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.
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