Breaking ranks???

[IllianaLancerContra]

7 minutes ago, OldSnareDrummer said:

I thought the same thing. Try breaking BAC's (or anyone's) ranks in the 60s or 70s. You'd be telling the story of what happened from the ER. 

Add Anaheim & Troopers to that list.  

[KVG_DC]

Yeah. That "end of retreat when they mix and celebrate" isn't what comes to mind when I hear 'breaking ranks' at all.  Breaking ranks is a very taboo thing when you go through another unit's lines while they're in block formation.

ISSMA State finals had a big to do over it in 1982 when Ben Davis unseated Chesterton in Class A after Chesterton's dominating run.  Local rival to my HS (my sister was in the guard at the time) was positioned on one side of them and Ben Davis on the other.  This was when the trend of color guards doing intricately choreographed arm salutes was taking off and there was generally a long form done when your band won a caption or placemenet, then a short form which was a tribute and slaute to other bands.  My sister's guard had a short form they'd done for their local rivals and all bands placing ahead of them.   They'd passed up their local rivals by state finals and beat them handily if I remember right (the rivals were notorious for winning shows early because they were clean early, but their shows didn't score as well at the end because they were more simple.)

Anyway, Chesterton was announced in second place and it was apparent that Ben Davis had won.  Our guard does their thing again.  The local rivals had apparently been instructed to congratulate the champion whoever it was, after awards were done. Presumably this was meant to be in the tunnel area or in the lot.  But their guard took it to mean instaneously before leaving the field.  So our guard was starting their salute thing for Ben Davis and the rival guard comes walking through them like they weren't there to grab the hands of the nearest Ben Davis guard, who had just finished their long form salute. then stomp back to the front and await to march off the field.  

There were gasps.  

Apparently in the directors meeting our director asked what that was all about. Before the rival director could speak, their guard instructor "well I guess the girls were just angry and wanted to leave, it was clear they'd gotten hosed finishing behind [our band] again at finals."  The rival director shut her down and apologized. He actually came to the school to aplogize to our guard personally the next week.  But it set off a bit bitter rivalry between the guards that one year resulted in the rival guard's "salute" when the band score was announced to be a coordianted removal of their gloves throwing them on the field then spitting.  

Our director was fond of saying "At least here we remember to spell class with the CL"  

[KVG_DC]

I forget which year it was fairly recently that the Cavies were coming on for retreat after the Cadets were already on.  Cavies then doing some of their classic antics and pulling a 'the green is lava' and entering the field walking the yardlines as though they were tightropes.  This put them in arm bump range of Cadets lined up in ranks of course.  Given the very formal retreat traditions of the Cadets...this did not seem to be taken well based on the expressons of the Cadets.

[Sutasaurus]

While, it never came to physical violence, Regiment blocked people from breaking our ranks. Even in Lynn, MA BITD. You have to understand what “Breaking the Ranks” really means. This didn’t have to do with retreat, it had to do with corps in formation to enter the stadium or setting up for whatever in a unit. Fans, locals, who wanted “cut through” the ranks to get anywhere. No, no, no, you walk around a corps “in formation” To me equates “breaking ranks”. Can I get an “Amen” from my peers?

KVG_DC has come the closest. Thank you.

Edited October 6, 2022 by Sutasaurus

[bkbass98]

1 hour ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

Add Anaheim & Troopers to that list.  

 

Troop was definitely the first thing that came to mind when I read the thread title.  

This seems like the appropriate summary of those days:

[LabMaster]

48 minutes ago, Sutasaurus said:

While, it never came to physical violence, Regiment blocked people from breaking our ranks. Even in Lynn, MA BITD. You have to understand what “Breaking the Ranks” really means. This didn’t have to do with retreat, it had to do with corps in formation to enter the stadium or setting up for whatever in a unit. Fans, locals, who wanted “cut through” the ranks to get anywhere. No, no, no, you walk around a corps “in formation” To me equates “breaking ranks”. Can I get an “Amen” from my peers?

KVG_DC has come the closest. Thank you.

Breaking ranks was done at your own peril.  With my corps, it wasn’t done successfully.  BITD it wasn’t a retreat kind of thing.  Amen Suta.

[greg_orangecounty]

1 hour ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

Add Anaheim & Troopers to that list.  

Yup, and it was the GUARD (women) that took it the most seriously.  You got one warning and if you didn't adhere.....by today's standards it would be considered an assault. 

Not all that proud of it in 2022 but back then it was something you sorta "hoped" would happen......  Like running into a field judge.  

[greg_orangecounty]

2 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said:

As for breaking ranks, we were intense about it in my high school... and SCV was very very very strict about it. I have a humiliating breaking ranks story that I witnessed, but that I don't have consent to share. Suffice to say that members should be encouraged to break ranks when their personal health or dignity are at risk. 

Thirty years difference.....what you describe we called "falling out", not "breaking ranks."  But, yes, when personal health and/or dignity are involved.....I don't think it's like that now.  At least I hope not.  

[ironlips]

“Amen” from my peers?"

AAA-Men!

Our teams were a bit more formal, and kept in formation until we were clear of the stadium. Then we'd circle up, do some sort of tribal yell, and proceed to fall out to greet our fellow competitors...or not.

That tradition gave way to the Kumbaya, mass on-field disintegration that seems common now. There will be no going back, but that's ok. Today's performers never witnessed the older protocol. They weren't even DNA molecules then.

[84BDsop]

3 hours ago, Slingerland said:

The '04 post DCI tour was about acknowledging that Finals was a week earlier than usual, and that California needed some love. The combined corps performances were designed to make it feel more special (since the champs had already been crowned, there was no suspense left in the performances), but the hoop-do-do was definitely a model for what the original TOC shows were supposed to be.

(In reality, the first gen TOC shows in 2011 were joyless when it came to instant encores, etc, and nobody really missed it when they stopped.)

It was also about test-driving venues for 07 championships.

I loved that DCI was being held a 20 minute drive from home...but I feel that Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego (ALWAYS The Murph....none of this Qualcomm #### for a native San Diegan.   RIP Murph) would've been a better venue than the Rose Bowl.