Controversy in WGI and DCI

[flammaster]

One thing that bothers me about indoor drumline is the rolling out and taking down of the matt. I get why they have designs but some have no design at all.

I wish they would have LCD floors so each drumline could just program their show design into it. Then again you could have changing designs then!

(that would be cool)

[lindap]

Many WGI drum lines have eye opening, thought provoking concepts, performed well and in good taste.

[bstar82]

Well, considering Monique graduated from her high school in 1991, she would have been 26 her senior year?. No, she was 16 during that season and has written about her experiences that year quite extensively with her fellow comrades.

[Jeff Ream]

Many WGI drum lines have eye opening, thought provoking concepts, performed well and in good taste.

yeah it's been a while since I have seen an indoor percussion show that had some real controversy attached to it.back to like 2008 on the local level

[perc2100]

I don't remember if they rewrote it, but I do remember the controversy involving the online broadcast. I think WGI asked them to rewrite their show, but they chose not to, and just weren't shown. Amazingly powerful show, but yes, extremely jarring and really hits the soul hard.

I live in SoCA and am pretty good friends with one of their designers and man, the stories I heard about that show/season...

[perc2100]

yeah it's been a while since I have seen an indoor percussion show that had some real controversy attached to it.back to like 2008 on the local level

This year's PSW Champion had a beheading as their climax. A few people I talked to (one who is a WGI judge) told me they weren't super comfortable with that.

[old skool drmmr]

I was surprised that I didn't hear more rumblings about Ayala tackling such a dark topic, especially in light of all the school shootings in the last 15 years. I know schools on the EastCoast that were denied the right to do a marching band show with the music of Jesus Christ Superstar, let alone show images of someone loading a rifle and the Zapruder film.

That being said, I thought it was a phenomenal production and by far the best usage of a video screen I have seen yet in WGI Percussion.

[perc2100]

I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on past WGI or even DCI shows/parts of shows that could be considered controversial. Just kind of an interesting topic that came to my mind.

My opinion = AWESOME to push boundaries. Sometimes I personally don't like the shows, but I at least admire the effort. When I marched WGI PIW our staff liked to push those types of boundaries and that rubbed off on me I guess. Some stuff I can think of off hand:

* our 1998 show was "The Witch," where there was a coven of five witches and the battery were their slaves (the front ensemble was in the back on top of scaffolding - they dressed like us slaves but didn't really interact). Our floor had a GIANT pentagram on it, and when we rolled it out in Dayton at prelims there was an audible gasp, and several people got up and left their seats. I thought that was awesome :)

* our 1999 show was "Windows 99 - Intel Inside" where we went a 180 and did a much for fun, light show. We had a TON of sequencing sound FX and voiceovers, which at that time wasn't clearly defined in the WGI manual. Unfortunately the same season another group had a bunch of sequenced FX, and called to get clarification; WGI told them that the rule was one button/one sound. That means if you have a computer saying, "You Have Mail" we had to press three different buttons: one for each word. Unfortunately we weren't told about this until the huge regional right before Championships, and spent most of the Finals week reworking our show. Also this was before anyone cared about Copy Right stuff, so we likely MASSIVELY performed a ton of music w/out proper licensing permission and the show will never again see the light of day.

* in 1999 a PIW group did a show where half the group were Nazis and the other half were jews in a concentration camp. They stayed in character the ENTIRE time they were on site: from when they got off the bus (or whatever) through getting back on the bus. This meant the Nazi characters were bullies and jerks ALL OF THE TIME, especially to the Jewish characters. IIRC the show was pretty dark as well, with people who stood at a mic and did nothing but read off of a list of Jews murdered in concentration camps.

There are a ton more instances, I'm too tired to remember them though (stayed up late watching the Blood Moon)

[perc2100]

I was surprised that I didn't hear more rumblings about Ayala tackling such a dark topic, especially in light of all the school shootings in the last 15 years. I know schools on the EastCoast that were denied the right to do a marching band show with the music of Jesus Christ Superstar, let alone show images of someone loading a rifle and the Zapruder film.

That being said, I thought it was a phenomenal production and by far the best usage of a video screen I have seen yet in WGI Percussion.

Yeah that was pretty intense: forgot about that one!

I think percussionists maybe have a higher tolerance level for the dark and macabre, so stuff like shows about Lee Harvey Oswald just don't really affect us as much (a friend of mine who isn't a percussionist but is involved in the activity is much more freaked about the darker shows than me or most drummers).

[MelloMatt]

The Velvet Knights pushed some boundaries in the 80's that were certainly eye-popping then but nowadays would cause mortals to clutch their pearls and shout, "Oh, the humanity!" in the mock outrage that has become de rigueur in present society.

-- All female plate line popularly known as The Sex Cymbals with the super tight leggy outfits-- those gals could play, epitomized BIG HAIR and had a huge fan base.

-- The pinup girl wearing nothing but a white bikini with matching high heeled pumps popping out of the hat in 1988 -- GULP!! I can't imagine anyone trying that stunt now.

Well spirit had their show girl in 2012