Creativity over Cleanliness - Feedback Wanted!

[naachdicle]

As we enter a new competition season, a lot of our Naach di Cleveland's focus has been improvement- how can we provide the best experience for individuals and teams? How can we provide the best feedback for teams to improve? How can we contribute to improving the U.S. bhangra circuit?

One of the ideas in discussion was changing our bhangra rubric as to focus more on creativity, complexity, innovative choreography and formations over cleanliness and simplicity. ~60%Creativity/Gimmicks/Choreo/Formations~
~40% Sync/Cleanliness/Execution~
We understand that as it stands, bhangra teams and dancers are at competitions to win and adhere to the rubric even if that may handicap creativity and innovation in sets

Ideally, all teams would be bringing 100% of all aspects but maybe we as competition boards can help push dancers, teams, and the overall circuit to the next level by implementing these changes. Naach di Cleveland has always been by dancers, for dancers, So our question to you all is- what do you think? We challenge you to give us your honest opinions

On a side note, with the 1st competition of the season just passed and teams yearning for the next win, what better time to….apply to compete at Naach di Cleveland this spring being held on March 23rd, 2019. Our late deadline November 15th is fast approaching so APPLY APPLY APPLY
bit.ly/naachdicle19

 

[sanjana.m]

(not biased at all but) this is hype and will be a game changer for college teams that have a high turnover of dancers. It will allow them to improve without worrying too much about the capability of their dancers.

 

[saagarm]

So I think that there's always this issue where seemingly creativity runs across the board higher than execution. But when it comes down to who actually wins the comp its the team that executes the best even if their set isn't as creative, regardless of how the rubric is laid out. So I feel like its less about what the rubric says and more reliant on who the judges for your comp will be and what they will value in deliberations

 

[ericsingh3]

can you post the old/current rubric? I personally think sync/cleanliness/execution tie directly into creativity/gimmicks/choreo/formations. Creativity needs to be executed cleanly in order for it to hit and make an impact on the judges imo (and I think that overall impact is what matters in deliberation). The way the rubric is laid out in its sections could give some good context for feedback!

 

[vaibhav]

Ditto to what saagar said! I think a 60/40 split would be a great idea. It can also help redefine NDC and allow it be an even bigger platform for bhangra.

If going through with this idea, though, I highly recommend selecting judges that understand and are comfortable with this approach. Also, it would be key for you all to discuss with or show your judges what an ideal first place team at NDC would and should look like - this will help establish to teams the balance NDC and its judges strive to make between creativity and execution.

 

[Amogh Iyer]

Here is the rubric from NDC 2018. We are currently still working on this years rubric! And yes we will be working closely with our judges on this initiative!

 

[Saab]

So, I don't mind the re-weighting and re-balancing of scores, I just hesitate on the execution of the idea. Its always easier to value execution - its not individualistic to the judges and can be clearly judged over multiple judges, whereas creativity is definitely way more subjective on a person-by-person basis. Judges inherently in the circuit prefer certain things, competitions are terrible at getting them to align on a common way to interpret a rubric, chaos ensues. Also, you can't be memorable if you can't dance (good ideas with terrible execution are not ideas at all) - its typically why teams with great ideas and little execution do so poorly. 60-40 doesn't scream "Creativity over Cleanliness" but rather we just want your good ideas to be done well. If you would do 70-30 or 80-20, that would be something.

Really appreciate you all reaching out though - its a great first step. Would take five points off of form and dancing and then move it too formations/cohesion. I think that swings it to 50.40.10, which is a pretty much 60/40 while also thinking about impact moments and factoring in the crowd response. However, might not be enough to revert back to typical picking the cleanest team tropes.

 

[hardeep_singh]

here's the judging sheet i developed for a major competition, a variation of this rubric was used by another competition earlier this year.

 

[Manreet]

Loving the vibe that NDC is giving by asking for feedback. My view on judging has always been that although a rubric is the "lens" through which a committee wants their competing teams to be "graded", a team's attention should focus firstly on the judges that have been selected. Analyzing their past experience, performances, associations, etc. helps develop a sense of what they appreciate and how they'll judge at any given competition. To further Ram's thought, even if a rubric does lean one way or another, inherent judging preferences and individual interpretations of the rubric can, and sometimes do, result in placings that some competing teams don't agree with based on their view of the competition and what was "pitched" beforehand. To be fair, in the process of adhering to creativity/gimmick leaning rubrics some teams take risks that straight up don't hit, others end up sacrificing too much of their cleanliness, and some undertake the "right amount" with great execution, but still fall short during deliberations to a flawlessly executed performance with arguably borderline risk. Even with a post judges' meeting to help provide feedback and transparency, they're sometimes likely to walk away frustrated with either the judges, the rubric, or both.

My two cents are if you want to emphasize your competition's focus on creativity more (but not necessarily rather) than execution, you should significantly alter the lens so teams realize the importance of analyzing the rubric during the creation of their routine. Either through point reallocation, different articulation explaining each element, etc. research, select, and reach out to modern and traditional judges that have legitimate set-creation and dancing experience so that they can provide you with multiple perspectives. Work with them and communicate your vision so that together, you can work towards an iteration of your rubric that everyone is comfortable with. As a group you may/may not agree that certain rubric elements shouldn't be categorically separated (i.e. your formation/cohesion breakdown) or should (i.e. overall impression incorporated as an artistic/creative element) based on again, your vision/focus. In the end every judge will still be individually subjective and lean on their past experience as a guide during the show, but as an organizer you'll have more confidence that they're more or so aligned with the rubric and that the chaos that Ram mentioned doesn't ensue.

P.S. Judges aside there are certainly some obvious members on BTF whose insight I'm sure everyone in the circuit trusts. Use them!

 

[naachdicle]

Thank you all so much for your input and feedback! Based on what we heard, we hope to work very closely with our judges to help effectively execute this idea. With that being said we're very excited to announce our judges: Sid Pandit, Sahab Grover, and Sukhmandeep Bring. Really excited for you guys to join our team and look forward to all the collaboration