The Marching Orioles competed in the Emporia State Marching Festival Oct. 9 with its show “The Heist”.
The marching orioles placed 2nd in the Emporia contest with 80 points just behind 5A Blue Valley Southwest who earned 89 points. This is the first time the band directors added Emporia to the list of competitions.
KAKE news anchor Deb Farris opens the show talking about The famed Oriele diamond being on display and guarded with extra security at the same time the color guard is trying too steal the diamond. The highlight of the show is the use of laser in of the second part of the show. the end of the show while color guard takes off with the box for the diamond, but it is revealed that the diamond is fake and that in fact drumline escapes with the real Diamond.
During the first four halftime shows, the band performed parts of The Heist, fixing and adding to each performance. They debuted the full show at homecoming Oct. 4 before competing in the festival at Emporia State.
“We start to see what it’s supposed to look like, We can change it We can add things,” director Todd Hollis said. “There’s things that we’re adding that was not in the original plans.”
Hollis and band director James Hollingsworth were excited for the addition of the Emporia festival.
“The whole show is on the field, and now we just got to polish it before we start hitting our music festivals,” Hollingsworth said.
When deciding on the theme, some components of the show changed.
“We’re always looking to say, ‘okay, what can we add here in this spot?,’ Hollis said. “We’ll go back and watch a video of our performance and say, ‘that didn’t work out as well. Maybe we can do this,’ So, we’re always adding new things,”
The Marching Orioles are not the only band that performing a heist theme show. Trombone section leader, senior Andy Bunk, heard a couple neighboring schools doing similar themes.
“Everyone just seems to be copying off of Augusta just to get a better score at tournaments,” Bunk said.
The Marching Orioles will compete in the Southern Plains Marching Festival in Andover Oct. 23.
