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On Judging for the AC
Dance Examinations...
Fair? Or unfair?
I heard some comments about the judging criteria for the exams. I'd like to say
one thing from my previous experience in Ballet examinations. Our ballet
examiners are brought in from overseas (mostly from UK) to judge in the
different schools. They are alwiz different people, and they all have their own
marking preferences. I recall my ballet teacher saying things like, "this
examiner likes expression", or "this examiner is very strict on technique"...
They all have their own preferences and mark differently from other examiners.
I remember frens trying for 3 times to pass an exam, failing the first 2 times
coz the examiner was very strict, but scoring very high the 3rd time coz the
examiner was lenient... Examiners are inevitably humans after all.
Although there is a marking system - scores for timing, musicality,
interpretation and expression, technique, etc - each examiner gives scores
differently. In other words, you may score very high this year due to your
strong techniques that the examiner favors, but be marked down next year because
the other examiner was looking for expression and musicality that you did not
provide enuf to meet her standard. As such, so-and-so may score lower last year,
but higher than you this year.
A scoring sheet helps, but in the end, the examination is still marked by people
wiith their own subjective preferences, so it may be fair across the board on
average but it is not alwiz precise. Note that judging is done by humans,
and all humans have differing preferences.
The only way to ensure that you are better than the rest is to be so good that
you're clearly better than them in all aspects of the dance. Also, you
have to be judged in the same examination to see where you stand as compared to
the other students (Otherwise it's not easy to compare).
Another thing to note is that your standard today, may be different from your
standard tomorrow or next week or next year. You may panic in the exam or screw
up your routine; you may have stage fright, or you may excel in the examination
environment. The judging depends on the student's performance in the exams.
I have taught many little gals who were very good in class but they totally
freaked out in the exams, and as such, scored very low... Not fair, but hey,
you're judged by your performance at that time, in front of the examiner, not by
how good you are supposed to be normally. Principal Ong tries to prevent this
stage fright thingy by forcing the students to do run-throughs with the lighting
and everything, to minimise the chances of screwing up.
To sum it all up, judging is done by humans and human's opinions are
subjective. As such it is inevitably 'unfair' to a certain extent. We try
to keep it fair and consistent, but dancing is after all an art, and unless we
do dance in a multiple choice format (MCQ) it's hard to be super consistent.
And for the people who did not perform their best their best in the exams, dun
worry, this is not the last one... there's another one coming up. And soon... =)
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