Troopers reveal details behind 2024’s “Dance With the Devil”

Year after year, the “Troopers Universe” continues to expand.

That’s how program coordinator Tim Snyder and executive director Mike Gough describe the corps’ show design philosophy, at least. Throughout the last several drum corps seasons, the Casper, Wyoming corps has made its mission to develop a strong, standalone identity. 

“It's an edgier, darker kind of a vibe,” Gough said of the corps’ recent productions. “In the old Trooper days, it was kind of the ‘John Wayne’ Troopers. And today, you might think about it more like the ‘Red Dead Redemption’ Troopers — like the video game — with kind of a modern look and feel.” 

As this “universe” develops, the show concepts may vary. But according to Snyder, the goal of each of them is to exist within the same sphere of storytelling.

“It’s like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where there's different superheroes,” he said. “Our superhero happens to be a Trooper. That’s how we envision the show ideas. They still look like Troopers, but they're a little different, or they have a different superpower.”

 

By many measures, competitively and otherwise, recent iterations of Troopers have succeeded to that end. 2024’s “Dance with the Devil,” designers and leadership hope, is another step in an enticing direction. 

Troopers’ 2023 program chronicled the journey of a cowboy as he sought to do the unthinkable, “To Lasso the Sun.” It resonated with drum corps fans, and helped catapult the corps to one of its best competitive seasons ever — 10th place with a final score of 89.475, the corps’ highest tally in the DCI era.

The corps’ 2024 production, “Dance with the Devil,” intends to pick up where 2023 left off, and attempts to answer the question — how?

“The cowboy was striving for the impossible dream, even if he had to sacrifice himself to achieve the dream,” Gough said. “He would keep trying and failing, and then finally he achieved that, but it takes everything.”

2024 will bring new challenges and adventures for the Trooper character.

“Our show is about what would happen if you made a deal with the devil,” said Snyder, who added that fans can take the show title quite literally.

“We're going to dance with the devil in the show,” he added. “There's literally going to be a devil.”

Snyder added, whether they realize it or not, fans who have seen Troopers' show reveal have already gotten a glimpse of what the corps will wear in 2024.

"We've already released it," Snyder quipped, regarding the corps' costuming plans. "The costume we have will look very similar to what you see in the poster already."

Troopers’ recent productions, in many ways, have been predicated on standout characteristics. For example, the corps’ 2022 and 2023 productions each had a large, unmistakable stage set as their storytelling centerpiece. 

Each also had a key soloist performing on a non-traditional drum corps instrument — in 2022, the cello, and in 2023, the harmonica.  

According to Snyder, props won’t play as significant of a role in 2024, but one recognizable set piece — the corps’ mechanically-rotating sun prop, affectionately nicknamed “Sunny” — will make its way back to the field this summer.

"This show is going to be what I would call understated,” Snyder said of the corps’ visual design plans. “I'm excited to showcase the different elements of design that the team really wants to bring forward, whether that's a dancing element, or a staging element.”

While Troopers don’t have plans to go too far outside of the conventional drum corps box as far as soloists are concerned, the corps has been public throughout the offseason about its plans to recruit and feature an electric guitar player. 

Many of Troopers’ music selections, which were announced publicly February 17, lend to the stylings of the guitar, whether in a traditional rock-and-roll sense, or with more of a Latin flavor. 

As one of its show’s cornerstone pieces, the corps plans to use the folk song “House of the Rising Sun” as its ballad movement. The traditional piece has found its way into a number of corps’ productions in the past, including the Louisiana Stars in 2022, Oregon Crusaders in 2013 and Blue Devils in 2002.  

In order to effectively portray the song, Snyder and his team looked into vocalists for purposes of recorded sampling, and stumbled upon the perfect candidate.

“We found a person who sounds like Johnny Cash,” Snyder said. “You'd be hard pressed to tell that it's not Johnny Cash.” 

“That's where you will see the first strains of the guitar,” he added, referencing the corps’ 2024 ballad.

The rest of Troopers’ repertoire features a diverse mix of selections, including contemporary wind band composer Stephen Melillo’s “The Wait of the World,” which was played in 2000 by the Colts. The corps will also perform Peter Graham’s “Hyperlink.” The corps arranged the prolific British brass band composer’s “Harrison's Dream” for its 2023 production and also featured his works in 2009, 2010 and 2021. 

Adding to the intriguing setlist will be French-American disco group Santa Esmeralda’s cover of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” a 1977 hit that got new life in 2003 on the soundtrack to the Quentin Tarrantino film, “Kill Bill.” 

“It's an eclectic grouping of music that we're trying to put together in a different way,” Snyder said. “I think that the audiences will love it.” 

Since returning to regular operations after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wyoming corps has had plenty of success in recruiting, and its positive efforts have continued in the build-up to the 2024 DCI Tour. Gough said Troopers’ audition numbers this winter are comparable to those of a year ago.

“I think we're on par with where we were last year, probably a little better, especially in the brass section,” Gough said. “The build-up over the last couple of years, especially in terms of interest, has been off-the-charts unprecedented for the Troopers.”

It’s yet to be seen what the next episode of the “Troopers Universe” will entail, on the field and on the scoreboard. 

But if the past several years are any indication, all patterns point to something larger than life. 

“It sounds like Troopers,” Snyder said. “But it's like nothing we've ever done before.”

View Troopers' 2024 DCI Tour Schedule

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