Drum and Bugle Corps Spirit of Atlanta is returning to Jacksonville State University for their spring training ahead of the 2023 Drum Corps International competitive season.
“Spirit of Atlanta is a nonprofit organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, that focuses on youth arts education. It’s marching band at the extreme level. Think of marching band meets Cirque du Soleil,” Chris Moore, senior director of programs for Spirit of Atlanta, said.
Spirit of Atlanta took the 2022 season off to restructure their program due to safety concerns.
“I do think Spirit has restructured themselves well. They have set up a multitude of protocols to prevent negative things from happening again,” Blake Durden, the head drum major of Spirit of Atlanta, said. Durden is also a senior at JSU majoring in music education.
Spirit used to utilize JSU as their spring training site in the early 2000s and even called themselves “Spirit of JSU.” Students could earn class credit by participating in Spirit of JSU when the corps was under the direction of Ken Bodiford, the current director of bands at JSU.
“I’m super excited that spring training is at JSU. JSU is a big part of Spirit’s history, after all, our founder Freddy Martin is a JSU alum, as are many of the staff, so it’s a big homecoming for us,” Durden said.
Spirit of Atlanta will arrived at JSU on May 27 and will stay on campus until July 3. The corps will be rehearsing almost daily from morning until night time creating an exciting show for everyone to enjoy.
“We really want the individual students to grow as humans. It’s a transformational experience for these students. They come out of it as different people in a positive way,” Moore said.
For more information about Spirit of Atlanta and their organization, visit their website here.