Help needed Scottish Charity Competition 9th Sept 2006

[melb]

I also agree with jammy that it would be nice to have the top three placings announced.

[Gadget]

I think it would be nice to have a 'beginners' category for anyone who has been dancing less that 12 months. This kind of competition is just the sort of atmosphere to encourage fresh talent .

I don't like the idea of having a beginner's competition - it sort of puts the emphisis on competition dancing rather than social dancing.

...It may be tricky if the judges have no formal dancing qualifications - kinda defeats the object of being judged if the person judging you doesn't really know what they're looking for and has never judged a competition before.~

How do you get to judge comps if one of the criteria of being a judge is having judged before? And they are "looking for" what they think are the better dancers. You don't need to be qualified world champions with diplomas in dancing to say "oooh, that was nice" {IMHO}.

Should I seperate Teachers and Non Teachers with the Open and Advanced or should it all just be one.

I think teachers should just be "classed" as people.

Some competitions have a section where you are just allowed to do beginners moves but you can be at any dance level.

Should a Beginners only restrict people to beginners moves.

As has been said - very difficuly to judge without being too harsh; I would definetly say no dips, drops, leans, seducers or arials. No multiple (unassisted) spins beyond 2. I think that these rules should pathe the way to dancers having to keep the moves grounded within the basic moves, without totally restricting it.

Can we not make Gadget be one of the judges - then he'd have to come along

I only come up with the ideas: I'm sure someone will blame me if Scot implements some of them - isn't that enough blame?

{ for the coercion though}

[Dreadful Scathe]

People will complain about the judging no matter who is doing it, they always do. The safest way to introduce non-ceroc judges is perhaps to get anyone who is interested to put their name in a hat and for Scot to select as many as he needs out of it people will still complain but at least there would be no calls of favouritism Although to be honest, its a charity event - it wouldnt bother me who is judging. In fact, I'd be inclined to ask some celebrities

[Scot]

People will complain about the judging no matter who is doing it, they always do. The safest way to introduce non-ceroc judges is perhaps to get anyone who is interested to put their name in a hat and for Scot to select as many as he needs out of it people will still complain but at least there would be no calls of favouritism Although to be honest, its a charity event - it wouldnt bother me who is judging. In fact, I'd be inclined to ask some celebrities

What is the definition of a Celeb

[TheTramp]

What is the definition of a Celeb

Well, I'd be pretty happy if you could get Keira Knightly, Jessica Alba, Cameron Diaz and Salma Hayek along....

[Piglet]

... and Johnny Depp, David Bowie, Anton Du Beck (excuse spelling if I'm way off) ...

[Yliander]

What is the definition of a Celeb

one of the dancers or stars from dancing with the stars - UK equivilant Strictly come dancing?

[Scot]

It's a little late in the day to now be suggesting it's time for a change and not include a Team.

Our Team have already booked and paid deposits for accommodation with a view to participating in the Champs. That's a group of around 25 dancers but, what do we do now?

Fantastic then its in. I love Team

[johnah]

Fantastic then its in. I love Team

Phew, that's a relief. We love coming up for the Champs and now we can look forward to it - again! Thanks for listening Scot.

John

[Dreadful Scathe]

What is the definition of a Celeb

Someone people have heard of - from acting , singing whatever - you could always ask James Mclauchlin of last years Strictly Dance Fever fame he's local and on the dance teaching circuit too

[johnthehappyguy]

Someone people have heard of - from acting , singing whatever - you could always ask James Mclauchlin of last years Strictly Dance Fever fame he's local and on the dance teaching circuit too

I think Ronnie Corbett lives fairly locally !


John

[Heather]

What is the definition of a Celeb

Chantelle ?


Heather
x

[Paul F]

Well, I'd be pretty happy if you could get Keira Knightly

Was she the one who starred in Love Actually?

[Wendy]

Phew, that's a relief. We love coming up for the Champs and now we can look forward to it - again! Thanks for listening Scot.

John

And it's always good to have a proper dress rehearsal before you go and win Blackpool.. and London

Good luck !!!

Wx

[ducasi]

Hi Scot,

Really looking forward to coming over to Musselburgh again.

I think a good idea would be if there was a professional quality DVD made of the event. Perhaps the team who made the Blackpool video could be called on, or else, who did the Ceroc Champs video?

On the subject of celebrity judges, James McLaughlin has already been suggested, but how about either Pamela or Dawn who were in this year's Strictly Dance Fever. OK, neither of them seem to have a Modern Jive background, but they presumably can recognise good dancing when they see it. They could also maybe show us some of the stuff that got them into the programme, or that they learnt while they were there.

In combination with proven Modern Jive experts, I think they could make a valuable contribution to the judges' panel – especially for showcase and team events, where all the judges are watching the same thing.

Back in my write-up of my experiences of the last competition, I had these suggestions for surprise fun challenges...

• Musical chairs
• iPod dancing – only the guy can hear the music
• Name that move – I’ll name that move in three counts!

Not so sure how well they'd work, but they're there anyway...

