DHS alum to perform with Phantom Regiment in DeKalb

DeKALB – The Phantom Regiment drum corps is coming to DeKalb and, they are bringing a hometown girl with them.

Hannah Clark, 21, grew up in DeKalb and is a member of the Phantom Regiment’s color guard.

The Phantom Regiment along with six other drum corps will perform Friday, Aug. 6, in the Show of Shows at Northern Illinois University’s Huskie Stadium.

Tickets are available for the Show of Shows, a part of DCI’s 2021 Celebration Tour, which heralds the return of live drum corps following the cancellation of the 2020 season.

Clark, who marched four years with the Marching Barbs at DHS, joined Phantom Regiment in 2019. This is her third and final season on the flag line with the Phantomettes, Regiment’s iconic color guard.

“It was truly heartbreaking to lose the opportunity to make magic with my brothers and sisters with the loss of the 2020 season, but there is no better group to help bring the marching arts back to life than Regiment,” Clark said in a news release. “The new dawn of DCI is coming, and there is no place I’d rather be.”

Since 2015, Clark has spent summers pursuing her marching arts dreams. As a woodwind player originally, Clark first needed to pursue another skill to participate in drum corps, which only includes brass, percussion and color guard. She joined DHS’s guard activities in 2013 and then in 2014 attended one of the educational camps hosted annually by Phantom Regiment.

“I wasn’t ready to be there,” Clark said of that educational camp. “But the experience was so wonderful. I knew I wanted to work hard to become a Phantomette.”

To prepare, Clark first marched three years with Dubuque’s Colt Cadets, one of the groups that will perform at NIU on Aug. 6. She then moved up to the World Class level, touring the United States in 2018 as a member of Wyoming’s Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps. With that experience in hand, Clark turned her sights to spinning closer to home and took an audition with the Phantom Regiment, two-time DCI World Champions, in Beloit, Wisconsin, in the fall of 2018.

“I love everything about Phantom: the music, the history, the values,” Clark said in the release.

In a shortened, non-competitive season, the Phantom Regiment began rehearsing in Evansville, Indiana, June 25. This season, Phantom is comprised of 160 marching members from across the United States. The corps has spent the 12-plus hours each day over the last three weeks perfecting music while learning drill and choreography to go along with it. Starting July 30, Phantom Regiment will participate in a regional series of shows known this year as the Midwest Combine before going to Indiana for DCI’s Celebration. The three-day DCI series in Indianapolis will feature daily performances of all 21 participating drum corps.

The Show of Shows at NIU will include the following drum corps: River City Rhythm, Colt Cadets, Madison Scouts, Colts, The Cavaliers and Blue Stars. Phantom Regiment will close the event.

To learn more or to purchase tickets, visit https://regiment.org/events/2021-show-of-shows/. Or, check out the full 2021 schedule on DCI’s website at www.dci.org.