Director’s Note:
Greetings!
It has been a long 16 months since the last note rang out at the 2019 DCA World Championships in Williamsport Area High School Football Stadium in Williamsport, Pennsylvania! In those long months we have gone under significant change as a society. We have grown to rely heavily on the challenges of communicating only through electronic means to stay close to the ones we love as well as our extended friends and family. I know for many, our drum corps families are important to us. Almost as important to us as our own flesh and blood relatives. We have been starved of the very real connection that brings us together… the passion that the performing arts provides ALL of us, young and old.
It’s no surprise that when we are deprived of the arts and humanities for extended periods of time we continue to devolve in what we saw over the last several months. However, in every case throughout history, division, aggression and hopelessness can only last so long. What drives us is togetherness and the need to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. With a combination of vision and a renewed strength; the DCA Board and the DCA Corps Directors have been unrelenting in their quest to bring the Marching Arts back to the field this summer. Together we are pushing boundaries and finding new ways to not just survive, but to grow. I am proud of our Administrative Team, Design Team and Staff for enduring many months of long conversations about what we can’t do, to finding the answers to what we can do. And what we can do, we will do extremely well!
I have personally been a part of several design teams over the last 23 years and I can say that even with so many great shows under our belt, this is the most important and rewarding of them all. I would also argue that this show is the most important show that we will be a part of designing. This show encapsulates everything we have been through and it also serves as a message… even through the darkest days we will endure. We will break our digital chains, reconnect and discover our Brave New World!
Sincerely,
Ben Chaffee
The 2021 White Sabers present…BRAVE NEW WORLD
Brave New World is a show that focuses on how technology and the current environment has changed how we interact with each other. Being forced to communicate with loved ones through phone and computer screens instead of in person physical contact has changed our psyche. It’s apparent more than ever humanity’s need to make deep connections with one another through physical and meaningful interactions.
Utilizing visual imagery associated with social media and communication platforms, the opener deals with the concept of isolation in a digital world. Props in the shape of boxes contain soloists who perform portions of Canon in D Major by Pachelbel. Musically, the show continues in a segmented fashion with small brass groups, percussion moments, as well as guard moments. Any full ensemble moment contains visual separation via the props to continue to drive home the idea of isolation. The ballad is an expressive, heart wrenching exposé demonstrating our longing to be together. During moments in this segment, members will physically reach out to each other longing for physical contact but are not able to. The final segment we finally break free of our digital chains and we are now free to interact in person! It’s a time of healing for society and will contain impassioned, emotional, yet energetic performances from all sections!
Musical selections:
Canon in D – Pachelbel
New World Symphony – Dvorak
Alone – Marshmello
Rise up – Andra Day
Ode to Joy – Beethoven
Ode to Joy – Beethoven
