Alliance Drum and Bugle Corps
| File:Alliance-T-Shirt-Logo.jpg | |
| Location | Atlanta, Georgia |
|---|---|
| Division | Class A |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Director | Jeff Pastor |
| Founders | Terry Reilley, Shirley Smith, and Andy Ritchie |
| Championship titles | 2008 (Class A) |
| Uniform | Cream jackets with a mulberry sash, black pants, black shakos with cream/silver mylar plumes |
The Alliance Drum and Bugle Corps is an Open Class (formerly Class A) all-age drum and bugle corps based in Atlanta, Georgia.
It was founded in 2004 as a Drum and Bugle corps and is a member corps of Drum Corps Associates.
Alliance was incorporated in the State of Georgia in August 2004 and was granted non-profit, 501 (c) (3) status in September. A board of directors was formed and incorporation articles/by-laws created and approved within a month. The founders of this organization are Terry Reilley, Shirley Smith, and Andy Ritchie.
The Corps was organized with the intent to further music education while providing performers of all ages with an affordable drum corps experience.
Non community-funded, the direction of The Alliance Drum and Bugle Corps is guided by volunteer parents and a professional teaching staff, who work closely with the young members. All instruments, instruction, and uniforms are provided to participants who pay an annual participation fee.
History[edit]
The early days[edit]
ALLIANCE held its first full rehearsal in January 2005, with an attendance of nearly 75 people. Just seven months later, with a show and drill designed by Program Coordinator Duane Dewire, the corps performed in their first competitive field show and place first in Class A. Only one month later, the corps was crowned the 2005 DCA South Class A champion, staying undefeated in the South region until 2014. The corps traveled to the 2005 DCA World Championships in Scranton, PA to compete in the largest and most fierce Class A competition in DCA history up to that point. ALLIANCE made Class A Finals, placed 3rd with a score of 77.450, and won high caption awards for Visual and General Effect. The corps finished within a point of the 1st place winner in their inaugural season.
After a banner first year, 2006 proved to be tough season for the young organization. Though the color guard was still a strong point for the group, the rest of the corps struggled for members to fill their ranks. ALLIANCE finished in 6th place in the 2006 DCA Class A Prelims. During the 2006 season, Executive Director Terry Reilley met with ALLIANCE member and Executive Director of Atlanta Quest, Ben Smart, as well as AQ Program Director, Alan Sears, to discuss a possible partnership. While no formal partnership was immediately agreed upon, this meeting proved to be a catalyst for the corps’ future successes.
In 2007, an influx of experienced marching members and percussion staff, including many alumni from Sprayberry High School and Georgia Southern University, brought new life to ALLIANCE. The corps also formally partnered with Atlanta Quest of WGI, sharing resources such as instructional personnel, physical assets, and performers. This partnership dramatically improved the corps’ percussion section, with the Alan Sears becoming the new ALLIANCE Percussion Caption Head and Larry Summerlin coming onboard to assist with percussion instruction and arrangement. Once the 2007 corps got their hands around their extremely demanding show, they appeared poised to make another DCA Class A Finals appearance. Unfortunately, the corps incurred a penalty during their Prelims performance, which dropped their placement from 3rd to 5th, and ended their dreams of the corps’ second Finals appearance.
Leap to the top[edit]
After two consecutive disappointing competitive finishes, Executive Director Terry Reilley decided to move ALLIANCE in an entirely new direction for 2008. His vision included a more modern show design and an instructional staff whose finger was on the pulse of the modern drum corps activity. The corps parted ways with Program Coordinator/Drill Writer Duane Dewire and nearly all of the existing instructional staff were replaced. While the personnel changes he implemented would cause some temporary turmoil within the ranks, they led to ALLIANCE’s greatest years for both membership and competitiveness.
