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Will DCA be around in 5 years?


Will DCA be around in 5 years?  

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  1. 1. Will DCA be around in 5 years?

    • Yes
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    • No
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On 8/17/2022 at 11:17 PM, Jeff Ream said:

only 12 corps too. all the Rochester groups gone, few from outside the NE..but LOL i have seen more online content from an inactive corps than i have several going to Rochester in a few weeks.

I can only imagine its a two part thing. 1. The passion the inactive corps have/had over the years drives them to want to stay active in engaging in Social media about their former corps and experience. 2. Current Marching members in many cases are under orders not to post on Social media about their corps. Seems some directors and corps admin seem to think they want to control the flow and content of information out there. In many cases that leaves nothing but a flatline coming out of the corps Admins. 

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27 minutes ago, camel lips said:

I can only imagine its a two part thing. 1. The passion the inactive corps have/had over the years drives them to want to stay active in engaging in Social media about their former corps and experience. 2. Current Marching members in many cases are under orders not to post on Social media about their corps. Seems some directors and corps admin seem to think they want to control the flow and content of information out there. In many cases that leaves nothing but a flatline coming out of the corps Admins. 

i was referring to marketing from the corps themselves. it has gotten a little better from some of the corps..a few were because of emergency needs going into finals week.

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On 9/1/2022 at 4:29 PM, CHRISP said:

I know of several junior corps members that are filling spots for various all age corps.

I've always wondered how that's even possible.  Aren't there only ~3 weekends left in the season after DCI is over? Doesn't seem like a lot of time to learn a show, even for experienced marchers.

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1 hour ago, Musicman1084 said:

I've always wondered how that's even possible.  Aren't there only ~3 weekends left in the season after DCI is over? Doesn't seem like a lot of time to learn a show, even for experienced marchers.

the demands generally arent as great

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On 9/1/2022 at 6:54 PM, camel lips said:

I can only imagine its a two part thing. 1. The passion the inactive corps have/had over the years drives them to want to stay active in engaging in Social media about their former corps and experience. 2. Current Marching members in many cases are under orders not to post on Social media about their corps. Seems some directors and corps admin seem to think they want to control the flow and content of information out there. In many cases that leaves nothing but a flatline coming out of the corps Admins. 

Let’s be real here.  And serous for a minute.
 

The issues DCA face. 
 

rehearsal space costs a fortune now.  There’s nothing free from a school anymore unless one of your BOD members is high up in the school district. Even then, schools still want costs paid for. 
 

age outs of dci live all over now. And many are Not necessarily where dca corps are. And they fly to dci camps. DCI brings their camps to where the greatest number of paying students would be. (Texas, Florida, Georgia, indiana) 

note none of those states have dca.

High school and university are in session. And many have football games this weekend. 
 

and frankly, it’s costs between 3000, and 6000 (before travel) to March dci. You’re already poor waiting on real life and paychecks to start. 
 

DCA is no longer for the more seasoned performers. It’s become the training ground for dci.  DCI Lite.  I’m 42. I’m can play a horn as good as anyone (I do it for part of my rent around nyc).  I can still move as good as most.  But the weekend schedule isnt as advertised, and is longer than the NBA season. (go look at reading’s schedule and tell me it’s acceptable for a human with a busy job and a family)  it’s not conducive to actual performers. Heck it’s not conducive to people with jobs and responsibilities. But it’s Also not attractive to my age group to do anymore. We have the bankroll, we don’t really want to give up every weekend (or more in some cases) to pay to run around a field when we can be paid to be onstage.  We’re happy to teach, we love to go watch it a bit, but there’s not a ton of fun being in a line with kids who just got their license. It’s an age gap that the drum corps activity ushered in.  It’s a bit unattractive to many of my age group to want to participate in. And I say this as someone who loves to be around it. 
 

