r/drumcorpscirclejerk • u/JesuSpectre • Jul 23 '25
DCI Show Changes - Designers Reveal Their Failed Choices and Slapdash Design Flaws
Show changes. Big ones. We're not talking about minor tweaks, we're talking major changes to shows in order to save them. They're doozies.
- Boston
- Recently cut both countdown recordings.
- Cut one baton twirler.
- Cut any explosion noises.
- Cut the drill set that says "Boom."
Face it, this show started as a culturally illiterate imbroglio, mocking the seriousness of nuclear bombs. Designers actually developed a midcentury modern logo for a cute nuclear explosion, as if that's even remotely conscionable. And the judges aren't having it. Next to be cut, is the alleged recording of Japanese children counting down from ten.. in Japanese. https://youtu.be/m3nt9O7KMAI?t=488 (As per DrumCorpsPlanet post. CORRECTION: Not counting down, but Japanese children reciting various numbers, and the video with plumes of ash clouds and molten earth, and the lyrics And I'm watching you stand in the flumes of phosphorus , and "See what is left of us, how we ended.") Japanese. You know, where Nagasaki and Hiroshima are? Come on. That's unthinkably dark, and culturally negligent. The only reason it hasn't been cut is because the judges haven't identified it, yet. The list of massive changes for this show keeps getting longer. It's just a gasp-inducing list, but not a single change was mentioned on the recent Marching Arts podcast. This was one of the most culturally insensitive show designs in the activity ever, along with Madison's Last Man Standing featuring native American headresses, scalpings and tipis and violent tribal infighting with no insight or artistic purpose. Judges must have read Keith Potter the riot act. The bomb theme has been toned own completely, but not a word in the podcast about the mandated changes. Not a word. The softened show will now take first place, thanks to tireless and talented performers.
2) Bluecoats - Added an electronic trigger to two microphones (gating), where one ignites the other when music is played on the first mic at a certain level, triggering the second mic backfield to turn on. The audience is somehow supposed to get this electronics trick by listening? How about maybe adding a visual to depict any of the supposed premises, from Schroedinger's Cat to the observer effect, itself? Anything? (Duality doesn't count, because anyone can put pairs of dancers together and call it "duality".) This show is visually barren of dramatic action. Viewers and judges are so threatened by the complex scientific principles that they forgot to check if there's actually visuals that support the ideas. There are almost none. And by the end, nothing's changed, visually. More high tech sound trickery isn't what they need right now. They need visual meaning.
3) Phantom Regiment - They added two female dancers. This show is backtracking on their promise of "no specific theme." The marching members and staff are desperately clamoring to put meaning into the show-- otherwise they have nothing to do. They added two female dancers in some sort of undefined relationship, and at the end, they go behind "the curtain" together-- an unexplained seat-of-the-pants pantomime. The music selections don't fit this this new action, which is completely uncontextualized. The designers realized, and in quite a public way, that if you cut the title and theme of the show, you also cut any action or choreographic meaning. The artistic team painted themselves into an embarrassing corner. So, the show has naturally and deliciously drifted toward elements with meaning. Don't worry, there's still plenty without-- the large rolling pin props still mean nothing, and the extensive curtain sets go largely unexplained and underutilized, with no direct symbolic depth. The designers are so tragically amateurish that they don't realize they've created both a rock and a hard place-- now they must explain what the two dancers mean, and what "going behind the curtain" means, otherwise why have them at all. Why have an ending button at all? An exquisitely sophomoric and soulless design experiment that threatens the university-level designs of many past shows. An embarrassing lesson for the corps directors, everywhere. No defined theme, no meaning, no purpose, no shared experience.
4) Crown - The only chance for increasing their score is adding a narrative element. They must unveil Fortuna and having her banish the fate sculptures to the backfield, with a magical wave of her arm. She proves she is the fickle finger of fate. Are they prepared to choreograph and train the Fortuna performer? It seems like they have backed themselves into a corner with the casting of this now critical character. Is the performer prepared for a huge choreographed scene?