With the retention of Alan Sears as Percussion Caption Head, and the hiring of Program Director/Drill Designer Josh Matthews, Brass Caption Head Daniel Gray, and Guard Caption Heads Billy and Katie Pacifico, the youthful ALLIANCE staff was full of talent and energy that carried over to the membership. The 2008 production, “The Hand of Fate” (featuring music from the M. Night Shayamalan film, Signs), was designed by Alan Sears, Ryan George and Josh Matthews, and was intended to be a more contemporary program that would be competitive, demanding, and draw a younger membership to the corps. The corps exploded into its competitive season, scoring a 79.175 in its first DCA South contest of 2008 and never looked back. ALLIANCE went on to defeat Fusion Core and 10 other corps to win the 2008 DCA Class A World Championship. ALLIANCE won the percussion, brass, visual effect, and music effect captions and Ross Wetherald won the “Best Drum Major” award for DCA Class A.
Venture into Open Class[edit]
Building on the massive success of the 2008 season, ALLIANCE increased in size and talent and made the leap into Open Class competition. The 2009 production, “DYNAMO”, featured a mostly-original musical composition by Ryan George and a high-energy visual program. The corps placed 3rd in its first DCA Open Class competition, on August 1st in Tennessee, behind CorpsVets and Music City Legend. By August 22nd in Rockmart, GA, ALLIANCE had closed the gap to within half-a-point of the CorpsVets, finishing in 2nd place. On September 5th, 2009 at the DCA World Championships in Rochester NY, the corps made a big move, placing 9th in Open Class Prelims with a score of 85.113. This marked the first time that ALLIANCE had bested its cross-town rival, the CorpsVets. The very next night, at Open Class Finals, the corps surged again, scoring an 89.138 and jumping ahead of the Bushwackers, into 8th place. This was the highest placement for a corps, in its first year of Open Class competition at DCA World Championships, in over 25 years. Though the corps impressively placed 8th overall, the percussion section posted an amazing 4th place finish in their caption. ALLIANCE earned its first DCA South Open Class Championship by being the highest placing DCA South corps at the 2009 World Championships.
The 2010 season brought in a large contingent of DCI and WGI veterans to ALLIANCE, greatly increasing the corps’ size and talent for a 3rd season in a row. These increases, combined with the stability and consistency of the instructional and management teams, helped the corps get off to a hot start. ALLIANCE went undefeated in DCA South competition, defending their DCA South Open Class trophy. The corps performed “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, featuring music from the acapella group Glad and the motion picture Dante’s Peak, as well as original music by Ryan George. The program also featured a prominent bell tower containing a real church bell, played by the Grim Reaper (former marching member, Jacob Matthews). ALLIANCE picked up from where they had left off in Rochester a year earlier, and placed 7th (89.763) in Open Class at the 2010 DCA World Championships. At the time, this was the highest-ever placement of a DCA South corps at DCA World Championships.
Between the 2010 and 2011 season, Josh Matthews stepped down as Program Director, and Daniel Gray became the new instructional leader of ALLIANCE going into 2011. The corps updated their look, and debuted a cream-colored jacket with a sash in the corps’ signature mulberry purple. ALLIANCE performed the hard-hitting “Inferno” and kept pace with the previous year’s output, again going undefeated in DCA South Open Class competition and placing 7th (89.000) at the 2011 DCA World Championships.
The corps declared themselves inactive for the 2012 and 2013 seasons to re-focus their efforts on building a stronger program.
Return to competition[edit]
In 2014, after a two-year hiatus, the corps was reactivated with a new energy, and brought back some familiar faces. Josh Matthews was re-hired as the Program Director and Billy and Katie Pacifico were brought back to lead the color guard. It was unclear until late in the spring whether the corps would return to Class A to test the waters with the reborn group, or if the corps would still be strong enough to compete in Open Class. The ALLIANCE staff and veterans worked tirelessly, and successfully, to recruit new members and the corps declared Open Class status once again. “Doomsday” featured a massive clock (stage right) which ticked down towards midnight as the show progressed; this was intended to mimic the Doomsday Clock maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Science and Security Board. The Doomsday date was also featured underneath the clock in the style of a vintage clock-radio and at the end of each show, the date was reset to the date of the following show. At DCA World Championship finals in Rochester, NY, the date displayed a skull and crossbones. ALLIANCE beat 4 other corps to earn the last spot in DCA Open Class finals and finished in 10th place (84.450).
