Genesis: Where Have They Been This Year?
Genesis is the only corps to not have premiered their show so far, here's why.
As of tonight, June 16th, every world class corps will have premiered their show publicly at a competition with Genesis doing their first show of the season at Drums Along the Rockies in Fort Collins, CO. You may be wondering, “What has Genesis been doing all this time?”
At the beginning of the summer, I released my first On The Dot interview with a member from Genesis where he discussed the corps’ different plans for tour. Instead of starting in late June like most world class corps did, Genesis decided to do a set of public performances and clinics around the state of Texas (similar to the Cornfield Tour that Colts do in their preseason). Many of these were located in areas of the state where drum corps doesn’t make its way to in the regular season, most notably in south Texas.
Genesis has its roots in the Rio Grande Valley, being founded in September 2009 in Edinburg, TX before relocating to Bastrop, TX (southeast of Austin) in 2014 where they still operate. To this day, Genesis has a significant amount of membership coming from south Texas. This means that parents and fans have to drive up to three to four hours just to see a performance. There is also a financial aspect that goes into the corps making this decision. Doing clinics in-state is a lot cheaper and less stressful than having to tour around the country going from show to show, as one can imagine. School districts may be more open to housing a corps if they know that their students will be getting an educational benefit out of it, as an example. Events like these could also help with recruitment, especially for areas that are underserved when it comes to drum corps.
Now that you know where the 20th and final world class corps competing this season has been this whole time, be sure to catch them at 7:29 MT on the FloMarching stream for Drums Along the Rockies, and keep your eyes out for a potential follow up article on Genesis!