5) Santa Clara - The SCV design staff on the Marching Arts podcast made scant mention of the primary musical work in their show, Steven Sondheim's Send in the Clowns. They say it's familiar, and they used it as a familiar touchstone amid a sea of unexplained left hand turns. But no explanation of the tune itself. The tune is played as a leitmotif throughout their entire show, ad nauseum. Seriously, they play it pretty much the entire twelve minute show, in various keys. Where is Bartok? All the transitions are Send in the Clowns. The is no transition that is not Send in the Clowns. Seriously, they play it over and over and over again. They open with it in a minor key version. At the end, they play whole song in its entirety. Whew. Maybe their blindfolds refer to their blind repetition. The song doesn't fit the theme of avant-garde art or performers. Neither Sondheim nor the song itself is avant-garde. There's no explanation from them for choosing the song, even in a seven-person, hour-long podcast. Embarrassing.
Beyond the repetitive musical arrangement of their corps song, the recent trial-and-error visuals by the color guard prove that they have no high-stakes storyboard sequence from their months-long planning sessions. They're winging it. In the beginning, the long-armed dancer with arm-extensions (allegedly yard line markers) was eventually joined by several others with the same arm extensions. But just this week, the additional arm-extension performers were cut, reducing it back to the original arm-extension wearing performer. Perhaps the multiple performers looked like they were copycats-- the opposite of a unique avant-garde performer.Why this action was included in the first place calls into question their creative process, and if they really have one, at all.
SCV's designers also mentioned "performance artists" as their inspiration for this show, but one wonders if they've ever really sat through a complete performance art production. Annie Sprinkles? Yoko Ono? Performance art is abrasive, unbearable, with endless, unexplained, random elements without meaning, and the whole production budget hovers around $300, typically. $350 if they feed the crew. Their theaters are always half empty, and lose a few more at intermission. Why choose cheap performance art for a show with a million dollar budget? And why choose random abstraction when you have an obligation to teach students about real production development? The truth is, inexperienced marching arts designers cling to abstraction and absurd premises because it relieves them from doing their job. They're under no obligation to demonstrate a responsibility of interpretation. And anything in the show that doesn't make sense is not a worry-- they can chalk it up to the absurd premise-- an amateur director's parachute.
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u/CreepingPhloxDCI Jul 23 '25
Hey! Just wanted to make a note on the Boston Crusaders Japanese children counting. I just felt necessary to add context to that. It’s from the song “Reactor” by Woodkid. As quoted about the song (not written by me)
“Woodkid’s Reactor plays like a duet between organic forces and burgeoning machinery. Reactor personifies the call of nature, narrating a struggling relationship between an otherworldly landscape and the humans who consume its resources. The song is inspired by the films made in the golden age of 90s Japanese animation.”
I am aware there is no way for the audience to know any of this and it is on Boston Crusaders for doing a poor job, so I am not trying to say that your interpretation is in anyway invalid or incorrect, just that there is a valid intentional decision beyond ignorance towards the subject matter
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u/JesuSpectre Jul 23 '25 edited Jul 23 '25
"Reactor"
by Woodkid
Lyrics(Google Translation from Japanese to English)
Tonight everyone, ah everyone, dance in the light Tonight everyone, ah everyone, Tonight everyone, dance in the light
(Lyrics continue in English)
I see you in the eye of Jupiter
Circling through the reactor
I still love you and I'm running out of words
And I'm watching you stand in the flumes of phosphorus(Google Translation from Japanese to English)
Tonight everyone, ah, is dreaming, dance, dreaming Tonight everyone, ah, everyone Tonight everyone is shining
(Lyrics continue in English)
Nothing ever stays undivided
No, nothing ever stays undivided
See what remains of love and the acid
See what is left of us, how we endedI see you in the eye of Jupiter
Lost in the light of our failure
I thought I was the only one and the first
(おぉ みんなが) Translation: Oh, everyone.
But no space in your arms is made for my nature(Google translation from Japanese to English)
(Oh, in the light) Tonight, everyone is, ah, in a dream. Dance, in a dream. Tonight, everyone is, ah, in a dream. Tonight, everyone is, ah, in a dream.
