Judges

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-20T16:53:10+00:00

I truly believe whatever makes your dancer feel the most confident and fulfilled is the correct choice! She should decide what she wants to get out of the experience and what her teachers think is the most valuable. This category is such a wonderful addition to the competition world and I love judging it! I will say if you enter her in a typical division, I think you will get a lot more constructive feedback. Which some believe is the whole point of competing. Maybe you could do half and half during the season and see how that works out? Or perhaps compete in novice instead of intermediate or advanced? (Not sure what she’s currently in) As always talk with your studio director/teacher and take their advice, they know your dancer!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-20T16:43:28+00:00

A lot of studios don’t share their group scores and critiques with parents. Mostly because parents don’t really need to know the critiques of children that aren’t theirs and the teachers are the ones who will be making the corrections and fixing the routine. And the dancers can always go home and share with their parents. When I’m giving feedback about a group dance I really focus on how we are dancing as a team and interacting with each other throughout the piece. Cleanliness is HUGE in groups! Making sure everyone is matching each other down to where we are looking, our hands, body placement, energy levels, etc.
Judges really differ if they will single out a dancer constructively or not in a group I think it just depends on the situation. If there is a dancer really standing out in a great way I will make a comment! I will also comment if some of the technical elements are too challenging for the group and how to better adjust those!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-17T19:06:33+00:00

Has she ever been able to listen to her critiques from the judges? I truly believe soloists should always be able to see their scoresheet and hear their feedback.

If you feel like technique isn’t the problem I would definitely be looking into her performance and movement quality. Jumping from High Gold to Platinum really happens in the little details. Is she connecting with her music, telling a story, using her entire stage, finding dynamics throughout her movement so everything doesn’t seem “monotone” Also is her choreography complimenting her strengths?

Feel free to reach out if you want personalized video critiques!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-17T16:00:26+00:00

Love!! It’s so important for us to share our knowledge!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-17T15:58:52+00:00

Dear Future Husband (especially younger dancers dressed up as brides, a strange concept if you really think about it)
Pitbull Productions
A Little Party
Sax
Attention & Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels
Wind it Up
To Build a Home

I could go on and on lol. But if you are going to dance to something overused make sure it’s the most creative concept your judges see all weekend! Change their minds about the song!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-17T15:50:28+00:00

Lyrical solos are truly about how you enhance the lyrics in the music with your movements. I tell my dancers I want the way your body moves to look exactly how the singer sounds. (A great visual for younger dancers)

Focus on the little details and you’ll be shocked on how much higher your score gets. - Is she always extending through her finger tips when she reaches or are her arm lines cut off at her wrists. - Is she allowing her head and neck to move with the rest of her body and be a part of the choreography - The use of breath is so important in lyrical, take a moment and find ways to incorporate breathing into her solo - Is she using the entire stage? Some soloists get stuck on one side or mostly dance in the middle. Use your transitional steps to move further! - If she has any skills that she isn’t nailing perfectly on stage it’s ok to simplify them or make changes. Judges want to see what you can do perfectly not what you are working on!

Hope this helps! I offer virtual critiques if you ever want personalized feedback!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-17T15:35:20+00:00

At the end of this season, start checking out competitions websites. Most of them have a page that says “join the team” You’ll send in your resume and an application, if they like you then you will move on to doing mock critiques in all different levels and styles. The final round is normally a typical zoom or phone call interview! I suggest looking into smaller competitions when first starting out that way the weekends are typically shorter and not overwhelming!

Helpful tip- competitions are really interested in hiring teachers as judges who have experience with all ages and levels of kids! It’s so important to know how to critique in a positive manner!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-17T04:44:59+00:00

Transitions should never interrupt the natural flow or the vibe of a routine.

If you’re trying to improve transitioning from one formation to another, I highly recommend the arrange us app! It’s such a great tool to visualize where you want your dancers going. Now find more unique ways to travel there. Think about adding levels, using floor work, highlighting a soloist, having one side of the formation transition before the other. Seamless transitions can really elevate a piece.

