Are marching bands too provocative (article)


MACHIAVELLI

Chairman/C.E.O.
Parade officials want W. Charlotte, Harding to tone down technique
CELESTE SMITH
Staff Writer
The Charlotte Observer
11/24/2002



On Thanksgiving morning, a question that has sparked controversy around Charlotte the past two weeks will finally be answered.

What will the West Charlotte Marching Lions and Harding High School Band of Gold do?

The issue arose after Carolinas' Carrousel Parade officials asked that the two schools tone down their acts in the annual event, prompting everyone from parents to parade-goers to write letters to The Observer supporting or criticizing the bands' showy look.

It's a question of style -- the energetic high-stepping of Harding and West Charlotte or the military precision of many other bands.

No one else looked like West Charlotte in last year's parade.

With dancing girls in body-hugging gold lam? and tuba players drenched in sweat, the band cued up near Trade and Tryon for their moment to perform.

Showtime.

The dancers in front twisted and shook. The musicians in the back jumped and crouched. As the drums beat and the horns blared out "Can You Feel It" by the Jacksons, the squad resumed its exaggerated march down the street.

Their look and style -- long a trademark -- will be scrutinized even closer this Thanksgiving. So will Harding, which stopped in front of TV cameras for a hip-twisting cheerleader routine.

Citing complaints over the years from parade watchers, organizers of the parade have sent a letter asking that the two bands "perform in a dignified manner" -- an unusual move that renews a Charlotte debate about band styles.

Recent letters running in The Observer reflect the divide. Critics call West Charlotte's style, with its twisting dance moves and bare midriffs, "sexually vulgar movements" and "indecent"; supporters say it's "exhilarating" and defend the bands' "freedom of expression."

Others cite a culture clash -- and an unwillingness to appreciate the two schools' styles that are similar to those used by many black college marching bands.

It's a familiar argument, and not only in Charlotte: High school bands in Shreveport, La., and Mobile, Ala., for example, faced similar criticism in recent years for their showy movements.

"West Charlotte, Harding, a few other bands in this city and adjoining cities have chosen to march in the high-leg lift pageantry style," said Duncan Gray, band director at Johnson C. Smith University, where the "International Institute of Sound" marches the same way.

"I can go to a Providence High School or a Myers Park and appreciate ... what they do, and they are Corps style," Gray added.

"The thing I'm concerned about here is a neglect and a refusal to accept another style of marching."

Officials for Harding and West Charlotte, both predominantly black, aren't talking. School district spokeswoman Jerri Haigler said the two bands won't change their high-stepping style, but their performances will comply with the parade rules in response to the hullabaloo.

"I think they want it to go away."

High-stepping history

Gray said the high-stepping style has deep roots in African American culture, flourishing after the end of slavery. New Orleans jazz bands would follow funeral processions as a way of celebrating the departed."It was a small group of musicians that would lead the family back," Gray said. "They were quite animated, quite celebrated in their movements."

Grambling State University in Louisiana and Florida A&M University set the benchmark for the high-stepping, showband movements. More came to see it when Grambling performed in the first Super Bowl in Los Angeles in January 1967, and in commercials in the '80s and '90s.

The style has evolved to mix in movements that kids picked up from dance clubs and music videos.

This year marks more national milestones for the high-stepping style. Charlotte hosted the first National High School High Stepping Marching Band Championships earlier this month at Memorial Stadium. West Charlotte placed third among more than 40 bands from 10 states.

And a movie opening next month, called "Drumline," tells of a street drummer from Harlem who heads south to perform in a fictitious black college's marching band.

Not every band-watcher likes what they see. One letter writer to The Observer called West Charlotte and Harding "thorns in the sides of their competitors for many years with their `break dancing' style of marching."

In Shreveport, one school system tried to ban sexually suggestive movements during band competitions several years ago. Parents protested and had the ban revoked, said Barbara Norton, a citizen leader there who also organizes an annual African American parade.

"We know it's up to the band directors' discretion to say, `Well, Mary, maybe you're putting a little bit too much in it,' " she said.

Others say increased attention on marching styles is bound to draw comparisons between the military and high-stepping styles.

The contrast is stark in the Carrousel Parade, which bills itself as "family-oriented entertainment." Amid the "Carrousel Queens" floats, Gus the School Bus and the trick performers such as upside-down rollerskaters are the high school marching bands.

Most played holiday tunes last year and marched continuously forward, in precision. The West Charlotte and Harding bands were among the few that stopped in front of the television cameras to strut their stuff. Parade organizers also sent letters to the schools, reminding them to keep moving forward and show good taste.

Traditionalists wince when showband routines cross the line, said Doug Madar with Carolina Crown, which runs the annual "NightBeat" drum corps show, featuring military style performances.

"There's a place out there for the show bands because they're fun to watch," Madar said. "As long as they're not bumping and grinding."

What is real issue?

Some say the parade flap has little to do with the schools' performances. Wil Butler, an African American businessman who has served as a Carrousel Queen judge, said there's a larger issue that needs to be addressed: The parade board is made up of white volunteers exclusively and should seek out minorities.

"(That) the community is still arguing about differences in diversity, to me is frightening," said Butler, who is president of Butler-McCall Ltd., an executive search firm.