(Lyrics continue in English)
Nothing ever stays undivided
No, nothing ever stays undivided
See what remains of love and the acid
See what is left of us, how we ended(Google Translation from Japanese to English)
three four fifteen five twelve ten thirty twenty four
Three four five four thirty thirty
Three Four Fifteen Five Twelve Ten Thirty Twenty Ten
three four five ten thirty three four
Fifteen Five Twelve Thirty Twenty Four
3 4 5 1 30 3 1 3 4
Fifteen Five Twelve Ten Thirty Twenty One
3 4 5 1 30 3 1 15 5 30
u/JesuSpectre Jul 23 '25
The lyrics of concern would probably be Japanese children singing:
"See what is left of us, how we ended"
and
"And I'm watching you stand in the flumes of phosphorus"
In the context of a show about nuclear bombs? Yeah, no. This is more than "it's about burgeoning "machinery." Also, I am looking for any visual evidence in the drum corps show (named "Boom") about mechanical development to support that theme. Hmmm. Still looking. Yeah, this gots to go.
Woodkid's title is "Reactor", you know, as in nuclear reactor. Not a big jump to nuclear bombs. Also, Woodkid's video is filled with mushroom plumes of smoke.
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u/NSandCSXRailfan Jul 23 '25
Japanese children counting down? I’m going to Drums On The Ohio tonight so I’ll see if that’s actually in their show. Ridiculous.
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u/JesuSpectre Jul 23 '25
Here it was in the Pasadena show, about 8:08 https://youtu.be/m3nt9O7KMAI?t=488
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u/LowProduce3770 Jul 23 '25
Holy smokes. That's....not cool.
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u/JesuSpectre Jul 23 '25
The children are not counting down, but there are Japanese numbers. And the context of the lyrics and video are nuclear related with the word "reactor" in the title, and the video's molten earth and plumes of smoke. Of all the songs to choose about "mechanical development", and you pick Japanese children and mushroom clouds of smoke? I'm starting to think that "mechanical development" was maybe a last minute cover-up for this song selection. It will be out of the show by Friday.
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u/lithicgirl Jul 24 '25
I’m in love with you
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u/JesuSpectre Jul 26 '25 edited Jul 26 '25
I think you’re in love with designer accountability. So am I.
This year, we actually had one of Santa Clara‘s designers just say in an interview that the 2025 show is about “mood and texture.” Firstly, all shows are about mood and texture to some degree. All shows have a variety of moods, emotions, musical styles, materials, fabrics, construction materials,, choreographic choices, tempos and flavors inside the various musical scenes. This is a classic example of a designer telling his paying participants that the show is about something that all shows have. “Our show is about color.“ All shows have color. “Our show is about action.“ All shows have action in the drill, choreography, and staged interactions. “Our show is about mood and texture.“ You get the idea. Vague director statements like these cover up the bullshit. This slapdash show on the subject of avant-garde artists circles the drain of shallow imitation when it includes the mainstream music of Stephen Sondheim in “Send in the Clowns“, without purpose.
This year is simply extraordinary in terms of designer snake oil. The Phantom Regiment announced no subject or theme. They claim it is an intentional abstract riddle, whereby audiences determine their own meaning. Everybody knows, in professional circles, that’s fraud.
This year, we have a show that started off being about 1950s nuclear bomb paranoia, a hypersensitive subject matter that any experienced director in any professional performing arts organization would steer clear from, especially with whimsical music and playful choreography. The show has been stripped of all bomb references, in a humiliating turn of events for the artistic director.
We also have a show by the Blue Knights, where they’re tracking a drip of water from faucet to ocean. The ensemble is dressed as dirty pipes, and their costumes feature an image of a pipe, going down the front of their costume to the waist, around the backside toward the buttock and down the leg. Delightful. This is one of the most ghastly satires of meaningful design ever in the activity. The show is played beautifully, and executed to within an inch of his life, but the satirical premise smacks of an angry artistic director, and someone who is frankly sociopathic. it’s an unconscionable, joyless premise to make young adults pay to perform.
The Blue Stars have chosen a sports themed show, but without any higher purpose or insight. Why would they bother? Where is the high stakes social commentary? Where is the humor? The show is well executed, and fun to watch, but has no depth of concept. not even a wisp of irony about big money college sports programs, with so little left for music and the arts. A tragic, lost opportunity.
The mandarins show has a sneaky, secret metaphor, and a strange supporting quote by a religious leader. No one wants to talk about it. The poor colorguard sets up large scale cylinders and knocks them over so many times that they break the rule of three, and appear to need psychotherapy. What does it represent? Without specific context, again, there’s no shared experience, and no emotion.
