Judges

[dheerja]

I think we all agree that competition judges shouldn't be random uncles/aunties with no bhangra experience. What are your thoughts on experienced judges from India vs. former dancers here?

Personally I'm a little torn on the issue. I like the idea of having former college/independent dancers from here as judges, just because they've competed in the scene before and can easily judge teams from North America. They are also less prejudiced against coed teams/all girls teams, and routines that have a more modern flavor.

The problem with these judges is the potential bias they bring to judging. They probably read POL and BTF, and know what teams are considered amazing and what teams are hated on. Before a team even gets onstage, these judges will probably have an opinion already formed, and maybe even a set of placings.

The problem with judges from India is basically what I said earlier. These judges usually strongly favor all guys and traditional teams, and are completely unreceptive to coed teams and modern styles.

 

[Temurzai]

i think if we have legit judges here that were previously dancers HERE...we should use them. i think its the best way to go, but i dont think theres many that would fit that category...

or maybe since we dont have enough dancers turned judges on THIS circuit, we can maybe do half half, two indian and two northamerican? i duno..

 

[Jeeti]

Ok...the best judging combination for a competition is irrelevant of their background...there are plenty of judges that come from traditional bhangra backgrounds or modern backgrounds that have been great judges. Obviously, they should have a good background in bhangra.The problem is the issue of whether or not they can leave any bias they have at the door....that is what defines a good judge.

Also, I mentioned in the BIB thread...but its really difficult to say what defines a good judge...if there a panel of three judges because each has their own rubric...a controversial result can only be attributed to that specific combination of judges rather than each individual judge...so therein lies the problem...

Just find judges that aren't obviously bias in their score sheets, or say stupid stuff in their feedback (which I'm sure we have all heard)...and you should be fine...

can't please everyone with the placings...someones always gonna bitch about it, and then there are going to be the winnners which are going to be quite happy and feeling deserved of the way things turn out.

 

[Havish]

This is actually something I have been thinking about for a while now too.

I think judges that are former dancers would be the best call. Because people from India would be hard to get and also I'm not much of a fan of getting uncle/aunties that think they know bhangra and what the current competition world is about. I would rather have people that are involved in the bhangra circuit who know what bhangra is judge competitions. Yes there are a very, very few number of people that would qualify but I think that would be the best option to get a fair judge.

 

[dheerja]

I think there are more former North American dancers judging than we think. I know two people who judged Blizzard, Sapna, and possibly others. Blowout this year also a few judges who were dancers on teams here.

 

[Havish]

Yes there are plenty of former dancers, but the number of qualified dancers that would make really good judges is limited.

 

[Jeeti]

As more of us get old and wise, expect plenty more judges that are former dancers...that we are all familiar with.

 

[dheerja]

True. Right now most qualified people are still on or strongly affiliated with teams. A few years from now competitions will be able to solicit these dancers for judges

 

[sulmoney]

its already happening to some extent, and will continue to happen
i judged a comp (desi dance project) in syracuse
govind (yale) did the princeton comp, along with pashi (rutgers), who also did gotham if im not mistaken
gagandeep (rutgers, tbt) did fusion this year, again if im not mistaken
ajay (nyu) has done some
and we already have the cornell triumvirate of tarun, amandeep, jasjeet out there
im sure there are more on the west coast that i just dont know about as well

 

[Nikhil]

The situation with judges parallels the evolution of bhangra that our generation has started. Throughout the years we have witnessed Bhangra change shape and form, with trends coming and going. But beyond all of that, the knowledge and history of Bhangra is being cemented into a very firm foundation. It's not just the technical aspects and cultural significances of a dance that originated in Punjab, but this foundation and addition of knowledge is inclusive of our experiences in organizing competitions/exhibitions and taking part in them over here in the US/Canada. Because we are able to fine tune our perceptions and immediately identify what we want and what we do not want to see in such shows, we are able to fine-tune what should be expected in terms of judgment as well.

The more we come to find out about how to do bhangra (technically, culturally, administratively), the more we become capable of picking judges who best understand this metamorphosis. So when Jeeti and others have suggested that we will see more former dancers, its inevitable. Many of US will become judges because we understand where Bhangra came from (origins here in North America as well as in India/Pakistan). These past years have been the years where we've gotten an very good grasp of what this all means. It's no coincidence that these years have also featured some severe controversies because it takes time to understand and almost perfectly apply this knowledge. You should still expect more controversy though, because evolution never ceases.

 

[Vic]

I would love to be a judge. And I would love to talk to any team that feels anything that was unfair. As long as a judge can back up why points were given so low in a particular category, no one can really complain.

 

[Rohit]

I agree with vic. as long as the judge is honest in the delivery of his/her points then the judge is legit. I'd love to be a judge too it would be sick to actually watch and critique properly then on POL or what not lol.