Back to Class A[edit]
The 2015 season brought a lot of turnover in the instructional and management staff. Jeffrey Peterson took the helm as Executive Director and Daniel Gray was reinstated as Program Director. The corps membership numbers had dipped and the decision was made to compete in Class A for 2015. “Sub-Zero” featured music invoking the cold of winter, and the sash on the uniform jacket was changed to an ice-blue color. The corps fared well in their first year back in Class A, regaining their Class A DCA South title, and finishing 2nd (80.380) at the 2015 DCA Class A Championships in Rochester, NY. Return to Open Class
ALLIANCE returned to Open Class competition in 2016 with their show entitled "Spirit Animals", and finished 12th out of the 14 corps in DCA Open Class Prelims. This marked the first time since the 2007 season that the corps did not make an appearance in Finals at the DCA World Championships.
The corps declared themselves inactive for the 2017 season to re-focus their efforts on building a stronger program.
Looking to the future[edit]
In September 2017, the ALLIANCE Facebook Page announced that “Jeff Pastor will assume the position of Corps Director” and that “Duane Dewire will be the Drill Writer and Program Coordinator” for the 2018 season.[1]
Staff and Mission[edit]
- Program Director - Duane DeWire
- Percussion Caption Head - Calvin Ellis
- Brass Caption Head - Scott Jones
- Color Guard Caption Head -
- Visual Caption Head -
Corps Management Team:
- Chairman of the Board of Director/CEO - Phillip Bentley
- Executive Director - Jeff Pastor
Show Summary (2005–2017)[edit]
Gold background denotes DCA Championship; pale blue denotes DCA Finalist
| Year | Theme | Repertoire | Score | Placement | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | La Musique du Cirque Par Alliance | Incantation (from Quidam) by Benoit Jutras / Journey of Man / Distorted | 77.450 | 3rd | A |
| 2006 | American Landscapes: The Music of Ron Nelson | Savannah River Holiday by Ron Nelson Aspen Jubilee by Ron Nelson |
72.463 | 6th | A |
| 2007 | American Overtures | Star Spangled Overture by Morton Gould American Overture for Band by Joseph Wilcox Jenkins Sonoran Desert Holiday by Ron Nelson American Faces by David Holsinger |
81.850 | 5th | A |
| 2008 | The Hand of Fate | Music from the motion picture Signs by James Newton Howard | 82.750 | 1st | A |
| 2009 | DYNAMO | Original music by Ryan George and Alan Sears | 89.138 | 8th | Open |
| 2010 | For Whom the Bell Tolls | Music from the a capella group Glad The Rescue (from Dante's Peak) by John Frizzell Original Music by Ryan George |
89.763 | 7th | Open |
| 2011 | INFERNO | Inferno (from The Divine Comedy) by Robert W. Smith Infernal Dance (from The Firebird Suite) by Igor Stravinsky The Fire of Eternal Glory (from Novorossiysk Chimes) by Dmitri Shostakovich Finale (from The Firebird Suite) by Igor Stravinsky |
89.000 | 7th | Open |
| 2012 | - | Corps inactive | - | - | - |
| 2013 | - | Corps inactive | - | - | - |
| 2014 | Doomsday | Original Music by Shane Kelbley Goodbye My Son (from Man of Steel) by Hans Zimmer |
84.050 | 10th | Open |
| 2015 | Sub-Zero: Overcome The Elements | Ice Dance (from Edward Scissorhands) by Danny Elfman Avalanche (from Vertical Limit) by James Newton Howard Coronation of Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky Music For Prague 1968 by Karel Husa The Frozen Cathedral by John Mackey |
80.380 | 2nd | A |
| 2016 | Spirit Animals | Original Compositions by James Pluth, Alan Sears, and Larry Summerlin Animals by Maroon 5 Animal by Ke$ha |
82.900 | 12th | Open |
| 2017 | - | Corps inactive | - | - | - |
References[edit]
http://www.dcxmuseum.org/index.cfm?view=corpslist&CorpsID=2510
External links[edit]
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| Active Corps not competing in DCA |
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| Corps active as alumni or mini-corps‡ |
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