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This is a Point-Counterpoint discussion of Jack & Jill Judging by two nationally respected dancers, Randy Clements and Mike Corbett.  We welcome feedback from the Swing dance community using the link at the bottom of the page.
 

Judging Jack & Jill Comps
A New Concept: Couples Judged, Individuals Honored
By Randy Clements

Jack and Jill competitions have been judged in two basic formats. The first approach is to judge dancers in Jack & Jills like we do in all the other Swing divisions - as a couple. The second approach, started about ten years ago is to judge Jack and Jill's in an individual format.

Before I go any further, let me say I have no desire to start a debate.

Most of you know where I stand on this matter.  For those of you that don't, I don't believe that individual judging is possible for a couple's dance.  I have spoken out against it from the beginning and am not a part of conventions that use it. I simply have boycotted it from the inside.  When a convention hires me to judge and they use the individual judging system, my contract stipulates they can only use me in the divisions that are judged as a couple, and/or just in the Finals of the Jack and Jill's.

One thing that Swing dancers agree on is that Swing is a partner dance.  If this is true, the basic elements - connection, teamwork, timing, etc. - cannot be ignored when judging a Swing Jack and Jill.  I will let the definition of connection stand on its own but, obviously, if a judge is looking at just one of the dancers,  then he can't, by definition, see their connection.  If he can, then he is not judging them individually.

Let's look at timing.  If a follower dances off-time, she should be counted off for it unless she was lead off-time by the leader - and then she should be commended and given points for her following, and maybe even for the connection.  If a judge is asked to judge the individual, then he could not have seen why the follower danced off-time and would be forced to mark her down.  In my opinion, that goes against the foundation of our dance.

As I said earlier, I don't want to start a debate.  I simply feel there has to be a better answer.  I do believe in the best dancers making it to the finals, I just don't want to ignore the soul of our dance to get it done.

This brings me to my reason for writing this.  For more than a year now, I have been working on a new system to judge Jack and Jills and I think it is ready to be introduced.  I am calling it C.J.I.H: "Couple Judged, Individually Honored".

I am debuting it at Americas' Classic Championships this Easter.  In short, it will almost be seamless for the dancers.  The judges will have a different approach but it is not too much different than simply judging a Strictly Swing division.

The system incorporates multiple partners in heated formats.  The tally program is completely new and is based on a single score from the judges that can be converted into two scores, one for the leader and one for the follower.  I would like to take this time to say thank you to Craig Hutchinson for helping me with the database design.

Please accept my invitation to be part of this system's debut!
 

USASN: Explain how the heats are set up.
RC: This new concept will be seamless for the competitors. We will still have the contestants switching partners with multiple heats.

USASN: Explain the tally system.
RC: It is based on the judges giving one score for each couple that can be converted into individual scores for each partner. I will be giving a brief breakdown of the entire system at the dancers' meeting Easter weekend.

USASN: What are the specific differences in the judging approach?
RC: The difference is that the judges will be looking for all the partner elements instead of just evaluating the individual dancer.

USASN: How will judges differentiate between good and bad "leads" and "follows"?
RC: The judges can now look for the leads and the follows using our already established partner elements - including connection. That is an advantage of the system .

USASN: What positive outcomes will be produced by this system?
RC: It will produce the BEST Swing dancers moving forward to the finals. It still incorporates "multiple" partners to eliminate that one "rough catch". Dancers will get a score for EVERY partner they dance with and judges will now be able to use ALL of the fundamental Swing dance elements to determine their scores. 
 

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Judging Jack and Jill Comps – A Counterpoint
By Mike Corbett 

Last Month’s issue featured an article entitled, “A New Concept: Couple Judged, Individuals Honored”, which was characterized by the Editor as a “new philosophical and analytical approach for judging the ever-expanding Jack and Jill competitions around the country”.  While the approach is based on Randy Clements' personal philosophy and analysis, it is my strong belief that the analysis is incomplete and flawed and the philosophy based on an incorrect premise. 

