Traditional Chinese Dance Competition

Last week I was called to  judge Chinese Traditional Dance Competition in conjunction with the University Utara Malaysia (UUM) Cultural Festival 2012.  I am honored and grateful that UUM have invited me as a chief adjudicator in the dance competition. Over the last 3 years, other than UUM,  I have been involved in the School  activities  judging  the Chinese Traditional Dance Competition.  The other one was Northern Region Chinese Folks Dance Competition (吉北華小中華民間舞蹈觀). Many of you may only know me as a belly dance teacher,  are you surprised I jumped the fence and reveled in the opportunity to judge Traditional  Chinese  dance competition? Some of you asked me do you charge when judging? Of course YES, I charge my judging fee and  I dont judge for free!!!

So for all of my young dance students  that I meet in class, competition, I hope that I can make their  dance life happier and healthier and mostly,  MORE FUN!  It’s such a great as  their  teacher, such a fabulous life style, such a rewarding return when I see they fall in love in dance.  I am happy I have been fortunate enough to wear many hats in my dance journey. Beside from  managing studio,  be a  competition judge  several years,  and done almost every job behind the scenes of running a performance from lighting design to stage managing. Dance has played an integral part in my life. I am thrilled that I am able to share my passion with you. 

So far the Dance festivals in school  include competitions for teams only, it’s simply serve as a cultural event focused on  a competitive element,  develop   a great team bonding exercise for a dance group. Serving as a judge in dance competitions is not an easy task.  Different judges have different predilections in what they want to see, some might be especially interested in technique, while another wants to be moved by musicality and expression, but both factors are obviously important and need to be considered. To me, many times this is an unappreciated job, yet the dancers’ supporter/family often make unkind comments because they disapprove of the competition's results.  When you sit there for hours, watching then judging groups of dancers,  some dancers don’t come in — they leave something of themselves outside of the dance. Others come on the floor make me looking  and  keep on looking. I see that spirit in every move,   in the expression in the eyes and their energy, they made me remember them. 

To clarify the judging criteria, for me it is more about the traditions and the costuming too. Costume must be something that isn’t what everyone else is wearing when competing.  So I look for teamwork first of all, then emotion and togetherness in the spirit, Energy is exciting to watch. I've noticed that, it always seems to be the most energetic group that wins. But the energy must be controlled, not wild and the rhythm throughout the whole performance, all  the elements that combine to create a beauty story. I feel this is the same across all kind of dance. Other judges may see and feel differently, but that is my criteria, of course, most judges held their own opinions, and try to do the best and most conscientious job.