Competition Rule E.8
The clauses addressing the “Revised Competition Format” and the “New Judging System” (NJS) include wording that will make it possible for the NJS to be used with immediate effect in determined WDSF Championships.
As good a time as any to look at the Judging System 2.1 once more.
With the new system, the adjudicators no longer compare one couple with the others in order to eventually establish a final standing, they focus on each couple individually and award points on an absolute scale from 1 to 10 (1 - poor to 10 - outstanding; with increments of 0.5 permitted) for the quality of dancing in each of the Programme Components.
The WDSF Judging System limits the Programme Components that are graded to four. Two Components cover technical aspects (Technical Quality - TQ and Movement to Music - MM) of the performance and the other two assess the latter's artistic qualities (Partnering Skills - PS and Choreography and Presentation - CP).
12 adjudicators sit on the panel that is divided into four groups - with each group of three adjudicators assessing one Component only. These Components are randomly assigned to the three adjudicators instants prior to each dance.
The adjudicators have just over one (for solo dances) or two (for group dances) minutes to make their assessment and enter their score on the touch-screen terminals. As only one Component needs to be considered and only one value per couple entered, the system is used to assess group dances with up to eight couples on the floor together too.
In the lower-third scoring graphics that are added over the television image after a solo dance, the four Programme Component scores appear together with the total score and the rank for the dance.
To be continued
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