Controversial DCI (Finals) Shows

[KVG_DC]

2 hours ago, Standrews said:

Nobody comes close to 1971 St. Rita's.

Oh yeah that story is gold.

[verzephobe]

2 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said:

There’s a thread from twenty years ago about 1971

Thank you for showing me this!! This is actually way more helpful than you know I’m like BRAND new to DCP lol

[verzephobe]

4 minutes ago, craiga said:

The show was the "Core of Temptation".  The guard uniforms were ...highly effective.

So I only got into DCI in 2023 (I’d only been marching for a year I think) so I’m really uneducated about the way people used to react to stuff in the 2000s, how are the guard uniforms bad? Is it just the sheerness / crop top part of it? 

[Tim K]

3 hours ago, KVG_DC said:

There have been a few ruffled feathers more recently here regarding the themes of Boston's Wicked Games, Mandarins' Sinnerman, and Troopers' Dance with the Devil regarding whether "DCI designers are celebrating satanic worship."  
 

I was a bit surprised Troopers 2024 didn’t cause more of a stir though for me personally, the storyline was more a “Devil Went Down to Georgia” theme and with the ending where good triumphed over evil so I don’t think it was satanic. Design wise, the Devil mask through the entire show was overdone. It would have been more effective if the identity was not revealed until the n style at the end. The Devil is supposed to be a deceiver. 

I do remember some religious controversy, both caused by the same corps, the Cadets. In 2012 some objected to “12.25” and believed a formation in the show too closely resembled a fish (the Ichthys) and was a blatant Christian symbol in a show deemed too religious. I think that was a bit of a stretch. I know I went to Mass on the Sunday after finals in downtown Indy before heading home with lots of drum corps fans in the pews and I don’t recall a religious revival based on the ferver gained by seeing what may or may not have been a fish. However, 2017’s show which used music from Bernstein’s “Mass” and had an odd mix of religious symbols, questions as to whether the uniform displayed an  Ankh (from Egyptian mythology) or whether it was the decoration usually on the sleeve displayed differently, and the young man who may have been Jesus but looked like John the Baptist, caused a stir. Looking back while winning was the hope, I think shock value was part of the mix too. The former director was none to pleased with Boston Crusaders and its new music staff (Crown could say the same about guard), he was none to thrilled with Bluecoats popularity and title, and I don’t think he cared that much for Crown. If the show wasn’t going to medal, at least give people something to talk about.

[Tim K]

4 hours ago, KVG_DC said:

There have been a few ruffled feathers more recently here regarding the themes of Boston's Wicked Games, Mandarins' Sinnerman, and Troopers' Dance with the Devil regarding whether "DCI designers are celebrating satanic worship."  
 

 

Edited February 1, 2025 by Tim K

[Standrews]

Grainy videos of 1971 St. Rita's at Youtube. 

[Quad Aces]

While not tied to a particular show, Blue Devils’ run of championships and people's feelings on whether those championships are all warranted has certainly been controversial among DCI’s fan base.

As far as an actual show (that hasn’t been mentioned already) - Carolina Crown’s 2016 “Relentless” and how at the beginning of the season the stagecoach robber was “shot dead” at the end of the show was pretty controversial.  Eventually the ending was changed (spoiler alert 😀) to spare the life of the stagecoach robber.

Even though it is outside of the OP’s original timeframe, Blue Devils’ 1995 “Carpe Noctem”, with the guard using skulls as props during their ballad certainly ruffled more than a few feathers.

[TOC]

5 hours ago, Standrews said:

Nobody comes close to 1971 St. Rita's.

 

[Jeff Ream]

7 hours ago, wolfgang said:

As a historical context for your project, either early DCI or pre-DCI, the Madison Scouts had a female play Alice for Alice in Wonderland.

Aside from having a lady in an all-male corps, the introduction of a themed show was itself controversial. Old timers, pkease elaborate.

Cavies circus show the same year....71

[Jeff Ream]

6 hours ago, Jurassic Lancer said:

Sure did … their Vietnam show, complete with the Memorial

and 88 Symphonic Dances for the confused drum corps fan