INDIANAPOLIS — As the newest competitive division on the Drum Corps International Summer Tour, 2024 will be — and already is — a year of firsts for the corps of DCI’s All-Age class.
Just days into the new year, DCI All-Age corps directors got an exciting first taste of what they’ll experience as part of the Drum Corps International family, participating in several days of productive conversation at the DCI Annual Meeting in Indianapolis.
“I think the corps are excited,” said DCI All-Age Class coordinator John Carr. “For a lot of the corps, this was the very first time experiencing the ‘back office’ of DCI, and realizing the amount of resources and opportunities that DCI will now give to these All-Age drum corps, which they've never had before.”
In May of 2023, Drum Corps International and the all-age drum and bugle corps organizing body Drum Corps Associates (DCA) announced a partnership that reorganizes DCA into the DCI All-Age Class.
According to both Carr and Fusion Core director Holly Marino, the early-January meeting was an eye-opening experience as All-Age corps continue to be onboarded into DCI and realize the benefits of their involvement and the organizational resources available to them.
“I will admit that when we talked about moving into the DCI arena, I was a little hesitant,” she said. But then after (attending the DCI World Championships) last summer, and then the meetings today, and just the excitement, the energy that comes out of this; I'm excited for us as directors, I'm excited for our drum corps. I'm most excited for the kids.”
According to Marino, among many upsides of the formation of the new DCI division, All-Age corps have experienced a noticeable uptick in interest from fans and prospective performers.
“It's created a buzz,” she said. “I think it's exciting for the people who didn't have the opportunity to march in DCI. So for those people who want to have had that opportunity to go to the big arena and the big weekend and all that fun and excitement, they now have an opportunity to do that with us.”
As part of blending the Drum Corps Associates style of drum corps with the DCI competitive experience, All-Age corps directors had a number of wide-ranging discussions as part of the 2024 DCI Annual Meeting in Indy.
One in particular was in regards to judging as All-Age representatives voted to adopt DCI’s adjudication system for 2024 in an effort to keep things consistent across all of DCI’s competitive classes. Another change All-Age corps adopted is the use of DCI field markings, which utilizes collegiate hash marks. All-Age corps previously relied on high school field markings for DCA competitions.
“We're going to continue this transition so that it results in a successful and positive experience for the members,” Carr said.
As part of All-Age Class corps’ first summer on the DCI Tour, corps from the newest classification will host several events in locations familiar to their past performance schedules — including, but not limited to Bridgeport, Connecticut (July 2); Clifton, New Jersey (July 13); and Reading, Pennsylvania (July 28).
Arguably no city, though, carries more history for the corps of DCI All-Age than Rochester, New York. The “Flower City” served as the longtime home of the annual Drum Corps Associates World Championships, often hosted during Labor Day weekend.
Rochester will play host to a unique August 3 event on the 2024 DCI Tour, which highlights one of the main tenets of the partnership between DCI and DCA, which ultimately formed the DCI All-Age division — collaboration.
DCI Rochester, hosted August 3 at Eunice Kennedy Shriver Stadium just west of Rochester, will feature a number of performing corps across multiple classifications, with six World Class corps — including three of 2023’s World Championship finalists — five All-Age Class corps, and an alumni corps. The day prior will also feature a “mini-corps” competition, which was a longtime beloved fixture of DCA’s championship weekend events.
“Rochester is like our sacred cow, with DCA,” Carr said. “We wanted to stay there, and at least provide some entertainment. It's going to be a fun two days of drum corps up there in Rochester again.”
Drum corps fans can look forward to several similar “blended” events across the 2024 DCI Tour, as organizations across all divisions continue to innovate and find new ways to unify the drum corps activity.
“We just have to get creative,” Marino said. “We adapt. And now, for us All-Age corps, we're having the opportunity to do something exciting.”
March Drum Corps in 2024
