7/28/2019 Blew Devils
1/1
blueF o u r t e e n T i m e D C I W o r l d C h a m p i o n
C e l e b r a t i n g o v e r 5 0 Ye a r s o f E x c e l l e n
c
P o w e r & P r e c i s i o n
The Blue Devils were founded in 1957 and toured on anational
level for the first time in 1973. In their second year
of national competition the Corps earned full DCI member-ship by
their 9th place finish at the 1974 DCIChampionships in Ithaca, NY.
In 1975 the Corps placed3rd, and they won their first Drum Corps
InternationalChampionship in 1976. Since 1975 The Blue Devils
havenever placed out of the top five at the DCI Championshipsand
have won the world title an unprecedented fourteen-times--in 1976,
77, 79, 80, 82, 86, 94, 96, 97, 99, 03,07, 09 and 2010. In
addition, The Blue Devils WinterGuard won four Winter Guard
InternationalChampionships in 1995, 1996 (with a record score
of99.45), 1997, and 1998.
Because of their commitment to bringing their unique
pro-ductions to fans throughout the world, The Blue Devils
havetruly become an international entertainment powerhouse. In1983
the Corps attended the 21st Century Celebration inOsaka, Japan. In
1988, the percussion section was featuredas the centerpiece of a
week-long schedule of performancesat Japans Mitsui Greenland, and
in the spring of that yearThe Blue Devils Winter Guard traveled to
the Netherlands.In 1992 the Corps traveled to Nice, France for
Carnaval,and to the Netherlands for clinics and performances.
TheCorps returned to Japan in the fall of 1996 for a ten-day tourof
field shows, parades, theatre performances, and clinics.2000 saw
The Blue Devils thrilling return to Europe with a3-week tour
appearing in Germany, Holland, Belgium andFrance. In 2002, a
38-member ensemble was the guest of thecity of Okayama, Japan,
providing a series of performancesand clinics for Japanese
elementary, intermediate, and highschool students as part of the
Marching in Okayama musicfestival. A 58 member ensemble of The Blue
Devils returnedto Japan in the fall of 2003 for an encore tour. The
BlueDevils returned to Europe in the summer of 2005 where thetoured
for 3 weeks culminating with a World Championshipat the World Music
Contest in Kerkrade, Holland.
The Blue Devils have also provided unique opportunities totheir
fans and members by offering performances and clinics
with great artists in the musical world. They have been
fea-tured in concert with Maynard Ferguson, Bobby Shew andChuck
Mangione, as well as the late Stan Kenton and BuddyRich. Clinic
performances spotlighting The Blue Devilshave featured Ralph
Humphrey, Dave Weckl, SteveHoughton, Peter Erskine, Bob Montgomery,
DavidGaribaldi and many others. Musical selections from thesegreat
artists and their bands have been highlights of BlueDevils
repertoires over the years.
In 1997 the opportunity to perform in an intimate
theaterenvironment motivated The Blue Devils to create their
On-
Stage series. The premiere production, Exaltation, com-bined the
intimacy of the theater with the power and exhil-aration of the
field performances. 1998 saw an expansion ofperformance
opportunities with the creation of Exuberowhich was performed to
full capacity audiences in Denver,San Antonio, Ypsilanti and at
Disneys EPCOT AmericanAmphitheater. In 1999, audiences in Chicago,
Indianapolis,Cincinnati, Denver, San Antonio and Madison were
treatedto the exciting {Jazz} Man in the Moon. The 2000 On-Stage
production was the centerpiece of The Blue DevilsEuropean tour.
The Blue Devils have broadened their entertainment hori-zons to
include high-profile corporate events. In 2004 TheBlue Devils
started BD Entertainment to service all of thetremendous requests
for special entertainment and haveworked with many corporate
clients, NBA, NFL and manyother sporting events.More information at
http://bdentertain.com
2012 will be a very exciting year for The Blue Devil
organi-zation. Summer plans will see them travel over 15,000
milesand compete at the DCI World Championships inIndianapolis, IN
at the the new Lucas Oil Stadium onAugust 11, 2012.
devils
