Minnesota Dance Team Scoring

Created by the Minnesota Association of Dance Team Coaches

2016

This presentation, created by the Minnesota Association of Dance Teams, will be shared and provided to member coaches for educational purposes.

The material presented is a general overviewof scoring for Dance Teams in Minnesota. It would not be possible to cover all scenarios or all aspects of scoring.

It is intended to be a “Scoring 101” for the Varsity level of competition.

Additional questions can and should be asked to your Head Coach and/or the school’s administration.

Scoresheet Overview

The score sheets are similar for each style (Kick and Jazz), but not the same. No half points can be awarded.

Criteria on the score sheet is examined and determined by each individual official.

While each official must pass an exam to become an official, level of training, expertise, point of view and years of service may lead officials watching the same routine to find different results.

Scoring Rubric

Each judges’ score sheet is worth up to 100 total points.

Points are awarded in each category based off the following rubric:

10 – Superior

9 – Excellent

8 – Very Good

7 – Good

6 – Above Average

5 – Average

4 – Below Average

3 – Marginal

2 – Poor

1 – Very Poor

Kick Scoresheet

Kick Scoresheet Breakdown

100 total points possible

KICKS –evaluated in 3 different areas for a total of 30 points

Technique (10 points), Height (10 points), Difficulty (10 points)

EXECUTION – evaluated in 2 different areas for a total of 20 points

Placement & Control (10 points), Degree of Accuracy (10 points)

CHOREOGRAPHY – evaluated in 2 different areas for a total of 20 points

Visual Effectiveness & Creativity (10 points), Practicality of Content (10 points)

DIFFICULTY – evaluated in 2 different areas for a total of 20 points

Choreography & Combinations (10 points), Formations & Transitions (10 points)

ROUTINE EFFECTIVENESS – 10 points

Jazz Scoresheet

Jazz Scoresheet Breakdown

100 total points possible

JAZZ –evaluated in 3 different areas for a total of 30 points

Technique of Turns (10 points), Technique of Leaps and Jumps (10 points), Difficulty of Skills (10 points)

EXECUTION – evaluated in 2 different areas for a total of 20 points

Placement & Control (10 points), Degree of Accuracy (10 points)

CHOREOGRAPHY – evaluated in 2 different areas for a total of 20 points

Visual Effectiveness & Creativity (10 points), Practicality of Content (10 points)

DIFFICULTY – evaluated in 2 different areas for a total of 20 points

Choreography (10 points), Combinations (10 points)

ROUTINE EFFECTIVENESS – 10 points

Rank Scoring

Judges scores are treated as a whole, even though they are scoring specific categories. Each judge scores each routine on its own merit – routines are not to be compared.

In order to balance out opinions, experience level or possible bias of officials, Rank Scoring is used for all Varsity Dance Team meets except dual meets.

The final score each official gives is weighted into their “rank” for the meet.

Whole scores are transferred to the Point Rank Summary page so Rank Score can be determined

On the Point Rank Summary page, you can see the whole score, total points, rank by judge and the rank point total.

Rank Point Summary Sheet Judge A’s whole scores are changed into her rank scores. The rank

scores of the other officials are also transferred and then the highest and lowest Rank for each team is dropped. The remaining scores are added together to get a total rank score.

The lowest total rank score is the winner.

Rank Point Summary Sheet Ctd…

Since officials may have teams that tie for a rank placing, rank score may have half points or may take up several score slots, depending upon the number of teams that tie for any given position.

In the event of a tied rank score, there is a series of tie-breaking procedures to be followed.

Teams are announced in reverse placement order and their Rank Score is given at that time.

Live Scoring

Last season, a small number of host sites trialed a new process of reporting scores LIVE throughout the meet/competition. The process is similar to score reporting in both gymnastics and figure skating. Scores from the judges are announced after the routine is completed.

Instead of reporting “totals points” to the audience, the actual individual judges scores will be read for each team – from lowest score to highest score – when those numbers are available from the tabulation room.

There will be a delay between the performance and the score for that team while the score sheets are carefully added and recorded by the tabulators.

This season, the Live Scoring protocol will be available to most host sites if they are interested in participating. Several requirements must be met for a host site to offer Live Scoring.

Live Scoring ctd..

Individual judges scores, instead of total points, will be announced.

Total points are only used as a part of the tie-breaking policy, if necessary. Total points aren’t used to determine a winner in a normal meet

It is important to note that final placements are unlikely to be obvious by announced scores.

As scores will be announced from lowest score to highest score, the ORDER of the judges will often be mixed up –therefore RANK will not be able to be determined.

The Future of Live Scoring

In the near future, it is possible that scores recorded by officials could be verified and then displayed or shared electronically.

Having this information available to spectators, media and coaches gives dance another level of perceived validity and certainly adds interest to the event at hand.

While technology continues to be developed, we will continue to test this project to see if coaches can utilize it as a tool for coaching their teams.

It is all too easy for parents and coaches to get so caught up in the performance and outcome of a meet that they lose sight of what is important in high school sports – valuable life lessons, healthy competition and having FUN with friends. Our scoring presentation is meant to provide basic information, not to replicate the training of officials.

Officials have the responsibility to create a safe and fair environment by applying guidelines, making fair and consistent decisions, managing issues and/or behaviors while assessing team competing on the floor. MADT appreciates their efforts and abilities and we recognize that competitions could not happen without the contributions of BOTH officials and coaches.