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Scores and judges at competition

Iwas a competitive dancer for five years. While I enjoyed the performance aspect of competitions, I didn’t like the cutthroat and dramatic atmosphere. Above all else, I hated being judged and scored for my dancing. I felt that all my hard work and dedication couldn’t be determined in a three-minute routine, but nonetheless scored. The way dance competitions are currently scored does nothing but promote subjectivity and encourage interchangeable routines filled with tricks.

Typically dance competitions are scored by a panel of three to five judges. Each routine is broken into specific divisions determined by age, level, and dance style to make scoring as fair as possible. Scoring is usually based on a set of criteria: technique, choreography, performance, and appearance, with point values denominated to each of these categories. Each dancer’s score places them within a scoring category such as platinum or gold. If a dancer’s score is high enough they may even place in the top ten of their division. This all varies from competition to competition.

While discussing dance competitions with freshman Kirsten Heidinger, she shared her experience as a competitive dancer for eight years and criticized the way competitions are judged. According to Heidinger, dances “shouldn’t be based around tricks.” When Heidenger mentions tricks, she is referring to movements that are flashy and provide a picturesque moment. Whether it’s a turn, leap, leg, or flip, tricks rule the dance competition world. Moves such as an aerial or advanced turn sequences are guaranteed to be seen at every competition. It seems that most dances, especially solos, are filled with trick after trick in order to showcase the dancer. However, it doesn’t necessarily showcase their dancing, rather it showcases their flexibility and ability to execute a challenging move. Despite this, routines with many well-executed tricks tend to score the highest.

Furthermore, Heidinger said, “I know if I were a judge at a competition… I would get so bored because most of the solos are so copy and paste.” She explained that many of the routines, especially solos, all look the same. Everyone tries to score well, so they try to create a routine that follows this pattern of tricks. The pattern typically includes at least one acrobatic trick, one turning sequence, and one jump or leg extension.

The more advanced the trick is, the better one will score. The few dances that have little to no tricks do well some of the time, but they are few and far between because no one wants to take the risk of not doing as well. While tricks catch people’s attention and provide a certain quality to a dance, it doesn’t make sense that the amount of tricks in a dance determines how well it does at a dance competition.

Heidinger also talked about how judges play a significant role in the scoring process.“Competitions [and the judges] have a lot of bias in them,” Heidinger said. She continued to say that her dance studio owner would remind her and her teammates: “different person, different perspective.” Regardless of whether or not a judge realizes, they aren’t objective in their scoring process. It’s hard to take away one’s personal perspective and professional opinion. A judge could know a studio owner, they could dislike a dancer’s costume, they could have choreographed the routine that’s competing— there is so much clouding their perspective that it’s impossible for them to remain neutral when it comes to scoring.

Dance competitions are a world of their own. The dances choreographed for competitions are created with the intention to score well and appeal to the judges. Unfortunately, the idea of scores and placing in the top ten are more important to competitors than doing something creative and outside of the box. It will be interesting to see if in the next few years, anything has changed about the way dance competitions are scored because with the way it’s going, I wouldn’t expect anything that hasn’t already been done.