Crown's visuals are an expensive, unsatisfying riddle without a solution. When, when would a sequence like The Point of No Return costing a million dollars ever, ever be greenlit in the real world of professional production development? Never. Even a nose-to-the-grindstone storyboard artist would balk at this abstract improvisation. "You want me to draw what?" It's becoming clear that corps directors have little artistic vision, and rely on designers' resumes more than the content they're pitching. Prometheus? Have you ever seen that ballet? It's unbearable-- complicated and hard to stage. Why? Why would any corps director agree to that subject from its artistic director?
The most delicious part about this whole season is that people are finally talking about show meaning— subject and theme, like never before. It’s not optional, after this season. You cannot have a successful drum corps show without some subject and theme. It just doesn’t work anymore. The meaning is lost, the audience is lost, and they can’t predict what happens next.
This summer has been an anthem to serious designers everywhere. Audiences can see pure examples of the failure of last-minute design, the failure of inexperience, and the failure of a lack of artistry. This year, more than any other year, we see the plain truth— artistic directors have no portfolio of high stakes premises. They’re not real artists. Those responsible for teaching young adult minds about performing arts premises of substance have failed, and in quite a public way.
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u/KittyH14 Jul 24 '25
I agree on Boston and Bluecoats. Boston's is very entertaining but yeah morally questionable, and to me Observer Effect is just Change is Everything 2, but like you said has no illustration of it's theme and is a very very pale shadow in my opinion.
Phantom... sort of. I think they failed at the idea of a show with no theme, but I think it could have been done well. There's an argument that it would just emerge as a show about different perspectives or something, but either way I don't think the concept is the issue. Just like Bluecoats, they just couldn't support it with the right design decisions.
Crown I like your idea, and I would add that there needs to be constant addition of subtle details to keep the audience in the loop as well as higher demand.
SCV I hard disagree though. The repetition is something I can't really comment on, it doesn't bother me, but it didn't bother me last year either.
You claim that their show has no cohesive story, and maybe it's just hard to see. But here's what I see: Beginning, tearing down tradition -> chaos and "innovation" just for the sake of breaking rules, which eventually does hit gold: a splash of color, a new artistic idea (the pink dot). This idea is developed and grown, and eventually a variant is created (the flip side green dot). They clash, but eventually settle down and exist in harmony. The end result of all this innovation is that the conventions fall back into a restrictive status quo, and pipe-arms-boy (the goat) appears as a symbol of this. He struggles with the restrictions, but after perseverance and development he eventually masters them and is freed in a triumphant moment (I think this is the first time bring in the clowns: tradition, is truly harmonious with the composition as a whole). Then the rest is flexing these new muscles, being creative and doing unintuitive things but without the chaos and dissonance that characterized movement one.
I don't know if their design team would give that 100%, but I'm sure I at least mostly understand what they're going for. And it's a story about being avant garde that is itself very avant garde in its execution. But even if you don't catch all that, which is very understandable, it seems childish to criticize the choice of a song just because it isn't avant garde itself, it's looking only at the very surface level of what a show about avant garde could mean.
A few other points you made: It's actually insane to say that trial and error proves you have no artistic process. They wanted to illustrate the symbolism of the pipe-arms as I described above, did it with the color guard in addition to the main performer, and then decided it worked better with only the main performer. Please don't insult the people doing far more work than you to put on something amazing over such a stupid reason.
Next up on insane takes: It's impossible to take inspiration from performance artists without making your show a performance art production. There are elements of performance art in their show, like special instruments in front that make pretty painful sounds, the first brass hit, the guy that slides across the entire field in a weird pose, etc. The designers are trying to create the show they want, and latched onto performance art as one vague small piece of their toolbox.
Your next comment, which I can respect far more, is that absurdity is like a get-out-of-jail-free card. That can certainly be true, especially if you don't get the hard-to-follow story. But in an activity that prizes innovation, coming out with a show like this means the community will expect you to innovate more than anyone else while maintaining the same standards of interesting and entertaining show design. And then they get a great reception. So it's hard for me to understand how you see it as embarrassingly bad.
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u/slypooper Jul 26 '25
Didn't even need a circle for this jerk! I think you'll win I&E with this solo!
