Competition season is gearing up...

Matthew Neff | Jan 07, 2008 | 0

bust a move

The season is upon us. I will be doing less judging this year. Last year kinda burned me out. You can't imagine what it's like to sit there for hours. Your legs go numb. My booty always goes numb. But here is a checklist for studios and dancers on what judges are always looking for

1- Appropriate: Studio owners/choreographers/teachers should really take this into consideration. Routines have turned into trick central. It's great to see the progress of the students. It's hard to watch kids poorly execute a trick because their technique is not up to the level of the movement. A routine also doesn't need every trick in the book. The routines should show dynamics that match the mood of the music. Foute turns are extremely difficult. I don't care to watch an 8 year sickle and bounce all over the stage. Costumes should also be appropriate. When costuming older girls please take into account that there are lots of tiny kids watching. These little kids look up to the older ones. I would rather not watch these little ones looking up to girls dressed in costumes where they are made to look like harlots. It's gross. Prostituting teenagers to score some ribbons and trophies doesn't really give the studio a great image. Music is also an issue. I am one of the younger judges usually so you think I would be cool with whatever. This is not the case. I hear the curses and I ALWAYS drop points off the score when I hear it. It's in the rules. Follow them. If you need to beep out the lyrics to a song because it's dirty then guess what.......DON"T USE THE SONG. It's great that you made the effort but it's so distracting.

2- Cheering from the audience: Please root for your dancers! It's great hearing the support studios give. Now having said that....there is this annoying trend which I feel must stop. In a group number somebody will call out one girl's name. Then one by one every other girl's name has to be screamed to make everyone feel special. Why can't we just hoot and holler at the beginning and end? It's also really distracting as a judge to keep our focus on the stage when there is so much screaming coming from the audience. I want to get lost in the dance. I want the dance to distract me from being in a theater. As soon as names are being called out I am immediately brought back to reality. This is dance not a football game. Also for all the girls that love to scream... Please don't sit near the judges. I say this for a few reasons. 1: your young voices are so high pitched that it literally hurts our ears 2: we are recording comments into a microphone that is already picking up the audio from the speakers. Your screaming shoots the recording level to RED (which is bad). You are paying to compete and to hear this recording. We do our best to give you the best critiques. Help us do our best! Keep the screaming to a minimum.

3: Awards: Some cities are great when it comes to awards. Some cities have seemed kind of jaded. Get excited. You work all year to earn something. The judges worked hard to give you the best you deserve. Even if you win copper or get last place, there are two words that every dancer should say. THANK YOU. I know it seems strange I say this. Most of the kids are extremely gracious. There  just seems to be a trend starting when I see some kids thinking "We paid to enter. We always get this kind of award. Let's just go home." The  older dancers set the mood for the younger dancer's behavior. So in advanced for your good behavior I say, "Thank You"

4:Solos:  So all I will say about this is please don't recycle the same dance to every dancer in your studio.  If a studio has one great solo they use for every dancer there are a few problems with this. 1: you aren't challenging the dancers on their own level. 2: you bore the judges. I will make a bet that the first few times the same solo is shown the scores are the same and then they start to drop. The judges know we are seeing the same dance. Choreography is a skill. If you are having problems with choreographing solos you have several options. Make it a collaboration between who normally choreographs and the student. It will help the student grow as a dancer. You can also hire outside help. If you don't know choreographers you can always contact the competitions you trust for names of people they respect. Sure outside help can be expensive but you can also schedule master classes to expose your kids to a new perspective on dance.

5: Scores: It's rare that people fight over scores but when it happens it just makes me laugh. It's a partially random score that one person gave. It's not the end of the world. So to make my point more concise --- GET OVER IT. The audio critiques are the most important part.

6: Audio critiques: Students should listen to these. Students should not listen to them before the studio owner listens to it alone. There are occasions when we talk to the studio owners on the recording and the students should not hear what we have to say. It might be a sensitive issue that a group should not be made aware of.

7: Have fun.

Print Email Link

• Share
  • add to facebook
  • add to del.icio.us
  • add to digg
  • add to yahoo
  • related at technorati

Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, Tap, Modern, Broadway, Ballroom, Teacher, Parent, Studio, Competitions & Conventions, Performance (all tags)