The international judging system in dance sports, adapted to online competitions

Abstract

Background. As in any other branch of sport, in dance sport, as a result of competitive activity (increasingly intense in recent years), winners are designated, rankings, hierarchies, tops are made, based on more or less objective decisions of the adjudicators, who judge several aspects. In its early stages, judging in dance sports was achieved by comparing pairs that evolved simultaneously on the ring. Following this comparison, using an algorithm for processing the individual evaluations of the adjudicators (Skating system) it was decided who goes further in the competition or the places obtained by the athletes in the final. With the increase in the number of the couples participating in competitions, this comparative evaluation system was overwhelmed, requiring a modern evaluation system based on scoring the evolution of pairs, thus giving rise to a judging software that solves the shortcomings of the initial models. Aims. Our paper wishes to present a judging program derived from the latest judging systems developed by WDSF. This has been successfully adapted to online competitions held in the last months of 2020, in the context of the Covid 19 pandemic, through which the dance sport phenomenon remained alive, motivating athletes to prepare and further improve. Methods. The judging program is an application consisting of JavaScript files running in Chrome, using php programming language and MySQL database. We also wanted to point out that the use of this judging system brings an extra objectivity in the evaluation, constituting at the same time a tool for optimizing the training of the athletes. Results. Most of the participants in our survey confessed that they were not at all satisfied with the old system of judgment (%); it was very opportune to create such a program (%), and the information provided by the software will help them “a lot” in their professional activity. The benefits of the new judging system are the following: more objective evaluation, provides information on artistic and technical training factors, creates the possibility to identify some gaps in the training of dancers, a better image of sport dance. Conclusions. The purpose for which this judging system was created, namely the increase of the objectivity in the evaluation of the dancers, has been achieved. The adjudicators have more time than in a live competition to review the participating pairs and their evolution for a more objective evaluation. These aspects have had a positive impact on the image of dance sport. This system permitted the survival of competitive activity also during the pandemic.