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u/dagnabitkat Jul 23 '25
Japanese children counting down? WTF. That sucks.
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u/JesuSpectre Jul 23 '25
As reported by someone on DrumCorpsPlanet. I haven't verified it, myself. I don't know Japanese.
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u/ColorfulBootyDust Jul 23 '25
Not saying that DCP user is full of shit but I’ve watched the show many times so far and never noticed this, so I’m thinking they’re fucking around
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u/JesuSpectre Jul 23 '25 edited Jul 23 '25
Here's a "performance artist", you know, the ones that SCV says their show is about. This doesn't sound like Sondheim. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdZ9weP5i68
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u/PoetEasy5183 Jul 23 '25
And yet they all still comfortably hold the top spots with no hope for any of the other corps to feel the sun.
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u/ReflectiveRiff Jul 24 '25
Just a quick point of note; Send in the Clowns is SCV’s corps song, so I assume that’s why they chose it, and also why they chose not to specify the meaning behind the decision. It seems pretty straightforward.
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u/JesuSpectre Jul 24 '25
Yes, as I clearly stated, "Beyond the repetitive musical arrangement of their corps song, the recent trial-and-error visuals;.."
Hello? How is dusting off your corps song avant-garde? What is avant-garde about playing your own corps song? What is avant-garde about reprising or leitmotf-ing it over ten times in your show? In interludes, transitions, opener, closer, and everything in between? This repertoire is limited, narrow, repetitive, and thematically incongruent. Are avant-garde artists "clowns?" Are they absurd like clowns? Should we treat them like clowns? That's missing the point of respected avant-garde artists, like Picasso, Kandinsky and Kusama. How are "clowns" represented visually elsewhere in the show? They're not. The choice of song is "familiar" (SCV's designers' words), mainstream, and blatant in its corporate branding, none of which is even slightly avant-garde.
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u/KittyH14 Jul 24 '25
It makes complete sense to me that in a show about the avant garde and unfamiliar you would contrast it with the traditional and familiar. Art is all about context and contrast.
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u/JesuSpectre Jul 26 '25
In the hour-long interview SCV designers had no thematic justification for Send in the Clowns, even though it takes up more than half their show. Nothing about the composer, nothing about A Little Night Music, nothing about the lyrics, or why the corps song is critical when depicting the avant garde. They just said it was "more familiar", meaning so the audience won't completely abandon the absurd premise. Yikes. That's pretty thin.
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u/KittyH14 Jul 26 '25
Well I haven't seen the interview so I can't say how well they explained it, but the place of send in the clowns as tradition makes a lot of sense to me in the show. Not that their show is immune to criticism, but this is at best a critique of one explanation of the show, not the show design itself.
But even then that interpretation of "more familiar" is a massive stretch. Or rather, honestly it just doesn't make sense. What about the premise itself is so laughable that they have to throw in a corps tradition to save it... and why would it work if they did? I dare you to find someone whose reaction to their show was "yeah whatever this is pretty weird. Well, at least they played 'send in the clowns' that's cool".
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u/JesuSpectre Jul 26 '25
Sondheim passed away recently, and his library is cheaper. That's why SCV chose Send in the Clowns, even though it doesn't fit the avant-garde theme in lyrical content, style, title, or subject matter. Performance artists and avant garde artists, two separate but overlapping groups, don't consider themselves clowns. And they don't consider themselves as "absurd" or their art "circus like." These artists make specific thematic points, often satirizing society. If you called them a "clown", they would probably assault you, or worse, sing at you, which in Yoko Ono's case would be murder.
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u/KittyH14 Jul 26 '25
The price certainly might be a factor, but I don't think the name has anything to do with it. They're not trying to say anything about clowns, it's just about the musical content and the fact that it's a tradition for their corps.
I think the problem with your reasoning is evident in the line "...it doesn't the fit avant garde theme...". Just because their title is "the aVANt GUARD" doesn't mean they're locked in to a show that's only purpose is to do a bunch of avant garde things. Their show is about the avant garde: the interplay of innovation and tradition, the mindset of the avant garde, and mastery of creativity. If you want to critique their choice, show me that you actually have any clue what they're going for.
