Dancing at a Dance Festival. How are the marks awarded?

[JGBMum]

DD just home after taking part in her first festival and performed a ballet and a modern number. She did fairly well, though not up with the stars!
In addition to her certificate, she got a comment sheet, and an overall mark.

But what are the criteria for this mark? In a dance exam, there is a breakdown of what marks are available within each category, eg musicality, barre exercises etc.

Is there something similar in festival dancing? I can't see anything obvious online.

Can anyone advise please?

[JGBMum]

A hopeful (or hopeless) bump!

[RedHelenB]

I think it depends on age a lot, the older they get the more technique comes into play whereas when they are younger it is often down to confidence & personality. Anything over 80 marks is honours & that is considered very good.

Sometimes the write ups are more constructive than others - I find the ballet ones tend to focus more on technique.

But remember, a lot of it is down to personal choice & what can win one festival might not get placed at another!

[RedHelenB]

Another tip is to go & see the older ones dance in ballet & modern to see what sort of comments the adjudicator makes to the ones who have been placed. Often with modern it is about elevation, limberdness, keeping the energy right through the whole of the dance, fluidity of movements etc.

[RussiansOnTheSpree]

Whim. There are normally (depending on the size of the class) several kids who could win and on a different day with a different judge (but the exact same performances) there would be a different result.

[JGBMum]

Thanks for the insights.

[Sparklymommy]

I think it's all really about personal preference and from bitter experience it really isn't worth worrying about to much. Exam marks are much more important.

As a pp stated, different genres of dance they are looking at different things. In ballet it will be about turnout, in modern it could be flexibility, in tap they often talk about loose ankles. It is usually about confidence, stage presence and musicality too.

Just to correct RedHelenB festival marks go as follows:

75-77: Fair a performance limited in its communication

78-80: Moderate a performance showing development of technique and/or communication

80-83: Merit a capable performance showing some artistic appreciation and/or technical ability

84-86: Commended a convincing performance technically and artistically

87-89: Distinction an excellent performance technically and artistically

90+ Outstanding an exceptional performance, both technically and artistically.

That is the standard, All England marking system used by nearly all federation festivals. 90+ rarely awarded. Winning marks are usually (depending on age/ adjudicator etc) in the region of 84-88.

Hope that helps. I have no idea how adjudicators mark them. Usually I think they just pick a number from thin air for the winner and mark accordingly downwards and often I think the lower marked ones se just puts the same mark on lots of sheets and often there is the world of difference between their performances!

[JGBMum]

That's really interesting thanks.
Dd scored 82 & 83 but wasn't placed, in groups with 25/30 dancers, but the 1st placed scores were 86/87 so she wasn't that far away, ( & only a couple of marks from 3rd place)

I did wonder if the judge decided on her top 3 and then gave everyone else a very similar mark, but thought I was being cynical!

I agree re the dance exams being more important, and I like the way the mark scheme is set out (dd does bbo, so can only comment on their scheme) as you can see where you lost marks.
In competitition it's hard to get that same sense of how to improve, even with the comments sheet.

[Sparklymommy]

82/83 at a first festival is very good.

[RedHelenB]

Not at our festivals Sparkly - just merits & honours!

[Sparklymommy]

That's interesting. Can I ask are they federation festivals? Or/and qualifying festivals for the all England Dance Festival? I have been to many festivals over the last eight years, throughout the south of England and I would say ALL of them followed this system (or a very similar system).

I kind of like the idea of merits and honours!

[RedHelenB]

It's IDTA Sparkly. Not sure about the all England Dance Festival but they run regional championships & have a Miss/Master Dance competition yearly in Blackpool.

[Sparklymommy]

That is interesting as our two most local festivals have IDTA championships too. Well, you learn something new everyday!