The Vanguard Cadets successfully kicked off another season this past weekend with almost 200 attendees treated to a full Santa Clara family experience. 'Inspiring,' 'Educational,' and 'Family' were three words used to describe the experience by clinic attendees, all new to the Santa Clara organization. Friday night, prospective and veteran members arrived from all over the United States and Canada, primarily from western states and provinces and overwhelmingly from California Bay Area. There were also several prospective members that journeyed all the way from Japan.
As is always the case, the first hour was filled with nervous anticipation while prospective members lined up for check-in, pictures, name tags and wrist bands. Returning volunteers were excited to lend a hand and help with the check-in, greeting everyone and answering lots of questions and were excited to meet Shavon Garcia, our new color guard caption manager and welcome back returning caption managers Steve Barnhill (brass), Mike Zerbini (visual), Kohei Mizushima (percussion) and their respective staffs.
Throughout the weekend, all sections spent time focused on the fundamentals of music, movement and performance while being introduced to and learning more about how Santa Clara approaches all three of those elements. In between rehearsal blocks, the sparkling, newly refurbished Ms. Amana and her fearless crew were on hand whipping up their usual first class fare, keeping everyone well fed. One prospective member, smiling while waiting in line for a second helping proudly exclaimed, "This food? Every meal? It's amazing." Now that's always music to Ms. Amana's ears.
Saturday night, attendees learned a little more detail about "Love", the Vanguard Cadets 2009 production which begins with a beautiful brass introduction which uses the classic standard song, "When I Fall in Love" combined with "Seasons of Love' from the smash, Broadway hit Rent. The middle section of the show is made up music from the groundbreaking film Moulin Rouge including the powerful "Tango de Roxanne" which will feature the percussion section. The show concludes with "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's Turandot, one of the most recognizable melodies in all of opera. When asked what the design staff had in store, corps director Rob Ripley suggested that perhaps members might want to get acquainted with the concept of tango. He also hinted that SCV fans just might see a return of red and white to the Cadets color palette this year.
The 50-degree weather on Friday and Saturday in San Jose at Evergreen Valley High School, perhaps a "little chilly" by our standards, was welcoming to all the non-California prospectives. Sections took advantage of the mild December temperatures, rehearsing outside for much of the weekend, while winter snow and temperatures fell throughout the rest of the country. Even with a little rain on Sunday, the weekend was a true, West Coast drum corps experience.
Ripley was pleased with progress made throughout the weekend, "The Vanguard Cadets staff had the opportunity to meet a lot of terrific, talented performers from California, around the U.S. and even internationally. We were thrilled at the enthusiasm and excitement everyone brought to the clinic and hope their time together provided them with new musical, movement and performance opportunities, concepts and ideas."
On Sunday afternoon after the brass line's performance of some festive holiday carols and the opening minute of the lush, emotional introduction of "Love," everyone received the results of their audition and understood their current status with the 2009 Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets.
The corps' call-back camp will be on January 10 – 11 at King's Academy in the San Jose area. Start checking the website for details after the New Year!