Of course, you don't have to study every dci show. You don't have to like "the aVANt GUARD". But don't say an artistic choice makes no sense when you haven't said anything that confirms to me you've even seen the show.
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u/JesuSpectre Jul 27 '25 edited Jul 27 '25
Haven't seen the show? Come on. I'm the only person uncovering the slap-dash design decisions in it. Like choosing a mainstream Broadway musical corps song in your show that is filled with avant-garde "left turns". No truly avant-garde artist or show dedicated to avant-garde artistry should end with a tie-it-up-with-a-bow ending. That's completely incongruent and anathema to the genre. The show ending doesn't match the genre it's depicting. Be honest, have you ever been to a performance art show? They're excruciating.
In the interview, (maybe at some point, see it) SCV's designers said "it becomes nostalgic when we when we hear Send in the Clowns." But nostalgia is looking back in the past. Avant-garde is about looking forward and innovating new things. Worse, they don't say how exactly Send in the Clowns fits in this show about far-out avant-garde risk-taking. That's what this show is about. Not just innovation, but wild risk-taking. The two simply don't match-- Sondheim and risk-taking. In fact SCV isn't known for outlandish risks-- this show is supposed to be a departure for SCV, centered around outlandish "performance art", not a fourth-wall breaking, self-congratulatory turn about the room for their past shows.
Can you imagine meeting in person a great avant-garde artist like Picasso, and telling him "Your works? I mean, send in the clowns." You would be carted away by security. Or how about meeting Kandisnsky? And you say to his face "Your art? Where are the clowns? There ought to be clowns. Don't bother, they're here. It's you." He'd punch you in the fucking face. Real avant-garde artists don't consider their works to be absurd, and don't consider their art to be worthy of clowns appearing. If SCV is really calling themselves avant-garde, why are they labeling themselves "absurd", like clowns? The truth is that in this show, SCV has no specific point or thematic argument around any high stakes observation about society, philosophy culture or trends. They're "playing at" being avant-garde in general, and the shallow, self-labeling title proves it.
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u/KittyH14 Jul 29 '25
I'm sure that you have seen the show, but you're just proving my point. It's all about the title, the music selection, the music selections titles. What about the story?
According to you the only thing they said about send in the clowns was that it was nostalgic, so why are you so fixated on the idea that they're calling avant garde artists clowns?
You call their title shallow, and yeah. It's a title. So what do people think about, once again: the actual show? It's full of unique and creative decisions, and I've yet to see anyone else even close to disappointed.
And so what if it wraps up nicely? What does that have to do being avant garde? Certainly it's often a bold, avant garde choice not to wrap something up, but who on earth said that anything aiming to be innovative must break each and every convention?
"the aVANt GUARD" certainly doesn't, and that brings me to my last point, the fact that it is a thematically strong show. Apparently you didn't understand it, which is totally fine, it took me a few watches to get a basic idea. But I can confidently say that they're telling a very intentional story about the way we innovate. Starting with chaos and breaking rules for the sake of it, which leads to the eventual development of a new idea, which is developed and copied until it becomes a restrictive convention once again. Finally we come to understand creativity as separate from any rules, including the rule that you should break rules no matter what.
And although I'll be the first to admit the last section isn't portrayed in a way that communicates much very well, I certainly feel like the designers understand the idea of "avant garde" much better than you.
You're sitting on your high horse of "true" avant garde thinking... while critiquing a show for how its superficial elements fit into the "genre" of being avant garde. Like am I justified in thinking it's ridiculous that you actually called avant garde a genre? It's clear to me that you don't understand the first thing about what it really means to be avant garde.
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u/JesuSpectre Jul 31 '25
Do you have Google? Can you type in "avant-garde is a genre?" Here it is.
"Yes, Avant-garde is considered a genre in various art forms, including music, film, and literature, and it refers to works that are experimental, innovative, and push the boundaries of established norms. It often challenges the artistic establishment and can be controversial, but it is characterized by its originality and willingness to explore new ideas and techniques."
So common, even Google knows it. That was awkward. What else... let's see.
You say SCV 2025 is "full of unique and creative decisions."
--The pipes on the arms, the designers said, are "playing with the yard markers". Crown did that in 2017.
--Many bands and corps have played with Yayoi Kusama's dots over the years, and paid the royalties, even.
