DCA preparing unique, exciting virtual offering for 2021 summer season

Picture this.

You’re wrapping up your weekend on a hazy Summer Sunday. The windows are open and a warm breeze is wafting in.

Everything in your living space is reflecting a golden glow, as the sun begins to slowly set outside, its rays peaking in at the end of a busy, sunny, beautiful weekend. You’ve taken a seat on your couch; feet are up, cares are cast aside.

For the first time since August 31, 2019 — more than 500 days ago — it’s time to watch some drum corps.

Can you envision it? This is your summer of 2021. This is DCA in 2021. It’s a beautiful picture, isn’t it? Drum corps is back.

It goes without saying, but the upcoming summer in Drum Corps Associates is going to be unlike any other; it has to be, as our nation continues to work its way out of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it’s going to be a season, it’s going to be performances, it’s going to be competition, and it’s all going to be available to take in every Sunday evening, from the comfort of your own home.

The top consideration in designing Drum Corps Associates’ plan for 2021 is safety, as it has been all along. As such, while you won’t have to leave your own home to experience the competitive season, neither will DCA’s member corps.

In short, participating ensembles will be outfitted with camera equipment, with which they’ll be able to record their field productions from the confines of their own respective rehearsal sites. Information on where to find said locations will come into focus as the season nears.

Through the work of Box5 Media, those performances will be strung together into a live online broadcast, which will feature panel discussion with individuals from across the activity, scores, and an interactive fan-favorite voting element. Virtual competitive event will be streamed weekly, on Sunday evenings.

If it sounds like fun, it’s because it will be; it’s a safe and convenient way to experience weekly, competitive drum corps, and it’s coming this summer.

But of course, right now, it’s only March. So what can you do in the mean time? You can stay tuned for more information. Follow along with Drum Corps Associates on its website, DCACorps.org, as well as its social media platforms as news continues to roll out about what 2021 will look like, both from the perspective of DCA and its participating
ensembles.

You can support your local drum corps organizations. Donation portals for DCA and its member corps — who are working administratively, day and night, to ensure the safe and effective return of the activity — can be found at drumcorpsassociates.org/donate.

You can also get involved with your local or favorite corps. Visit drumcorpsassociates.org/corps to learn more about DCA’s member corps and their preparations for the upcoming summer. If you’re involved with an alumni corps or mini corps that isn’t currently slated to take part of in the 2021 DCA season, you can contact DCA president John Carr (president@drumcorpsassociates.org) or vice president Dick Fischette (vp@drumcorpsassociates.org).

And finally, of course, you can get excited. It’s been far too long since we’ve been able to enjoy the inexplicable thrill of drum corps, and we’ll be able to do it in a brand-new way this summer.

Written by Jeff Griffith