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Cadets 2015


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Ah finally, we have a supposed Cadets "hack." Glad to see BD isn't the only corps with apparent fans among the judges

There are several
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I just want to point out that this thread -- so much of it vitriolic re the uni change and performance issues -- is more than 5 times longer than the thread on BD's show.

For some reason, that makes me all warm & tingly inside.

I've been hard on Hop for some show designs (07 anyone), but some of you people are over the top ####### ridiculous.

Edited by 84BDsop
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I just want to point out that this thread -- so much of it vitriolic re the uni change and performance issues -- is more than 5 times longer than the thread on BD's show.

For some reason, that makes me all warm & tingly inside.

and it was already 4 times as long as the BD thread before the uniform change

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I just want to point out that this thread -- so much of it vitriolic re the uni change and performance issues -- is more than 5 times longer than the thread on BD's show.

For some reason, that makes me all warm & tingly inside.

Maybe we're passionate?

Or we just like to bicker...

I hope that it's because we're passionate. :wub::wub::wub:

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The Cadets new uniforms are brilliant. I don’t share the view that they don’t work. That argument is a red herring. On the contrary, their performances have been, and I suspect will be breathtaking and magical again tonight. But I suggest it isn’t the kind of magic associated with what d&bc seems to be becoming. It’s requires a slightly different frame of mind. I have no stake in the proceedings, but I am passionate about championing artistry. Of course, the other superb programs this year have it too, but the Cadets program bares its soul.

To me, there is no program on the field this year that is more across-the-board fundamentally challenging (and thus educational), more relentless, more interesting, or dare I say, truly artistic - in the most idealistic sense of the word - than the Cadets program.

Crucially, their program is far less dependent on any familiar pre-existing narrative, imagery, easily recognizable melody (except for the haunting leitmotif), or complex props to garner and hold an audience’s attention. To pull this off takes artistic courage of the highest caliber from every person involved.

One could say that it is abstract, but in this context, I would argue, abstract is a pejorative term. Abstract infers vagueness, as if it’s about nothing. This program is not about nothing. Minimal, perhaps even primitive, yes.

In fact, in my particular reading, the Cadets program mythologizes dci d&bc. Very understandably, this kind of reading is one the show’s creators have balked at or avoided; but why not, at this point, allow it to stick and own it? What other program has mythologized the obsessive procedures of this activity so transparently, effectively, and with so much skill, audacity - and yes - fierce, unyielding emotion?

Myths are challenging to absorb. Most of us resist comprehending them. They’re not for the weak-hearted or simple-minded. They’re for mature adults. They require a degree of detachment and thought. They are not automatically ingratiating. They are not superficial. When they’re presented well, as this one is here, they induce awe. Frankly, awe is not strong enough. Ecstatic astonishment might be.

Its free-floating content seems mysterious, even tortured at times. For the performers there is no hiding in this kind of music-making, yet all the components - from the electronics to the wrongly-maligned guard - blend into the framework and enhance rather than draw attention to themselves. There are no gratuitous tricks, no smoke or mirrors, and almost no artifice: just fully engrossing, undisguised, highly refined, purposeful art-making. It’s a marvel to behold. My guess is the spirit of Wagner will be smiling on them tonight in Indy.

Adjudications and the competition aside, might this program be one people will return to over and over again in the future?

Indeed, perhaps the program’s reception might benefit from an unspoken subtitle: “The Myth of Drum Corps.”

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The Cadets new uniforms are brilliant. I don’t share the view that they don’t work. That argument is a red herring. On the contrary, their performances have been, and I suspect will be breathtaking and magical again tonight. But I suggest it isn’t the kind of magic associated with what d&bc seems to be becoming. It’s requires a slightly different frame of mind. I have no stake in the proceedings, but I am passionate about championing artistry. Of course, the other superb programs this year have it too, but the Cadets program bares its soul.

To me, there is no program on the field this year that is more across-the-board fundamentally challenging (and thus educational), more relentless, more interesting, or dare I say, truly artistic - in the most idealistic sense of the word - than the Cadets program.

Crucially, their program is far less dependent on any familiar pre-existing narrative, imagery, easily recognizable melody (except for the haunting leitmotif), or complex props to garner and hold an audience’s attention. To pull this off takes artistic courage of the highest caliber from every person involved.

One could say that it is abstract, but in this context, I would argue, abstract is a pejorative term. Abstract infers vagueness, as if it’s about nothing. This program is not about nothing. Minimal, perhaps even primitive, yes.

In fact, in my particular reading, the Cadets program mythologizes dci d&bc. Very understandably, this kind of reading is one the show’s creators have balked at or avoided; but why not, at this point, allow it to stick and own it? What other program has mythologized the obsessive procedures of this activity so transparently, effectively, and with so much skill, audacity - and yes - fierce, unyielding emotion?

Myths are challenging to absorb. Most of us resist comprehending them. They’re not for the weak-hearted or simple-minded. They’re for mature adults. They require a degree of detachment and thought. They are not automatically ingratiating. They are not superficial. When they’re presented well, as this one is here, they induce awe. Frankly, awe is not strong enough. Ecstatic astonishment might be.

Its free-floating content seems mysterious, even tortured at times. For the performers there is no hiding in this kind of music-making, yet all the components - from the electronics to the wrongly-maligned guard - blend into the framework and enhance rather than draw attention to themselves. There are no gratuitous tricks, no smoke or mirrors, and almost no artifice: just fully engrossing, undisguised, highly refined, purposeful art-making. It’s a marvel to behold. My guess is the spirit of Wagner will be smiling on them tonight in Indy.

Adjudications and the competition aside, might this program be one people will return to over and over again in the future?

Indeed, perhaps the program’s reception might benefit from an unspoken subtitle: “The Myth of Drum Corps.”

Well-written from a grammatical point of view, but in terms of your (anti)aesthetic pov, I just think your view is incoherent.

And it's wrong. How do I know it's wrong? The gap between performance and GE. The MMs are outperforming the show design. Hence, the show design is a failure. The show design is the reason this show isn't putting the Cadets on top right now.

No corps in the last 15 years has so regularly had gold-medal talent, and has so regularly out-performed the often inept, and sometimes downright laughable, show designs as have the Cadets.

Back to 2015. Emotion only exists in this show in the abstract, and as derivative of the emotion of the narrative and emotional and biographical content of Shostakovich's music.

Some Borg swallow whole whatever the Design Team throws at them, and they themselves mythologize it as if it deserves mythologizing.

To focus on the number of a symphony, rather than the meaning of the music itself, is only heroic if we're celebrating the arbitrary, disjointed, and aleatoric.

I might be wrong, but as far as I know, the Cadets aren't doing John Cage this year.

They're (un)doing Shostakovich.

And that is why they're sitting in fourth, and slipping.

The shows ahead of them - even though less demanding, even though the Cadets outmarch and outplay them - are ahead because they were put together by better design teams, and the shows have aesthetic unity, authenticity, narrative, and more profound emotion. They use the music to tell the story and communicate the emotion, rather than abuse the music by missing its point entirely.

You know I'm right, but you are too Borgy to admit it.

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Thanks for the video link George! The camera direction really accentuated the brilliance of the staging and the individual demand of the MMs, and like I said before, the unis look fantastic from a high vantage point. The drill just SNAPS! This is a show that will be appreciated more and more as the years pass. An incredible accomplishment!

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From Hop's FB page and I wholeheartedly agree.

"We took on the most difficult book and visual program in a long, long, long time, and the kids were magnificent."

Couldn't have said it better myself!

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