Illiana Lancers

The Illiana Lancers were a Junior Drum and Bugle Corps that existed as a parade corps from about 1963 to 1975 and as a competitive field unit from about 1976 to 1985. The corps was based in the "East Side" neighborhood in the city of Chicago, Illinois.

History

The corps took its name from its original primary sponsor the Illiana post #220 of the American Legion. The origin of the name is from the fact that this neighborhood is on the Illinois-Indiana border. The corps primarily competed in the Drum Corps Midwest (DCM) circuit. In other on line resources the corps has erroneously been listed as being from Calumet City or from Dolton, Illinois. The error came from the fact that the corps had connections to the suburbs and hosted a DCM show for a number of years held in Dolton. The corps also sponsored a winter guard by the same name that competed in the Midwest Color Guard Circuit and won a Class "A" Championship. Though the unit remained small (class A) size it was known for typically having a difficult and entertaining musical show. The repertoire included a wide variety of music including progressive rock (Chicago, Yes, Kansas) classical (Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Carmina Burana) and popular and Broadway tunes (Barry Manilow, Man of LaMancha) The corps took its logo from a drawing of Don Quixote and it's motto of "the impossible dream" also from Man of La Mancha) The first instructor and arranger was Art Schmidt (bugles and drums) and the instructional staff over the years included Lou Klozik, Marty Dombrowski, Jack Dusek in the brass staff; Terry Jasek, Paul Wojtena on the percussion staff, and Jeff Fiedler (Cavaliers) on Color Guard and visual design, as well as many others.

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