The proposed system’s key distinction is the requirement that the judges rate dancers as couples in the call-back process for finals rather than as individuals.  The scores are then split and individuals are advanced to finals based on the combination of their couple scores. The primary premise put forward in support of this requirement is Randy’s personal belief that individual judging is not possible for a couples dance.  This premise is based on the claim that when the judges judge the individual, they do not observe the couple, and that the judge doesn’t see, evaluate and consider the individual’s contribution to the quality of the connection or other critical elements like timing and teamwork.  In fact, the judges do observe and evaluate the partner elements when judging individuals. 

Sure, if the judge is unwilling to adapt their techniques to evaluate and consider these issues, in favor of a strict mark-them-down for mistakes approach, and fails or refuses to evaluate the partner elements of the dancing, they will certainly produce a flawed evaluation of the individual.  Adaptation is the crux of the matter.  The individual call-back system currently in use, is based on the "yes/no" concept rather than a strict mark-down for each error observed.

In the interview portion of last month’s article Randy asserts that positive outcomes produced by the recommended changes are that…

1. It will produce the BEST Swing dancers moving forward to the finals.
2. The judges will now be able to use ALL the fundamental Swing dance elements to determine their scores. 

With regard to “1.” above, the current individual call-back system has already proven to bring back the best dancers to the finals but the proposed system, in practice, does not because the luck of the draw is magnified in its effect.  Under the proposed and recently debuted system, a judge cannot honor the better partner with a call-back without, at the same time, honoring the weak link. Nor can a judge drop the weak link without penalizing the strong one. 

Under the individual call-back system, either a leader or follower can advance even if they draw poor partners for each preliminary dance and the individual can be dropped from advancement no matter how much better a skill level their partners demonstrated.  Partner draws with significant skill differences are most common in the lower divisions, as long as objective results based criteria are used for qualification.  When subjective or choice-based criteria are used, these skill level differences are often pervasive at any level.  Choice-based qualifications include any qualification that is based on a choice a competitor may have made that isn't a direct indicator of dance level, such as teaching dance lessons or past entry to a competition above their dance level.  Another common choice is that of protecting one's novice or amateur status when the objective dance level is higher.  Choice-based criteria produce competition divisions with wide ability ranges beyond the lowest level.  With this in mind, it is easy to conclude that the use of objective, results-based divisional qualification criteria is as critical to producing a fair contest as is the finals call-back system. 

With regard to “2.” above, the judges who have adapted to the widely used individual call-back system already use all the fundamental Swing dance elements to determine which contestants to call back to the finals. 

For those who don’t understand “scoring” in a preliminary round, in neither system are actual dance “scores” submitted by the judges.  No actual placement order is determined by each judge.  Both systems ask the judge to “call-back” a number of contestants, whether couples  or individuals, by designating a "Yes" then a much smaller number as alternates by awarding a "Maybe" and each other couple or individual is awarded a "No".  It is a comparative process, rather than a placement or score, although the designations can either begin as, or are converted to, numbers in the scoring/tally room.

National Jack and Jill competition has evolved well.  It’s not perfect, but for the reasons discussed above, the "Couple Judged, Individuals Honored" system debuted Easter weekend in Dallas, if widely adopted, would result in a significant setback rather than an improvement.  The customers have driven the evolution over the past decade.  Their concerns and needs have been championed and competently administered by the World Swing Dance Council and the vast majority of its member events have enthusiastically adopted the improvements.  Further enhancements are and will be needed over time and there is a continual need for better communication but the system is not broken.  There is no need to reinvent the wheel but, rather, to continue to perfect its roundness.

Jack & Jill History and Evolution

Editor's Note: Dancer / Judge / Event Director feedback is encouraged for this important topic.  Please click here to post your comments on our USA Swing Net Discussion Forum.
 

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