Performing Group Judged Classes

As a responsible service provider, we are constantly seeking new ways of doing old things by constantly reviewing our training programme, and one of our latest initiatives is the introduction of Judged Classes for the students in our Dance Competition Team. In the last few years, participation rate in Dance Competitions have intensified, where for instance, an 8&U Ballet Solo age category can have more than 50 competitors dancing their hearts out for a spot on the podium. Indeed, this 'phenomenon' is slowly creeping into all other dance genres like Lyrical, Hip Hop and Jazz dance.

And the simple reason is that beyond inculcating the art form of dance for any student who loves to dance in the good ol' days, every dance school is now 'encouraged' to throw their hats into the Competition arena for 'fear of missing out' as achievements from Dance Competitions are being viewed increasingly by most schools as the defining quality and gold standard of a dance studio. In our opinion, this is in part fuelled by the explosive growth in social media where it is easy to share 'glorified' images/videos of dancers in pretty tutus performing gravity defying dance movements. Just take a look at the number of young users on Instagram who are earnest dance students themselves, and you would know where this is heading. 

Given that this is an occurrence that we foresee would continue to increase exponentially in the future, it is imperative for us to explore new training initiatives in order to prepare our students for the harsh demands awaiting their few minutes of limelight on stage. And this was the motivation that gave birth to our Judged Classes. 

Judged Classes conducted by Dr Filomar on 23rd June 2022
 

As seen in the video above, we are eternally grateful to have secured the services of Dr Fil (as he is commonly known in the industry) to conduct our first-ever judged classes for our Competition Team in June 2022. A familiar face in Dance Competitions where he is often invited to the panel of judges, the judged classes were well-received by both students and parents alike. In the past, we may have to second guess what judges at Competitions were looking for on stage. Thus, through these judged classes, the learning outcomes of such sessions are exponential in its value: 

1. Each student/group is allocated an intimate 20-25 session of class time with the guest instructor. 

2. Each student/group will first perform their item for the guest instructor, with the instructor subsequently taking over to give feedback and corrections. 

3. With the feedback gained, the student/group will perform a final run of their item to conclude the session. 

4. During the sessions, the school principal sits in alongside the guest instructor, taking notes during the session for further follow up with our teachers, so as to continue working on the feedback from the guest instructor after the judged classes. 

5. All sessions are also video recorded for review, and are thereafter shared to our students/parents for their viewing. 

6. Our students gained the familiarity and confidence to perform in front of the same judge at future competitions. 

As shared earlier, we would have to second guess what Dance Competition judges are looking out for in the past. With our judged classes now, we are able to learn first-hand the inclinations of these judges when it comes to appraising dancers on stage. It genuinely does not get any better than this in the preparation of our students for Dance Competition.  

If you have been with us up to this point, we thank you for your attention to this article and we hope this sharing will provide you with better insights on what our Judged Classes are all about. Please feel free to contact us at [email protected] for further assistance and in the meantime, stay safe and keep on dancing!