Bill Simon is the new corps director, with James Deck continuing as President. Simon has already pumped up recruiting to the point where the corps had 90 kids at a recent informational meeting.

"I've been to 13 or 14 schools," Simon said. "It's paying off dividends because we've had a lot of interest." Simon has put together a video on the corps, and it has been grabbing attention.

"My number one priority is to restore membership to what we had in the 1990s. Our membership has declined seriously. Allegiance Elite has always wanted to be division II, but we should have been division III last year. This year, we should be a healthy division II corps.

"We're getting our message out to the public in Calgary and introducing it to schools. In Calgary, there is a negative connotation with the military symbolism in drum corps. We market ourselves as a 'marching brass ensemble.'"

The only downside right now, Simon said, is that many of the kids are young. "There were seven-, eight-, nine-year olds," he said.

Simon said the corps will take it slowly this season. He has learned from his experiences with the corps as an instructor, visual designer and tour director. The corps was young in 1990, he said, but by 1993 Allegiance Elite had some very talented veterans. Problem was, Simon said, they overextended themselves.

"We were doing some mature stuff," he said. "Our 2002 show will be Canadian music by a group called Arpeggio.

"This will be a challenging year for Allegiance," he said. "But our membership is excited and enthused as we anticipate renewed growth and the challenge of reaching higher levels of performance. We'll be young, but if we get going with the kids and the staff we can hold our own."


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