Marzipan : Food For Thought : Judging

Its been too long since ive posted. Sorry for the delays n all, but will be MORE ACTIVE :) Ok well another post regarding my thoughts on judging. This will mainly be in perspective of judging a popping battle in my point of view. For all u other genre dancers out there, please substitute the terms relevantly heh heh :P

Ok well, ever sat down and watched a battle and wonder how the hell are the judges gonna decide whos gonna win!??!?! Its like both guys are either damn good, or theyre strong in each other's weak points. Well, i guess first each judge has to define what he/she is looking for, as well as one's own definition of dancing.

First lets talk about what judges look out for. Its usually unique to each judge but some events do call for certain criteria. Personally, if i were to judge say a beginners popping battle, id look out for foundation over style. Because being a beginner you need to have the solidness of foundational skills before venturing too much into style. Just an example there! So sometimes judges need to modify their expectations and their judgement according to events.

The second point is what is ones definition of dancing. There are a million different perspectives on this and i suggest finding your own reasonable definition with substantial logical backing and stick with it. Dont just say something or believe in something that doesnt exist. 

For me, what i try to breakdown when i see someone dance is 2 things.

1) Foundation/Technic

2) Person's expression of music

1) Firstly, you can argue that yeah maybe if this guy's wave is not as clean is forgivable because its just his STYLE. But no, to a certain extent, style has to portray a level of technical mastery. Even if its ure style, u need to make it sharp/clean/tight. Unless its really really a VERY deliberate style to make it sloppy. But generally not the case. So when u see a person dance, i give 50% of my judgement based on his foundation level. If i see him struggling with a roll or unable to pop properly, means his technical level is not there. If he tries to do a sick move but u see the move as sloppy or could be much better, means lack of technical level. 

One problem is that you may ask what is an acceptable level of technical/foundational proficiency? Id say, make your technics full, clean, and find a benchmark. Usually if youre technique is say as clean or better than 70% of the population, you know ure around the average mark. And i mean GLOBAL population. If not, its time to work. To be international standard id think u need to hit higher than 80% level.

2) The other thing is the dancer's expression of music. When you see someone dance and it feels good to watch, chances are he is feeling the music. If u see someone move exactly like the music, chances are he is expressing the music very well! So there may be times people feel the music but they dont show the music that well, or vice versa. You need to be able to know what ure good at and work on it. Its like, if u cant show me u feel the music well, u need to show me that u can express it well. Because i believe that if u can do either pretty well, u will be decent in the other. 

For example, Acky. He can dance and u will just be able to feel him dancing to the music. You can see him feeling the rhythm of the song and flowing with it. He is feeling it.

Salah. He doesnt dance as much, he still does but his forte lies in his Showing of the music through his actions. He can do sick stuff that really matches the music like a glove. That is feel as well.

So those are examples of how ppl express the music. And for me if i would try to fairly judge someone, I would try to judge them base on technic and expression of music. probably on a 40/60 percentage.

You can tell when someone is technically lacking and you can tell when someone doesnt feel the music. :) work on it people!!!!

-MarZipan