"I certainly hope neither school changes its program."

Debbie Moser, the event's executive director presiding over her 30th parade, wouldn't speak to all the commentary surrounding the parade.

"It's our desire to put forth a very strong family-oriented event," Moser said last week.

"We look forward to seeing you on Thanksgiving Day."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Celeste Smith: (704) 358-5087; cesmith@charlotteobserver.com
 
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well i actually kinda agree with the thing about the dancers. i mean its not every school, but some high schools let their dancers take it a tad too far. and u have to remember that these are 'little girls'. MINORS! and probably even more important, thats someone's daughter out there p-poppin like she's in a ying yang twins video! that aint cool. cuz i think about how i would act if i saw one of my little girls out there girating the way some bands let there dancers do and i know i woulldnt be happy. its true, there should be a place to draw the line and nowadays the line is not being drawn just for the sake of entertainment! and alof of folks arent that intelligent these days neither cuz instead of discouraging it, they encrouage it. there is something very sick about all this...
 
Originally posted by freak-nastee
well i actually kinda agree with the thing about the dancers. i mean its not every school, but some high schools let their dancers take it a tad too far. and u have to remember that these are 'little girls'. MINORS! and probably even more important, thats someone's daughter out there p-poppin like she's in a ying yang twins video! that aint cool. cuz i think about how i would act if i saw one of my little girls out there girating the way some bands let there dancers do and i know i woulldnt be happy. its true, there should be a place to draw the line and nowadays the line is not being drawn just for the sake of entertainment! and alof of folks arent that intelligent these days neither cuz instead of discouraging it, they encrouage it. there is something very sick about all this...

Amen.
 
Originally posted by freak-nastee
well i actually kinda agree with the thing about the dancers. i mean its not every school, but some high schools let their dancers take it a tad too far. and u have to remember that these are 'little girls'. MINORS! and probably even more important, thats someone's daughter out there p-poppin like she's in a ying yang twins video! that aint cool. cuz i think about how i would act if i saw one of my little girls out there girating the way some bands let there dancers do and i know i woulldnt be happy. its true, there should be a place to draw the line and nowadays the line is not being drawn just for the sake of entertainment! and alof of folks arent that intelligent these days neither cuz instead of discouraging it, they encrouage it. there is something very sick about all this...

Before Monday I would not have agreed with the article, but now I agree with freak-nastee. I kept catchin myself lookin at some of these dancers and then thinkin WTF THESE ARE JUST KIDS. They are just toooooooo provacative and some of the stuff they wear is just not appropriate. Then parents wonder why the girls end up pregnant and sleepin with grown men. Keepin them from shakin their ssa in the streets is one way to prevent that.


I have a neice that is a dancer and I would be ready bust some ole nukka in the mouth for lookin at her but some of these dance groups bring that attention upon themselves.
 
Originally posted by BLAQUE PRINCE


Before Monday I would not have agreed with the article, but now I agree with freak-nastee. I kept catchin myself lookin at some of these dancers and then thinkin WTF THESE ARE JUST KIDS. They are just toooooooo provacative and some of the stuff they wear is just not appropriate. Then parents wonder why the girls end up pregnant and sleepin with grown men. Keepin them from shakin their ssa in the streets is one way to prevent that.


I have a neice that is a dancer and I would be ready bust some ole nukka in the mouth for lookin at her but some of these dance groups bring that attention upon themselves.

thats what i been sayin for years now. its a lot of females dont realize that the reason they get called out of there name or treated like a ho is cuz of the way they carry themselves and the stuff they wear. when those little girls get out there and start p-poppin and all that crap, then they will only be remembered by most guys as the 'girl with the big booty'. Women ought not want that for themselves, but like blaque prince says, they bring it on themselves.
 
Originally posted by freak-nastee
well i actually kinda agree with the thing about the dancers. i mean its not every school, but some high schools let their dancers take it a tad too far. and u have to remember that these are 'little girls'. MINORS! and probably even more important, thats someone's daughter out there p-poppin like she's in a ying yang twins video! that aint cool. cuz i think about how i would act if i saw one of my little girls out there girating the way some bands let there dancers do and i know i woulldnt be happy. its true, there should be a place to draw the line and nowadays the line is not being drawn just for the sake of entertainment! and alof of folks arent that intelligent these days neither cuz instead of discouraging it, they encrouage it. there is something very sick about all this...
Amen to that. Now I see why these little girls thinkin that they're 19 or 20 years old.
 
Thats why we have to realize that these kids watch and imitate everything that we do, so when we put these shows together you need to take that into consideration. I'm not saying make you show boring, but some college bands need to tone it down. The next time your band does a parade, I want you to watch the little kids that are there and you will notice that they will try to do everything you do from marching to humping the ground.
 
Originally posted by OHENRY3
Thats why we have to realize that these kids watch and imitate everything that we do, so when we put these shows together you need to take that into consideration. I'm not saying make you show boring, but some college bands need to tone it down. The next time your band does a parade, I want you to watch the little kids that are there and you will notice that they will try to do everything you do from marching to humping the ground.

true...i think that is why graham opposes p-popping or overly vulgar dances so much...as a result, everyone thinks our dance routines arent that great....
 
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