On the 8th of December the WDSF posted an article in its News section titled " High Definition".
Its an amazing little article .
2 paragraphs refer to the WDSF on-line tv net work.
As the title infers.
However!
The remainder of the article.Which by the way is the majority,is about the new judging system that they have implemented for use in the Grand Slam events.
Its an interesting explanation of the system and well worth reading.
Specialy as it is the only on-line explantion of this major change in the way we judge the Sports form of dance.
From what I understand there is just one little bit missing.
And that is the fact that the chairman of adjudicators informs the judging panel at the competition the highest mark that they are permited to award at the event.
This is based on his awarenes of which couples are participating.
The highest mark should reflect the participating couples placings on the WDSF world ranking list.
i.e
if no-one is participating from the top 24 then you can not award more than an 8. If no-one is there from the top 6 on the ranking then you can not award more than a 9.
An interesting situation when the judging panel are infromed prior to the commencement of a competition the direction they should judge.
I might be wrong ,but what does the ranking have to do with how well a couple will dance .The ranking represents how a couple have danced at previous events. But the ranking is not just connected to how a couple dance it is also a reflection of:
1. The size of a judging panel
The more judges at a competition the more ranking points a couple recieves for their results.
2. The quantity of countries represented at an event
The more countries participating, the higher the points awarded for an event
3. The quantity of comeptitors at an event
The more couples competing at an event also increase the points you recieve on the ranking.
All in all the ranking is not just a reflection of competition results,it is also the reflection of a system which forces couples to choose their competitions based on the events possibility to give them points.
It is also a system which can be manipulated to guide judges to restrict their marking based on external influences rather than the event at hand.....
Personaly I do not mind the new system in theory
Its the same as the Dancing with with the stars and makes it more viewer frinedly.
And the judgng criteria is almost the same as an Arthur Murray teaching syllabus .
My only reservation is why are we doing this change?whats the benefit of it ?
AND as usual who has chosen it?