Venting about scoring

[chasphoto]

I know I am not the only one this has ever happen too. But in my single dances at the Holiday Dance Classic, I had one judge who was way out of line. In a 8 and 9 person heat in pro/am smooth all the other judge scored me in 1,2, or 3. I had one judge score me last in all heats. I know you can't ask questions but don't you wonder what they see. My coach say maybe I should get some coaching from the judge at another time. But I looked up the judge and she is mostly Latin. What do you do, do you get coaching or just forget it.

[Joe]

What do you mean you can't ask questions?

[Natalka]

It is ok to ask questions. I have been known to do that. However, make sure that you don't let the judge's answer get you down. Also, sometimes, they may not even remember what you danced like & they may just make up an answer. If it sounds like a reasonable explanation, then say "Thanks so much, I will try to improve on that".
In addition, some judges are very political, so if there was a person competing against you that is from that judges studio or from a certain chain of studios, they will mark that person higher for that reason. But, I think asking questions is a good idea!

[DanceMentor]

If it makes you feel any better, we have gotten last place marks from a couple of different judges (while getting much better marks from others), then come back a few months later and received much better marks from the same judge.

To some extent, I would recommend not worrying about individual judges marks, unless they are consistently marking you down over the course of several competitions. It is likely that the judge will become more familiar with you, or feel that you have improved, and will start to mark you better.

Also, be sure to review your videos, and see if you can find anything that might draw attention negatively. Some judges may only look at the topline, and ignore the fact that you danced extremely well overall, even though there were small issues in the topline. Other judges may be obsessed with rhythm or posture. There is probably something this judge tends to scrutinize that you may not be doing, so try to keep an open mind as to what that might be.

P.S. - It is unfortunate that some judges fail to see the overall performance of the couple, and only look at topline (for example), but this is a reality that all the competitors have to deal with from time to time. I am not sure if this is the only reason, but I remember one judge that likely marked us lower as a result of "failure to smile". :)

[White Chacha]

Within the past 6 months, there's been a thread here indicating that it's not OK to ask judges about why they ranked you one way or another. The consensus was this wasn't done outside of the collegiate circuit. My experience is only with collegiate comps.

[fascination]

at ohio this year I placed 1st with all judges in all dances in one of my smooth sets except for one judge who marked me 7th...while I find it perplexing, I would rathe focus upon the degree of agreement that the other six had

[tanya_the_dancer]

I had that happen to me a few times. Just ignore it.

[chasphoto]

Thank you all for the response. I am just going to ignore it and focus on the other scores. I know sometimes a judge doesn't see you or doesn't like you for some reason. I joked to my coach did I remind the judge of an old boyfriend. I did reveiw the tapes and nothing was way out of line. So it had to be my tux, or my gift to all the judges just wasn't enough this year. Just kidding I'll keep working on my dancing. Hope you all have nice Holidays and your dance wishes come true.

[liz]

I have had to stop myself from studing my scores to much. There is always one that is really high, one that is really low. I think it is important really look at the ones that are close or the same. If you are consistant first/last or somewhere in between that is the important think.

[elisedance]

Do lots of competitions - and try to do so in different areas. That way individual idiosyncacies get evened out and you get a better idea of your dancing. We have three judges that have consistently marked us very low in our local (Ontario) comps (we do a lot) but suddenly one of these flipped from putting us 5/6 to 1/2. For us that was a real and very satisfying measure of progress. Now we have to work on the other two :)

Most important is that comps are a sliding scale - you can go from 1st to 6th from one to the next, the thing is to not let it get you down (though one is obviously disappointed). IMO think of the partnership as a pair of dancers first and competitors second....

[Rugby]

Politics in dancing happens and its not going to change any time soon. Sometimes it works for you and sometimes against. You can't let it get you down though I know its hard. Throw out your high and low score and go by the average of the others. This way, if there is an agenda by any of the judges, you probably will nullify it. Like ED says, go into as many comps as you can and if possible in different places. The comps we like the best are the ones were hopefully nobody on the panel knows us.

There are so many variables at a competition that it really does not take much to change how things come out. Did they see your mistake and not someone else's. On that day some of the couples may be "on" were others will not be. Who are the judges. Did you get time to warm up or did you have to race out onto the floor after a hold-up. Did you just finish your pulse racing latin categorys to have to run to the change room, peel off your sweaty clothes and change in time to go up and stand on deck with your fresh and ready to go standard only competition (or vice versa). Winning or losing can really be a roll of the dice. so don't allow yourself to get too down over your results.

In the end the main thing is to go by how "you" felt about your dancing. We have had comps were we won and got first from every judge but felt hollow because we knew we did not do our best. Other comps we did not win but we were happy because we were able to accomplish some moves together that we struggled with before. Learn from each comp, what worked and didn't, and go from there.

[Larinda McRaven]

I had that happen to me a few times. Just ignore it.

yup.

[latingal]

yup.

ditto. I just use it as inspiration to get back to work!

[Larinda McRaven]

NDCA states that you should NOT address the judges as to why they mark you as they do. If you are friendly with some of them you might in a less public setting ask them what they "saw". But to address a judge and say "Hey why did you mark me bad, you were the only one, everyone else marked me first" is liable to leave a worse impression than your dancing. (if they even remember you at all, after a weekend judging 7000 entires it is kinda hard to remember a specific 5 of someone you don't know and have never seen before.)

Maybe it is personal, probably not. Maybe they are "unqualified", probably not. Maybe they just marked what they saw and what they thought... which is what they are hired to do. Marking you low doesn't even mean they think you are "bad". It is just a quick comparison and a quick prioritizing. You may never know why they mark as they do. After awhile you realize that it all averages out anyway.

[skipper]

It happens----for whatever the reason.
Long ago I had to look at my dancing and decide WHY I dance. Was it the mark? The placement? The journey of learning? The joy of movement? When you find that answer for yourself, everything else will fall into place! I promise!

[elisedance]

very wise...

[waltzguy]

Long ago I had to look at my dancing and decide WHY I dance. Was it the mark? The placement? The journey of learning? The joy of movement? When you find that answer for yourself, everything else will fall into place! I promise!

I'm still trying to figure this question out, it seems like.

[Chris Stratton]

I had one judge who was way out of line. In a 8 and 9 person heat in pro/am smooth all the other judge scored me in 1,2, or 3. I had one judge score me last in all heats.

If everyone else had you in the top three, it hardly matters if the one judge who didn't had you fourth or last, because the algorithm for combining marks is majority rule rather than an average; the only way it could matter is if there was a tie that needed to be broken.

[White Chacha]

If everyone else had you in the top three, it hardly matters if the one judge who didn't had you fourth or last, because the algorithm for combining marks is majority rule rather than an average; the only way it could matter is if there was a tie that needed to be broken.

It could also matter to you if you respect the judgement of the one who's marking you low. That was the case for me, the only time that I sought to talk to a judge who wasn't my coach.