In Division II & III competition (now Open Class) at the 2003 Drum Corps International World Championships in Orlando, California’s Esperanza won the Division II Championship and Blue Stars won the Division III title.
Division II caption awards were split between Esperanza, the second-place Patriots, and the third-place Spartans, while Blue Stars, Marion Glory Cadets, and Lehigh Valley Knights split the Division III caption awards.
Yamato placed ninth overall in the Division II & III Finals, finishing second overall in Division III.
The 1913 work is the third ballet famed impresario Sergei Diaghilev commissioned of the Russian modernist for his Ballet Russes dance company, following up on “The Firebird” and “Petroushka” in 1910 and 1911. While the work—based on rituals of ancient pagan Russia—received international praise at its first performance of the music alone in 1914, the 1913 ballet debut with the dancers of Ballet Russes spurred a near audience riot due to the unexpected primitive nature of the dancing. It was far from the prim and proper ballet steps that sophisticated audiences had come to expect.
Even before the first sound emanated from the field, Blue Devils’ production provided evidence it would be radically different from anything drum corps fans had witnessed prior to 2013. 100 tall vertical poles, representing the 100 years of “The Rite of Spring,” were spread across the field to suggest a dense forest. According to the staff, corps members manipulated the poles throughout the show as “living characters,” allowing many different interpretations of what the props really meant to each audience member.
The sizzling passion of Spanish music inspired the corps’ 2003 production, “Las Variaciones en Temas Espanoles: Variations on Spanish Themes.” Placing ninth in overall Division II & III competition and second place in Division III, the corps walked off the field in the Finals competition with the Spirit of Disney Award in its class.
Yamato’s show opened with the brass and percussion staged in the form of the letter “Y,” with an original fanfare based on themes from Georges Bizet’s “Carmen” leading into “Habanera” from the famed opera. Color guard performers wore red tops to convey the fiery nature of the Spanish music.
“March of the Toreadors” came next, with blazing red and orange flags capturing the dynamic nature of the music. Another fanfare based on the themes of the opera followed to finish off the opener.
Sting’s “They Dance Alone (Cueca Solo)” originated from the pop singer’s 1987 album, “Nothing Like the Sun.” He wrote it as a protest against the tryrannical regime of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who reportedly slaughtered thousands between 1973 and 1990.
The Cueca is the national dance of Chile, referred to in Sting’s song as being danced by Chilean women as they grieved the disappearance of family members kidnapped by Pinochet’s henchmen. This serendipitous work, accompanied on the field by feathered white fans rimmed with red borders, allowed Yamato to demonstate the quieter side of Spanish music.
“Viva la Percussion,” an orignal percussion feature written by staff members John Meehan, Scott Johnson, and Jeff Lee followed the Sting piece. The color guard performers accentuated the work visually by twirling long poles shaped like a flattened letter “S.”
The brass section entered toward the end of the work, leading into Manual de Falla’s “Ritual Fire Dance,” from the Spanish composer’s 1915 ballet, “El amor brujo.” The ballet told the story of a young gypsy girl from the southern Spanish province of Andalusia. Haunted by the ghost of her dead husband, she danced around a fire until the ghost joined it and was pulled into the fire, haunting her no more.
Bright yellow flags with arcs of red lit up the field at the end of the show as the brass section launched into a brief recap of “March of the Toreadors.”
The horns and drums ended in the form of a letter “Y” that served as a visual bookend to how the show began.
Michael Boo was a member of the Cavaliers from 1975-1977. He has written about the drum corps activity for more than 35 years and serves as a staff writer for various Drum Corps International projects. Boo has written for numerous other publications and has published an honors-winning book on the history of figure skating. As an accomplished composer, Boo holds a bachelor's degree in music education and a master's degree in music theory and composition. He resides in Chesterton, Indiana.