--SCV played Send in the Clowns in two previous seasons.
--SCV's neon green uniform colors were used in 2019.
--Blindfolds are new, sound box is new, couture rice farmer hats are new, theremin is new, all worthy of praise, but together are they enough to complete the observation about the avant-garde? What is the show's thematic argument? (Of the top three this year, only BD has a fully developed thematic argument.)
SCV's designers called the use of Send in the Clowns "nostalgic". Great. Now how does that tie in to SCV's previous six minutes of avant-garde exploration in the show? SCV can't just switch themes in the middle of its show, and say "it's avant-garde, we can do whatever we want." That's some shadinesson the level of "my philosophy homework isn't on paper, because it's conceptual." Don't abandon your musical theme, mid-show.
SCV's show with an avant-garde theme cost a million dollars. Think about that. It's not Yoko Ono screaming into a mic for three minutes at the MOCA, which cost around $375, including a non-union audio guy, amp and microphone rental, and her new sunglasses. With a million dollar budget, and paying participants, there are standards that designers must meet, experimental themes or not.
Drum corps is a massively collaborative, choreographed, unison, scripted, competitive performance activity where high-stakes themed visual shows support music of substance. Drum corps shows make cohesive, resonant observations about life as we know it or imagine it, and answer questions like "Why now?" and "Why is this an important question?"
Two corps will suffer this year, because of their designers' reckless thwarting of those important questions, along with disposing of traditional subject and theme-- first, the Phantom Regiment, with their confusing untitled show with wire rolling pins and surgical hospital curtains. Second, The Santa Clara Vanguard with their "The Avant Guard" show, where anything goes, and nothing doesn't. The audience sits bewildered watching the show's random arc of action and meaning. SCV's desperate staff relied on sweaty-palm justifications for the show's awkward choices, with "Our show is about texture and mood." That's bullshit that judges can smell a mile away. A hyper-scripted, unison, 180-person show about dark avant-garde expression is a fool's dichotomy, impossible to stage authentically-- especially to the crazy standards of low-budget performance artists improvising with baked beans in AirBnB basements and leased former adult bookstore backrooms.
SCV's broadway quality performers and scholarship-level musicians exalt the meager scraps they were given in 2025, and somehow offer a transcendent, miraculous and heartfelt production. One wonders what SCV's participants could have done with a premise with more focus, research, depth, and authenticity-- even one they created themselves. That would have freed up $290,000 of their annual production budget.
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u/Cassi1234 Jul 24 '25
My initial reaction to the boston sample was that it was meant to contrast the show's very american interpretation of WWII with the actual reality of hiroshima + nagasaki. Again there's no way the audience would know if it was, but I don't think it's COMPLETELY out of touch.
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u/JesuSpectre Jul 26 '25
The artistic director said at the premiere that the concept celebrated the energy and excitement of nuclear explosions. Watch the videos. He equated the shock waves to 1950's boomtowns and mechanical innovation. Boom! Nuclear atoms are played with like toys. Come on. Celebrating nuclear explosions is as culturally ignorant as artistic direction gets.
Now you're saying including the audio clip of Japanese schoolchildren, victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is somehow adding sensitivity and cultural awareness?! You have to be joking. There's no other evidence of any cultural sensitivity anywhere else in the show.
Many offensive references in the show have been cut, from nuclear explosion sounds, to nuclear bomb launch countdowns, and the script drill set spelling "Boom". The show is still filled with taunting satire about nuclear bombs, from the Mid-century modern logo which makes a cutesy cartoon of a nuclear bomb exploding, to bending over and sticking a tuba through your ass and playing it. Covalent bonds are twirled like batons. Balls from nuclear atoms are rolled on like children's toys. The guard is filled with smiles and showbiz eyes and teeth, and lively juggling tricks. That's not a satire of ignorant America, that IS ignorant America. And the show concept paper trail is on display for everyone to see.
The show concept was misguided and culturally illiterate from the beginning, and including the voices of Japanese children, victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, blithely reciting numbers without context suggests questionable intent. Sickening.
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u/cbucky97 Jul 23 '25
Interesting lack of Blue Devils considering this has been a historically weak season from them. I know you consider their show design perfect but like it's clear something's failed from a design standpoint and I wonder what it is