Greetings all!
It is February, which means that our January camp is done, and we have the majority of our drum corps contracted! That's right, we have the full percussion section, 85 % of the brass section, and 75 % of the color guard section contracted as well as all of our drum majors. I'm feeling pretty darn good about where we stand.
Our talent pool is the best, and with a good number of veterans returning, the staff is excited! Our design team, under the leadership of Becca Anderson, is cranking out a pretty exciting show. The brass and percussion sections played through two parts of the music at the January camp and the brass will be playing through three parts at the February 28 - March 2 camp.
I have more exciting news! We have recently become fully partnered with Yamaha Corporation for our brass and percussion instruments for 2025 and the Vic Firth Company under the Zildjian corporate umbrella. We are looking forward to working with these top-notch equipment companies. We are also continuing our partnership with Forte Athletics, Inc. which manages our winter conditioning program, led by former Mandarins staff member, Daniel Recoder.
Tour plans continue to evolve as the summer tour event stadiums are finalized and housing sites are confirmed which is our single most challenging year-round task.
In case you haven't noticed, we will start our competitive season in the Great Northwest in the Seattle, WA area on July 2 and in the Portland, OR area on July 3. We haven't been to the Northwest in many years and are looking forward to bringing the corps back where it is green and cool.
During the DCI World Championships in Indianapolis this year, we are planning to move to a new housing site at the University of Indianapolis (UIndy). UIndy is where we held our 2024 year-end banquet and yes, we will hold the banquet in the same facility on the morning of Sunday, August 10. Information on how to purchase your banquet tickets will be released soon.
More exciting news will be announced shortly regarding our 2025 Dress the Dragon and Feed the Dragon sponsorship programs.
There are a lot of new things that are taking place with the Mandarins drum corps. I like where we are and where we are going in 2025!
Ciao,
JW
Corps Director
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