I had a friend that marched Cavaliers for a couple years. He had several friends blow their knees out every spring training.

I did injure myself marching straight leg, but it was because I wore the wrong shoes one season. thumbdown.gif

I vastly prefer straight leg on the field from an audience standpoint.

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I use the snowboarding terminology instead: regular vs goofy.

"Regular" means you're using your body the way nature intended, with your knees and joints doing the jobs they were designed to do.

"Goofy" is its own self-explanatory adjective.

Edited by mobrien
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I went through an old school program, being that my director marched DCI in the 80's, and we used bent leg. However, in all most of my experiences with DCI (shows/camps), we used straight leg. As far as I know, the only programs that currently use bent leg are Crown and SCV. Which do you think is better?

Crown? Bent leg? Crown had straighter legs than Cadets this past season. That's an observation made by my friend who was on Cadets visual staff in '05.

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