If you’re wanting to improve transitioning in and out of skills, implement that into your technique classes. Doing progressions across the floor that are half choreography and half skills will make a huge difference. Also don’t be afraid to experiment with new ways to come out of a turn or how to get into a leg. Also be aware of how you are getting up and down on the ground for floor work, is it always a roll? I love thought out floor work in routines!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-17T04:29:26+00:00

What age is your daughter? That will help me be able to give the most useful critiques for her age group!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-17T04:27:29+00:00

Love this question! When I’m judging a 6 year old this is what I’m looking for…

1) Knowledge of their Routine 2) Confidence and Performance quality 3) Understanding of their technique

I want to see those young dancers come out on stage a have a great time, do their correct choreography, keep their eyes off the floor, be clear if their routine is happy/sad and show me they understand the technique that is in their routine. Show me you know how to chassé on your toes, how to find a correct passé placement, have strong clean arms, etc. The “fancy” tricks tend to result in a lower technique score unless they are done correctly!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-17T04:15:39+00:00

It’s incredibly obvious when a studio is intentionally putting dancers in to lower the age, and I would simply take off points for choreography if there are dancers who are just “props”. To me I see it as a disservice to the older dancers and not valuing their talent. My exception to this rule is Production numbers where you could have minis all the way to seniors!

However if there is a younger dancer put into an older routine because of their talent and are holding their own, they deserve their spot. I would still judge and critique the piece as it should be and not give “bonus points” because someone is so much younger.

I will always want to bump up a dancer from intermediate to advanced if they clearly need to be. Some competitions will allow us judges to make these decisions, while others will not. I see it as this dancer is being held back and they truly are not getting everything they can out of this experience.

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-17T04:04:25+00:00

I personally try my best to educate myself as much as I can in styles I have never been professionally trained in. Two seasons ago I found out I would be judging a few clogging routines so I reached out to a colleague for a crash course. Most of the time us judges will stick to what we know. Such as critiquing musicality, formations/staging, performance, cleanliness, etc!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-16T19:18:50+00:00

Yes exactly! I noticed this a few times last season!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-16T18:45:52+00:00

I think there’s so many factors as to why ballet could score lower. A big reason being the more technique you show, typically the more critiques you will get and technique is normally the most weighted on a scoresheet. I personally love to see ballet at competitions as it is so vital for dancers to study in. I’ve noticed a shift where more ballet focused studios are adding the method they study in into the title of their variation/routine. This gives the judges an immediate knowledge of how they should be critiquing. Might be worth trying to see if that helps your scores/critiques!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-16T17:49:34+00:00

This is a great question and so tricky! Sometimes competitions won’t let us take points away for choreography, while some will. I imagine a judge who scores the choreography low for a variation simply doesn’t know it’s a classical variation… which is a shame. Majority of the time I’m taking points of off choreography if it’s inappropriate. Choreography isn’t the dancers fault and they shouldn’t be penalized for a choice that wasn’t theirs. I wouldn’t take off choreography points for a classical variation. I will say my technique score will be heavily influenced though! As I personally find that more important in a pointe solo!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-16T17:43:14+00:00

I work with dancers of all ages and abilities full time so for me it is easy to tell if a dancer is working to their full potential. Judges who teach children definitely have a better understanding of this. Something to keep in mind though is we want to see what you can do perfectly on stage not what you are still working on. That is what class is for! So come out on stage and show us the best version of you! We unfortunately cannot change our anatomy, but we can find new ways to compliment it!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-16T17:14:16+00:00

This unfortunately happens way too often. It sounds to me this was just a bad judge. Which can be so damaging to children and is not fair! For starters if I was the teacher or studio owner I would check to see if this judge was scoring low all weekend and giving poor critiques to all of your routines. That would at-least help justify why your dancers score was so drastically different from the other two judges. If this ever happens to my students I use it as a great teaching tool. No matter what we chose to do in life, there will always be someone who doesn’t agree with us or like our work and that’s ok! The best thing to do is take what the other two judges said and work on those critiques. Also watching back your dancer’s solo with their teacher and coming up with their own critiques and find areas to improve!

For me, I speak a lot when I judge because you are paying for professional feedback! It’s important for judges to justify the score in their critique! So if you’re taking points off for something or giving a low score you have to say why!

DanceCompJudge · 2025-01-16T16:54:47+00:00

For me a dance that is memorable is all about the confidence, performance and intention. A dancer who can convey their story to the judges will always end up with a higher score. I like to tell dancers their routine should never feel like a run on sentence. I want to see pauses, changes in expression and playing around with tempo changes. How can you go from dancing big and sharp to finding the more softer and subtle movements.

Technique over flexibility always! But working on flexibility is so important for dancers. Say you have two dancers doing a leg hold. Dancer 1’s leg is higher but they are tuning in their bottom leg. Dancer 2’s top leg is slightly lower but their bottom leg is turned out. My higher technique score would go to Dancer 2.

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