CASPER — A controversial marching band performance that included performing a sacrificial stab at an altar was the target of praise and outrage from local parents at a Natrona County School District board of education meeting Monday.

The Kelly Walsh High School Band’s performance at the Oct. 19 state pageant was titled “The Sacrifice” and included a dramatic re-enactment of someone being sacrificed on an altar.

The band earned a “superior” rating for its performance, and the school board began the meeting by honoring the band for several years of dedication and excellent performances at competitions and festivals.

Several members of the band were at the meeting during the reconnaissance.

Band director Brent Rose said the band placed first at a competition at the University of Wyoming and won category awards that included percussion, marching, music, wind and guard. The band also received those five “subtitle” or category awards at the State Marching Band Festival and a “superior rating.”

“We’re the only band doing it this year. We’re actually the only band in Wyoming state history to win the UW (competition, sweep the caption awards at UW and sweep the caption awards at state, and that’s a feat we’ve done the last three years in a row,” he said “We are very proud of our tradition here at KW.”

“Offer”

However, the state troupe’s latest program, “The Offering,” involving a solar eclipse altar and the performance of a human sacrifice has raised concerns among some parents and local residents. Three members of the public spoke at the meeting and there were comments, both pro and con, posted on a YouTube video of the performance.

A description of the program online said it was a “tribal-themed” show that “features a sun-sacrificing ceremony with primordial rhythms and images of fire igniting the field.”

Local resident Renee Naquin said she appreciates the band members and their efforts, but expressed her “total disgust” with the content of the band’s performance at the state band festival held at the Ford Wyoming Center in Casper.

Naquin said he did not attend the festival but read a Cowboy State Daily column about the event by Jonathan Lange and agreed with him that he wanted to know what the adults in charge of the program were thinking when they chose to allow this.

“One student was dragged on stage, tied up and then another student pretended to stab them in the heart, complete with screaming until they died,” she said. “With all the real student-to-student violence that has occurred in our community over the last year with the stabbing and all the violence, I would like to know and our community would like to know if the adults in charge really believed that this re-enactment was a responsible choice.

“Right is right and wrong is wrong. In my opinion, the fake killing was wrong and did not set a good example for our students.”

Her reference to violence was the April 7 fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old school district student, Robert “Bobby Maher,” at a mall by two 15-year-old students and the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old student . old district student, Lenae Brown, by another 15-year-old on May 14.

Resident Leslie Hall-Huz said she wanted to “express my dismay” at the mock sacrifice and also question the authorities who approved the program in light of last year’s teen violence.

“Where did it come from? Was it bought or home made?” she asked. “Instead of trivializing violence, we should promote strength, compassion and community. I encourage everyone to consider the impact such displays have on our students and community.”

“What kind of message?”

Resident Maureen Scribner, who said she had children who were part of the Kelly Walsh Band and the Casper Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps, said she understood the hours of practice and commitment the students put into their performance for to get its maximum recognition.

She called for a better mentoring effort from band leaders and schools, and also noted teen suicides and violence that continue to occur in the community.

“Kids have a lot to deal with and to have them perform something like this, what kind of message are we sending them, what message are we sending them to their classmates?” she asked. “They are already fighting. We could do better for our schools, for our students and for our community, to bring out something more positive and not fuel that.”

A video of the band’s performance shows several band members reassembling an apparent shrine scene while playing pre-recorded music and other band members marching around it from behind, both right and left.

They then gather before the altar which shows an eclipsed sun while mysterious words are spoken. They kneel before the altar, and as the performance is introduced, the xylophone and drum players collapse to the floor.

But they are resurrected.

As the eerie music plays, the other band members continue to bow to the altar with one band member standing on stage in front of the eclipsed sun. The percussion section begins, the horns begin to play and the performance continues through a choreographed march cycle before the focus returns to the altar and the mock sacrifice and screams.

“The performance was beautiful”

School board trustee Raymond Catellier said he appreciated the audience bringing the show to the board’s attention.

He said Superintendent Angela Hensley did a “deep dive” into the logic behind the program’s choice and that the report shows the band has seen a “decline in the ability of students entering the program, which has forced the band leadership to choose the lower grades. arrangements.”

He said he hopes the school continues to support art programs in its budget.

“The performance was beautiful,” Catellier said. “It is clear that no one was killed, no one worships the sun, the show did not promote violence or pagan religions, and to say otherwise is careless and distracts from the real issues affecting our community.

“I would like to thank Mr. Rose and all the staff members who make the Kelly Walsh Marching Band such a special group and congratulations on the sustained excellence you have shown.”

Trustee Michael Stedillie, a former theater instructor in the school district, said the show was all about “art.”

“When it comes to art, there’s rarely a hard and fast universal acceptance,” he said. “The thing to remember is that these young men were judged superior by trained and experienced marching band judges with years of judging band performances. We are now and forever very proud of you.”

The band’s performance of “The Offering” on YouTube has 83 comments, with many supporting and defending it and others characterizing the program as “disturbing”.

“As someone from the show, I would like to clarify that we were not told anything about religion,” one student wrote in the comments. “I’m just selling the piece for the performance and that’s all it is, a performance.”

School district spokeswoman Tanya Southerland said she was not aware of any calls to the district from local residents on the issue and that the only comments challenging the choice of program were those she heard at the school board meeting .

Dale Killingbeck can be contacted at [email protected].