Trix on Tour (3): The kick of the DCI competition

Beatrix Drum & Bugle Corps is on tour in the United States to take part in the DCI competition. Episode 3: The kick of performing in the DCI competition.

Wednesday, July 21
This day was the first contest in the USA. Everybody woke up at seven and had a good breakfast. Than rehearsal from 08.30 untill 12.45 where they worked very hard. It was very hot and demanding but the fun was there. We cleaned a lot. After a short lunch, the location was cleaned after which we left for a veteran association. A dinner was presented to us, spaghetti with meatballs.

And then to Utica for the first contest. Still very warm, but the members were looking forward to it. Beatrix was the first participant and was welcomed with a big applause, it was clearly that the members were very nervous. The show went not as smoothly, but the audience apreciated it with a big hand nevertheless. The product and performance was judged in Division II and with 68.4 Beatrix became first in this class. After the Olympic we were able to look and listen to the encore performance from Cavaliers. On the parking lot we met the corps director of Boston, Crossmen and Caveliers. They invited us for a snack, with Boston in Lynn and Cavaliers in Allentown. It was a very successful day on the road to Denver.

Thursday, July 22
Thursday, the day of the second contest. This was held in Boston, in a beautiful stadium. During the morning there was a rehearsal in the smothering heat. A beautiful location with many fields around us. Again everybody worked very hard. But that is actually quite standard this tour. The moral is very high. After a fantastic nasi-meal we packed, cleaned and loaded the buses. Luckily for us the Boston Crusaders stayed in this building, so we didn't have to clean the showers.

Upon arrival, we found that the stadium was in the middle of the city. There was almost no room for a warm-up. But as we are Dutch, we just asked a company if we could warm-up on their turf. And to the amazement of the organisation and the other corps, we could. The show went very well. Much better than the first time, but on other captions a bit less. Musically we made a big step forward, but visually it was less than last night. Add to that two tenths penalty because of exceeding the time limits and that's why we scored 68.9. After the contest we left for Phoenixville, close to Allentown.



Friday, July 23
Friday, the day of Allentown. The day started with a short morning rehearsal of two hours. Everybody worked their very best again to improve everything musically. After a wonderful meal from our chef, the whole coprs was ready to leave for Allentown. A light tension was felt among the members, as this is one of the biggest, most well-known and oldest contest of DCI.

Unfortunately we could not perform tonight. Because of the persisting rain and thunder, the contest was delayed for some time. Because the organisation found it very unfortunate for us that we could not perform this night, they offered us the possibility to come back the next night and perform in competition then. Although feeling a bit desillusioned, the corps went back to the housing in Phoenixville in good spirit.

Saturday, July 24
Back to Allentown! It remains unique for a corps from The Netherlands to be allowed to perform at one of the biggest events of DCI. The whole corps was ready for it. But first something had to be done that is also very important for certain moods: the laundry.

Luckily there are two laundry services in Phoenixville, because also this remains a very special happening: 140 people who want to wash as many laundry as possible in as little time as possible and all together at once. By utilizing the motorhome, the van and even the truck, this became a very nice event. And in the end the gym smelled nice and fresh again. Before we would leave for Allentown again, we had spaghetti. Let it be said again that the meals are always fantastic. The drive to Allentown went very well and preparations could start in the park next to the stadium. Within all groups the drive to do well was very big. The audiences here are very enthousiatic, but also critical. To entertain them was our mission.

The show really went very well. The energy the mebers put into it, directly affected the crowd. The audience was very impressed with the performance put on the field. During the show there were many moments the crowd reacted enthusiastically and after the last note was played, they gave the corps a standing ovation. This is what we do all this for: to give the best you have and make the crowd go wild. This was an amazing moment for the corps members.

As cream on top of the pie, the drumline was asked to play all corps onto the field for the Olympic Retreat. You can guess the answer for yourself. The drumline played (on the 50 yardline) the top of DCI onto the field. And as if things couldn't get any crazier today, we scored 72.80 today. First, this is a great score to continue our tour and competition with, and second it is a Beatrix record. (Text: beatrix.org)