Dutch Boy - 1986
The Developing Machine - July 23rd, 1986. Ogdensburg, NY.
Ogdensburg of all places! This was our last contest before heading back to home turf for DCI Canada. Tense! It was an all-Canadian match up tonight with the exception of the New York Lancers (who actually beat out DB for the last spot in DCI Canada Finals in 1985): Ventures, Connexion, the Knights and our new rivals, Les Eclipses. Canadian drum corps competition had not seen this level of competition, intensity, electricity and depth since the days of the Oakland Crusaders and Seneca Optimists.
At that point in the season we were still by far the new leaders in Open Class drum corps in Canada to just about everyone elses surprise, us included. It started in Kitchener about 10 days earlier when we first met Les Eclipses. The theme leading up to that contest: IT HAS TO BE OBVIOUS. Judges would not put a 32nd place unit ahead of a 14th place one unless it was blatantly obvious that we performed better. To place 3 points ahead, we had to be 10 points better.
Drum corps' newest rivalry had begun as we were announced tops in Canada. As cool as it was placing ahead of Les Eclipses and Connexion Quebec, there were some doubters. From my point of view, it was blatantly obvious that we topped the Canadian field. For the next leg of the tour, I remember the staff really turning up the heat, for good reason. We had to make it obvious for the rest of the season that Dutch Boy had arrived.
The Arc
I don't know why I noticed this in the warm up arc in Ogdensburg sooner- even with our great showing at the DCE Championships, being placed ahead of the Boston Crusaders for the first time that season. I guess all of a sudden, we became the corps that everyone was gunning for. A few shows later, when Ogdensburg rolled around, we started carrying ourselves like a dark horse for the top 12, (as described by Drum Corps World). As we completed our warm-up and we put those red tunics on, something was different.
Our Aussie Hats weren't moving as much and they were also more level. Our faces had an icy stare. Mainly, the staff was no longer telling us to do any of it. A machine was developing and we were creating it on our own. We knew what was at stake.
Though I had never seen SCV in person yet, the look and presence reminded me of what I saw of them when watching the DCI World Championships. It gave me goose bumps like you wouldn't believe but (I hope) it didn't show in my face.
Though competition was getting fierce by the time Ogdensburg rolled around, we definitely met the challenge here. I recall the staff saying to us that Les Eclipses planned to make their move this show or DCI Canada. I don't know about everyone else but DB was becoming a machine, certainly not a pretender corps from Canada. We won the show by 3 points. |