Congratulations to all of you who competed at the Country Dance World Championships! We congratulate those who came away with World Championship titles as well as all of those who attended qualifying events, worked hard all year, and had the courage and perseverance to put themselves on the line and go for it-we salute you! I would also like to thank to all those who take time to comment and make suggestions to the Rules Committee- your thoughts and support are appreciated. For 2019, we have a few clarifications and updates. We are in the middle of the cycle of Rules 2017-2019, so most changes will happen next year. Keep reading these newsletters and we will introduce the changes for Rules 2020-2022 during the course of this year. The following are the changes and clarifications for 2019:
All scoring will use medals (GG, GH, G, S, B, M) rather than grades. Starting in 2019, in Couples, Line Dance, and Teams, these medals will be used rather than grades (AA, A, B, etc.). This will not change the scoring but is to standardize communication across the Dance Types. The grades (AA, A, B, etc.) are based on the North American school system which is not in place in much of the world. Our dance sport has developed the meanings for the medals (GG, GH, G, S, B and M), so we will use these medals across all Dance Types: Line Dance, Couples, ProAm and Teams.
Feedback from judges for Rules violations will be added. This, like the grades, will not change the scores, but is designed to give competitors specific feedback. We want to increase communication with competitors, so four codes will be added: C, D, F and M. Judges will use these codes when and if they mark a competitor down so the competitor will know that they were marked down and why. C is for Costume, D is for Delivery of dance, F is for Floorcraft, and M is for Movement (which includes not doing basic timing in Newcomer or IV divisions and Vanilla in Line Dance divisions as well as Movement violations). Now if competitors are marked down for a violation, they will know right away.
Clarification of Immediate Graduation: We had a problem with competitors being ‘double graduated’ – that is, they graduated after the Country Dance World Championships and then were forced to graduate immediately at their first event of the year. We will stipulate that they need not immediately graduate if they had already graduated at the previous World Championships.
Clarification of Contestant-Selected Music division time: Team performances, Masters ShowDance, SuperStars/Crown/Showcase Masters Solo Medleys will have language added that the clocking of each self-selected music performance begins when the music begins and stops when the music stops.
Beta testing for using placements in ProAm Intermediate, ProAm Advanced, and ProPro: We are working towards using placements in ProAm Int/Adv and ProPro. This Dance Season, we will be training judges in methodology and beta testing scoring methods all year. This is a big change so we want to be sure we are fully prepared and that the change is seamless.
Kind Regards,
UNITED COUNTRY WESTERN DANCE COUNCIL
Beth Emerson
UCWDC VP Rules
w: www.ucwdc.org p: 405.535.3073 e: rules@ucwdc.org