Do Cavies Ever Do Arc Reshapes?

[idontwan2know]

Let's just cut to the chase on this one and shorten the misery.

Cavies Homer 1: "Liek OMG, the Cavies are the best thing EVAR! Everything they do is the best possible way of doing anything that could ever be done!!11!!!one

Don Quixote: "Well, that's nice but can we discuss this seriously? Sure, dots are important, but there are things that you just can't do wit..."

Cavies Homer 2: "WOOHOOO! CAVIES RULE!"

Don Quixote: "Look, I really think that..."

Cavies Homer 3: "Grean Machine r0x0rs joo!"

Don Quixote: "Oh forget it. The windmills were easier to deal with."

Warning: If your sense of humor is missing or malfunctioning, feel free to bombard me with angry replies. I promise not to read a word of any of it.

[Matt_S]

Heh, to be fair:

Cavies hater 1: Like OMG, what is up with all those boxes. Like seriously, they only do the same move every year.

Matt: While I can see some style similarities, can you offer two examples of moves that are exactly the same?

Cavies hater 2: YES! ALL THOSE BOXES! THEY USED A BOX IN FRAMEWORKS AND A BOX IN MACHINE!

Matt: OKay, but in Frameworks they collapsed a company front using precise yet seemingly random scatter drill that ultimately resolved itself into a box. In Machine when they formed a box they pushed and stretched it until it snapped out of control. Two very different moves, that yes, used a box.

Cavies Hater 3: But it was still a box and boxes are easy and so is their music.

Matt: Well, that's my cue to stop bothering. Some cases just can't be reasoned with.

[fourouttheforty]

This true with one exception: block rotations that retain their size. To rotate a block, members need to take a circular path that is an arc of the circle with radius equal to the distance from that person to the center of the block. Block rotations done with straight paths will compress the block from the beginning to the middle of the rotation, then expand it to its original size from the middle to the end of the rotation.

In fact, this is the only way I've seen block rotations performed: they compress and decompress. The Cavaliers rotate tons of blocks like this.

[LaSqueegee]

Heh, to be fair:

Cavies hater 1: Like OMG, what is up with all those boxes. Like seriously, they only do the same move every year.

Matt: While I can see some style similarities, can you offer two examples of moves that are exactly the same?

Cavies hater 2: YES! ALL THOSE BOXES! THEY USED A BOX IN FRAMEWORKS AND A BOX IN MACHINE!

Matt: OKay, but in Frameworks they collapsed a company front using precise yet seemingly random scatter drill that ultimately resolved itself into a box. In Machine when they formed a box they pushed and stretched it until it snapped out of control. Two very different moves, that yes, used a box.

Cavies Hater 3: But it was still a box and boxes are easy and so is their music.

Matt: Well, that's my cue to stop bothering. Some cases just can't be reasoned with.

[FH4life]

I deeply respect your opinion, I'm just asking some questions hoping that those who "support" giuding (as you, I guess) will give me a resonable answer... it never happened before, but I keep asking... the absolute truth is not in my pocket...

guiding doesnt mean blindly following and nobody knows where they are supposed to be... you should still know your dot and aim to be on it, but if for some reason the form isnt making it quite there

if everybody has to know his/her dot, why should this happen? maybe when you rehearse that chunk for the first time, but then... I mean, "some reason" is...? not focusing on what you're doing? or what?

just open up your eyes and get in it. over time, just as one would perfect their own dot in the other system, the form will correct its picture as everybody figures out the picture as a whole and their part in it.

ok, but when two or more people are not on their dot, who's right and who's not? and again, how can you work on consistency when you hit a different dot every time?

and what when (example) there's a box and the guy in the front line on the far side is wrong, should all the people behind him follow him and make the whole line wrong? or should they hit their dot and have just one person wrong and not a whole lot?

personally, i love guiding the form... makes me feel like im part of an ensemble and not just out there by myself, performing my show oblivous to what is going on around me.

of course you can love it, but my experience tells me that all those who told me that ("guiding makes me feel like im part of an ensemble") were people who simply couldn't hit their dots because they never focused on what they were doing while rehearsing. Of course I'm not saying you're one of them, I simply feel that argument not that strong...

and btw, there are so many other ways to feel part of an ensemble. for me beeing a brass guy, side-to-side listening is one of them.

again, not trying to be mean, just discussing...

[droclot]

This argument drives me crazy! :) Neither system is "better" than the other one. For everyone who is absolutely sure that one is better it is probably just because you most recently marched/taught that system. It completly depends on the drill writers approach. Both systems can work perfectly fine. I actually teach both systems with my groups. It just depends on the drill. How do The Cavaliers do reshapes? As someone mentioned earlier, they chart out the move at a micro level so the reshape happens with straight line paths. How do The Blue Devils do reshapes? They spend the time the Cavaliers do on dots teaching their kids how to understand form and how it moves thru space so when they get into a reshape the kids can do it as easily as a straight line path. Both approaches clearly work and one is not better than the other. It just gives the drill a different feel.

Some of the best drill ever was the reshape heavy stuff from Cadets in the early 90's. That would not have felt the same with more charts and all dot to dot. And without a doubt, we have been witnessing some historic drill from the Cavaliers over the past years and we all know how they do their thing.

And as a note, reading (guiding) a form is a science. You don't just try and stay with the people around you. You have to understand the dynamics of form and motion. It is a skill that is developed throughout a season and a marching a career. It is not the easy way out. The groups that do it well put lots of time into teaching their students that science. Many groups just use it as a crutch and yell "Get in the form!" But these are the kind of groups that would be unsuccessful with marching dot to dot as well.

It isn't about what you do, it is about how well you do it.

Andy

[SACMellos2010]

We NEVER marched dot to dot and think it was performed quite well. IN theory I think the dot system for Cavaliers in their predominantly straight lines and box style drills can have its merit although each person does not always take the exact right angle and thus path. I think it is the biggest explanation for a lot of interval issues that seem to be apparent at times for them but they seem to get the job done and win visual caption after visual caption.

As said above many different theories I am just a firm believer of reshapes and guiding and prefer to see corps who use that approach.

[Hrothgar15]

[dbc03]

There is more irony in that post than my body can handle.

[FH4life]

I think we all agree about considering not one better than the other... and I actually belive that for some particular drill moves dot to dot works but maybe some guiding would help... let's say 90% / 10% =)

and btw I think we were discussing about the systems theory, not about performing.

I strongly support the dot to dot system because gives pretty much all of the visual responsibility to the single performer. if he's wrong, he's the only wrong. and he will never push someone else to make a mistake. and it's all his responsibility if he's wrong.

anyway, could some of you answer the questions written in my previous post please? thanks.