xandandl Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 (edited) Cadets Winter Guard to Remain on Sideline for 2016 George Hopkins, CEO of Youth Education in the Arts, has announced that for the coming winter season, the organization will not be presenting an indoor color guard ensemble. YEA! will, however, continue to manage Cadets Winter Percussion for the ensemble's third consecutive season this winter. In making the announcement, Hopkins said, “We need more clarity on the purpose and direction of the indoor guard. Is it to train students for The Cadets or Cadets2, or is it a stand-alone program? What level of performance are we looking for? We are simply not prepared to entertain the discussion at this time. There is so much going on at YEA! with over 130 USBands events and many other programs, and it has come down to a decision as to where we can best commit our time and financial resources.” The organization hopes to present an indoor color guard in 2017. For now, The Cadets, Cadets2, and Cadets Winter Percussion will make up the portfolio of programs known as, THE CADETS. YEA! would like to thank Debbie and Lauryn Heller for their work in the first year of Cadets Winter Guard. Their time and effort was well known and very much appreciated. For more information on any of The Cadets' ensembles, please go to cadets.org. Edited September 12, 2015 by xandandl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccerguy315 Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 interesting... guess they did not want to do whatever they did last year (I don't know what it was, but they could've put off the discussion until spring while fielding a guard at the same time) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xandandl Posted September 12, 2015 Author Share Posted September 12, 2015 Last season was the first guard "the corps" fielded since before WGI started. Last year's version was a training guard, not one competing in World Class. The training guard was not high ranking come Dayton like the winter percussion program the corps fields. It seemed that YEA took over a training program from another organization to save that guard from folding totally. Guard instructors were also a bit younger than usual World Class instructors. With the yet to be publicly announced move of YEA HQ in Allentown, planning for 2 corps, the winter percussion program, and the umpteem band shows this Fall, the real question is how many pies can GH keep his fingers in before he has to let others control...??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 There is so much going on at YEA! with over 130 USBands events and many other programs, and it has come down to a decision as to where we can best commit our time and financial resources.” I'd say it's more about saving money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xandandl Posted September 12, 2015 Author Share Posted September 12, 2015 I'd say it's more about saving money. Maybe. They're not exacly hurting. Maybe more a return on the dollar cost benefit analysis thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Freedman Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 Too bad about the announcement. I do really like the way GH engages the public much more than any other corps, in the sense that he is the only director I know of who shares the conversation with the public. He has an unresolved question (which itself implies that he sees issues as questions to be answered) and gives the question to the public. He does the same in his webinars. Many good CEOs of large corporations do the same in interviews. Yes there is the PR gloss content as well, and even the issues presented need to be parsed a bit, and indeed I sometimes disagree with GH's conclusions or actions, but at least he respects us enough to bring us into the conversation a little. As far as I know, all the other corps are gloss-only, and DCI as well. So lets answer his question, and ask some more: - To what extent should a winter guard produced by a corps' parent organization primarily serve to produce members for the corps? - How does a corps decide that question? - How does this compare to say, Santa Clara whose winter guard won the championship and thus did better than the corps? - How beneficial is dance education generally compared to music education? Keep in mind that most dance teachers have never heard of color guard, but then again almost none of their students will be professional dancers either. Dance education, including guard, is mostly about personal development, right? (or wrong?). Hey, that's another question. All are questions he would have to address to make this decision. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornTeacher Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 (edited) Too bad about the announcement. I do really like the way GH engages the public much more than any other corps, in the sense that he is the only director I know of who shares the conversation with the public. He has an unresolved question (which itself implies that he sees issues as questions to be answered) and gives the question to the public. He does the same in his webinars. Many good CEOs of large corporations do the same in interviews. Yes there is the PR gloss content as well, and even the issues presented need to be parsed a bit, and indeed I sometimes disagree with GH's conclusions or actions, but at least he respects us enough to bring us into the conversation a little. As far as I know, all the other corps are gloss-only, and DCI as well. So lets answer his question, and ask some more: - To what extent should a winter guard produced by a corps' parent organization primarily serve to produce members for the corps? - How does a corps decide that question? - How does this compare to say, Santa Clara whose winter guard won the championship and thus did better than the corps? - How beneficial is dance education generally compared to music education? Keep in mind that most dance teachers have never heard of color guard, but then again almost none of their students will be professional dancers either. Dance education, including guard, is mostly about personal development, right? (or wrong?). Hey, that's another question. All are questions he would have to address to make this decision. Maybe it's just another step toward a more total "marching performance arts" education? And I really hesitate to ask that, for fear that it may result in nothing other than a variation on the whole "Drum Corps/Marching Band" conundrum. Edited September 12, 2015 by HornTeacher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 You got to love how this announcement has been spun into an "anti-Hopkins" conversation - as if he somehow "failed" Otherwise "not always the midas touch" wouldn't be the header for the thread The guard wasn't a WGI guard really - it was a training guard they took over and frankly it didn't really do that well Now back on topic - it's probably good they can now focus their energies on the Cadet guard program in DCI where it belongs For me this is a WIN/WIN And yet it gets spun as a matter of "control" -- With the yet to be publicly announced move of YEA HQ in Allentown, planning for 2 corps, the winter percussion program, and the umpteem band shows this Fall, the real question is how many pies can GH keep his fingers in before he has to let others control...??? "others" controlled C2 up until this past season (and he took over they jumped way up in size and quality) "others" run the Cadet indoor drum program "others" run the USBA band program But whatever... go for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 - How does this compare to say, Santa Clara whose winter guard won the championship and thus did better than the corps? Do the WGI mm of corps, like SCV, also march with the corps during the Summer. Granted, corps have more guard members than most WGI groups, so if the SCV members switch over to the field corps, the additional guard members might not be as talented. Plus, you're comparing two different competition formats I'm guessing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Freedman Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 Do the WGI mm of corps, like SCV, also march with the corps during the Summer. Granted, corps have more guard members than most WGI groups, so if the SCV members switch over to the field corps, the additional guard members might not be as talented. Plus, you're comparing two different competition formats I'm guessing. I would think they would largely be different people during the summer and winter. Anyone know how many SCV winter guard people actually do go to school in the Santa Clara area? Are there people who aren't in school who can dedicate all day to it during the school year? I don't know. Anyway, I've always assumed that winter guard is generally a local thing due to the school year, and also a part time activity for the same reason. Meanwhile, the top DCI guards can get the best in the country and in the world. And work them all day, every day, all summer long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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