A small recap. the combined arms race for designing a show built to attract participants from year or year, the majority of participants catered to are now kids, the costs to do it rise every year, age outs rarely live near a groups and are seriously in debt from dci, and the schedule is grueling for anyone over 25 out of college with a lot of responsibilities on their shoulders.   
 

it’s an up winnable situation. One that I’m happy to buy a cocktail for any of the directors keeping their group going with lol these hurdles to jump. Cheers to all of you doing the impossible. Especially when we all just had a pandemic that costs lives and livelihoods.  And isn’t over. 
 

this is some serious ####. 

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finals weekend. it's why several corps no longer participate and do soundsport. Labor Day weekend is an issue

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22 hours ago, C.Holland said:

 

But the weekend schedule isnt as advertised, and is longer than the NBA season. (go look at reading’s schedule and tell me it’s acceptable for a human with a busy job and a family)  it’s not conducive to actual performers. Heck it’s not conducive to people with jobs and responsibilities. But it’s Also not attractive to my age group to do anymore. 

 

Times have changed, for sure. And this is NOT a knock on today's realities, or on any age group in particular. But when I marched with Sunrisers, late 1970s-early 1980s (I know... sounds like "get off my lawn" here...LOL)... today's DCA corps' summer schedules are a pale echo of what we did. Shows or parades every weekend from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. (19 shows my first year in 1977. 19!!!) Summer rehearsals on Wednesday and Friday nights. And we had a bunch of college-age kids (many more than most DCA corps, and even a few high-schoolers)  mixed in with a bunch of 20 and 30-somethings.

I remember when my brother, Sun's director in 1980, gave us the entire DCI weekend off. That was basically unheard of up until that point with our corps, and some of our members actually griped about it!!! My brother did the right thing. We needed a break. 

We were most likely crazy for doing all that I mentioned above. LOL. And did it for years.

I absolutely have regrets about missing a lot of family stuff. So I fully understand that folks who want to get on with their lives don't want to be as "all in" and give up those weekends anymore. 

A different world. Nothing really wrong with that. 

Edited by Fran Haring
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1 hour ago, Fran Haring said:

Times have changed, for sure. 

They have. The activity has changed as well. As has the society in which it exists.  
 

if you wanted mid week rehearsals mandated you wouldn’t have a corps now.  I’m sure the weekend warrior schedule was great when there was nothing else going on and everyone worked 9-5 M-F. But that’s not the world now.  Colleges schedules are different and start early.  Some high schools (the bulk of dca members now) started the first week of August. 
 

 

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1 hour ago, C.Holland said:

They have. The activity has changed as well. As has the society in which it exists.  
 

if you wanted mid week rehearsals mandated you wouldn’t have a corps now.  I’m sure the weekend warrior schedule was great when there was nothing else going on and everyone worked 9-5 M-F. But that’s not the world now.  Colleges schedules are different and start early.  Some high schools (the bulk of dca members now) started the first week of August. 
 

 

I hear ya, Chris, and I mostly agree... but not everyone was a 9-to-5er. Not close. You whippersnapper. LOL. Our director (before my brother) was a major insurance exec who managed to be at every rehearsal... we had numerous other folks who ran businesses, were police officers, medical people, and so forth. One of my friends worked full time and was in college (night school) full time. Like today, they had a lot of demands on their "outside" time. They had plenty of things going on. As I've said... we were probably crazy. 

Now... the school schedule thing has definitely ramped up. DCA needs to move off of Labor Day weekend. 

It's just different today. Nothing wrong with that. 

Edited by Fran Haring
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"DCA needs to move off of Labor Day weekend.  "

I agree with Fran on this. DCA, if it's going to survive, will need a re-invention and re-boot. What just passed for a "national" championship presents a poor comparison to earlier times.

The participants who remain are game, for sure, but the system and logistics are antiquated and the graph slopes downward steeply.

Step one will be a convocation of all interested parties to formulate a new plan for the next 20 years. Here's hoping there is a sufficient number of interested parties left.

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