Hope these suggestions are useful.

(Oh, and I really enjoyed the party at Marco's last night – cheers!)

[Mr Fitz]

Scot,

Here is my tuppence worth.

I would have thought that for a competition like the Scottish Champs it would be essential to have 3 categories : Intermediate, Advanced and Open. I thought the balance last year at Musselburgh was just right and it would be good to keep it that way.

Without wanting to second guess what everyone is thinking, in terms of “which category will I go for” if there is no Advanced then I think the option for some folks would be either not to enter at all, or indeed take a step down and go for the Intermediate. The Intermediate category should be there partly to encourage folk to have a go at competition and IMHO should be off-limits to folk who have already been placed at a previous Intermediate level. I could have a real rant about folk that have been placed in Intermediate Categories over the last few years and are still entering that category. What is that all about??? Move on is what I say (don’t’ get me started). However, if there is no Advanced category then it is probably too big a step.

Other thoughts :

1. A Friday night party would be great
2. Agree with announcing 2nd and 3rd places, even if there are no prizes.
3. Lucky Dip. I believe that Blackpool have it woefully wrong and frankly is a bit of a waste of money entering the lucky dip. The Ceroc Champs in London have it right. For the lucky dip (especially) the attrition rate from one round to the next should not be too great. At Blackpool the aim seems to get from 200? Couples down to 7? in as few steps as possible. Getting through the first round or second round for some folks is a massive confidence boost and part of the enjoyment. London goes from 120, to 100, to 80, to 40, to 20 to 5 couples from one round to the next, with less chance of the baby getting chucked out with the bathwater. It’s more fun, you get to see your friends up on the floor for longer, and you get much more out of it.
4. Judges, I thought the judges did a fine job last year at Musselbro’ and it is interesting to note that there has been no whingeing on the forum about the judges at the last two major competitions (Blackpool and London). I would probably just stick to Ceroc/MJ teachers (if any of them are mad enough to accept such a thankless task).

[Dreadful Scathe]

And it's always good to have a proper dress rehearsal before you go and win Blackpool.. and London

I think their Dress Rehersal was Blackpool, unless theres a new routine - in which case Im looking forward to seeing it. Anyone else doing a team entry?

[Dreadful Scathe]

I would have thought that for a competition like the Scottish Champs it would be essential to have 3 categories : Intermediate, Advanced and Open. I thought the balance last year at Musselburgh was just right and it would be good to keep it that way.

I would disagree, its a quiet competition theres no real need for 3 catagories. If the organiser has to struggle to make 2 rounds for a catagory its a candidate for dropping.

The Intermediate category should be there partly to encourage folk to have a go at competition and IMHO should be off-limits to folk who have already been placed at a previous Intermediate level. I could have a real rant about folk that have been placed in Intermediate Categories over the last few years and are still entering that category. What is that all about???

Nothing wrong with it if its in the rules. I would agree with that rule change though "anyone placed in an MJ competition cannot enter intermediate". If the competition rules do not specify, then it is up to the competitior to decide if they are "advanced" purely because they won the intermediate catagory.

Lucky Dip. I believe that Blackpool have it woefully wrong and frankly is a bit of a waste of money entering the lucky dip. The Ceroc Champs in London have it right. For the lucky dip (especially) the attrition rate from one round to the next should not be too great. At Blackpool the aim seems to get from 200? Couples down to 7? in as few steps as possible. Getting through the first round or second round for some folks is a massive confidence boost and part of the enjoyment. London goes from 120, to 100, to 80, to 40, to 20 to 5 couples from one round to the next, with less chance of the baby getting chucked out with the bathwater. It’s more fun, you get to see your friends up on the floor for longer, and you get much more out of it.

I agree that Blackppol lucky dip is too busy, but the emphasis in any lucky dip competition is fun. And luck More so for a charity event. And the baby doesnt get chucked out with the bathwater if it can dance

Judges, I thought the judges did a fine job last year at Musselbro’ and it is interesting to note that there has been no whingeing on the forum about the judges at the last two major competitions (Blackpool and London). I would probably just stick to Ceroc/MJ teachers (if any of them are mad enough to accept such a thankless task).

I think Scot has a good idea with a change of judges. The judges have always been good, but it befits a charity competition well to vary things every year I think. Well done Scot for not churning out a clone of anyone elses competition

Do I have permission to look for celebrity judges ?

[spindr]

I think Scot has a good idea with a change of judges. The judges have always been good, but it befits a charity competition well to vary things every year I think. Well done Scot for not churning out a clone of anyone elses competition

Do I have permission to look for celebrity judges ?

Maybe, since celebrities should be presumably flush with cash -- and it's a charity event -- maybe one way to locate a celebrity would be to auction off a spot on the judging panel(*).

Or just ask McSmashy or McNicey from LocalFM to be a judge -- at least you might get some free publicity.

SpinDr

(*) assuming that a single judge couldn't completely unbalance any scores, e.g. discard lowest and highest.

[Dreadful Scathe]

If the judges are unbalanced, I wouldnt want them judging me