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Folded corps that would be relevant


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I think Star would have continued to stay in the upper echelon of DCI, probably even taking a championship or two. and I think corps like VK, Freelances, Suncoast Sound, Southwind, and a lot of the other corps would have probably remained in the 9-19th range. Some corps that folded that I think may have had real potential to start knocking on the top 12 door would have been Les Etoiles and Nite Express. These 2 corps really seemed to have some momentum building during the mid to late 90s. And they both had some really original shows as well. Although I guess you could say the same thing about Pioneer, and they seemd to peak at the 16th place spot, and then kind of fell back to the bottom of the pack.

It is hard to know what might have happened, but could you imagine prelims if all of these corps had succeeded and were all performing on the Thursday show? To be able to have a 16 hour show or maybe even have to split it into 2 days for prelims? It would have been great to see what direction some of these corps might have taken with all the rules and membership changes over the last decade.

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untouched still the same show would Star 93 make finals, place in top 6?

No.. Star '93 show... " untouched " as you said... would not make top 12 today.

Penalties and the use of bugles pitched in the key of G alone would bury them.

Edited by BRASSO
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Fair enough, concept wise I say it's top 6, even today

Edited by wesleyrp
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Star 93 would also need more modern guard work. They did some cool things with the dual sticks but flag work/weapon wise, it would need much more.

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[quote name='chadwick' timestamp='1373556403' post='3283597'

On a different note, I think it would also be interesting to see where a Div II powerhouse like East Coast Jazz would be today had they been able to stay so strong in that division. Would they have made the jump to World Class and if so, would they be where Academy is,

No. I can say with a high level of certainy that East Coast Jazz Corps Director ( and Attorney ) Tom Chopelas would not permit his Corps to move to the World Class Division. He had no interest in that for his Corps. The money required excluded that interest for him with his Corps. One of the reasons they lasted for decades and were an annual contender for the Div 2 Title is because they always stayed within their financial means and in keeping with their Mission Statement established for their Drum Corps. The Spartans, from Nashua, N.H. are another current Corps that shares the same philosophy. We won't be seeing this Corps opting for a World Class Division status request anytime soon either, imo. They have been serving youth in this Drum Corps since 1955 with this philosophy, so why try and fix something thats not broke, is probably their take on all this.

Edited by BRASSO
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I think Star would have continued to stay in the upper echelon of DCI, probably even taking a championship or two. and I think corps like VK, Freelances, Suncoast Sound, Southwind, and a lot of the other corps would have probably remained in the 9-19th range. Some corps that folded that I think may have had real potential to start knocking on the top 12 door would have been Les Etoiles and Nite Express. These 2 corps really seemed to have some momentum building during the mid to late 90s. And they both had some really original shows as well. Although I guess you could say the same thing about Pioneer, and they seemd to peak at the 16th place spot, and then kind of fell back to the bottom of the pack.

It is hard to know what might have happened, but could you imagine prelims if all of these corps had succeeded and were all performing on the Thursday show? To be able to have a 16 hour show or maybe even have to split it into 2 days for prelims? It would have been great to see what direction some of these corps might have taken with all the rules and membership changes over the last decade.

I would respectfully disagree with your assessment of Suncoast. The corps essentially folded between the 86 and 87 seasons. Were that not to have happened, I believe that their competitive inertia would have certainly kept them in the upward trajectory that they had enjoyed to that point.

An even more interesting though exercise would be to consider the potential ripple effects if Suncoast had stayed together. Assuming that the staff stayed somewhat intact, and that alums that went on to other staffs "stayed home", it would have dramatically changed the landscape of DCI.

Robert Smith perhaps does not do a lot of work with Glassmen, Madison, and Troopers.

Frank Williams doesn't move on to work with Cadets in 1990 and Glassmen later.

Kevin Ford, Howard Weinstein, Bob Barfield, and Rich Viano may not go to Boston and help elevate that corps to Top 5 status. Later, many of the same went on to Blue Stars.

Adam Sage stays in Pinellas County, meaning that Phantom, Crown, and Madison don't benefit from his guard leadership.

That's just off the top of my head.

Edited by OrlandoContraAlum
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Wow... Very good data OrlandoContraAlum

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My first thought about Star staying is that we don't see Carolina Crown experience the same growth they've had. I've been informed by a Crown alumnus that they regularly had Star alumni come up to them during the season to say they felt Crown was the "spiritual successor" to Star. Another direct consequence of Star remaining in DCI competition is that Blast! would not have formed. Though this doesn't immediately affect DCI results, I've met a number of people who were inspired by that production to go march drum corps. While I realize that's a small impact, it brings to mind the idea that you never really know how such a significant change in the drum corps landscape (corps like Star, Suncoast, 2-7, etc. remaining active) would affect the visibility/growth in certain areas.

I like OrlandoContraAlum's points about the leadership from Suncoast going other places and affecting the futures of those corps. Though I'm less versed the specific instructors, I'm sure the same holds true for some of those other strong contenders from the 80s and 90s who never saw drum corps in the new millenium.

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