Dartmouth High School marching band reaches semifinals at Grand National competition
INDIANAPOLIS - Congratulations are in order for the Dartmouth High School Marching Band! The students have made it to the semifinals at the Grand National competition in Indianapolis.
They're the first team from Massachusetts to make it to the competition in more than 20 years. The last school to make it was King Phillips Regional High in 2002.
Nearly 60 bands were cut in the preliminary round Friday night. The field will be narrowed to 12 for the finals on Saturday - Dartmouth is scheduled to perform in the afternoon.
The band did not make it past the semi-finals.
In a statement to WBZ the Dartmouth team said: "We are so proud of the strides they made in getting this far!"
Out of 92 groups, DHS Marching Band and Colorguard are one of 33 remaining groups moving on to semi-finals! 🌟💚🤩🌟 We are...
Posted by Dartmouth School Music Association on Friday, November 10, 2023
Dartmouth has won seven-straight U.S. Bands National Championships, which mostly features teams from the northeast. Now they are going up against the best competition in the entire country.
It won't be easy - national teams often have more than 200 students and Dartmouth has 92 members, including some middle school students.
WBZ-TV profiled the Dartmouth group earlier this week.
"You have to have the right students to be able to compete at that level, and we think we have the right students this year," Dartmouth High School music director Ian Flint said. "It's not something we've been working on for a few months; it's something we've been working on for years."
For this year's competition, Dartmouth is performing songs inspired by the famed street artist Banksy.
"It's full costume, so not a typical band uniform. They have makeup on," Flint said. "The whole thing is more like a theater performance put on a football field."