Getting the Most Out of Your Judges' Tapes
by Shirlee Whitcomb
There is ALWAYS something of value to get from a judge's commentary.
Avoid the pitfall of getting so emotionally caught up
in where they ranked you or the score they
gave you, that you don't allow them the opportunity to talk through the
show and account for what guided them to that score. It is far too easy
to let emotional tension of the moment color what should be a useful
tool.
You have more in common with the judging community than you realize. Every
tape a judge makes, every score a judge gives is scrutinized
by the entire community he/she serves, and countless
instructors and fans are "judging" what
they do. They are as much "on the line" as the students
and all of you.
They are given 5 minutes to process some 6000 bits of data within each
show. They are expected to see everything, mentally record
it, speak encouragingly about it, offer solutions to
problems and remain as alert and vitalized
with the 30th performance of the day as they were with
the first. They don't
have a "warm up" time. They must be "on" from the
get-go. They have 2 minutes to reference the curriculum
and assign a score and as the show progresses, they must
make comparisons to each other performance
they have processed. By the time the 30th group of the
evening has performed, the judge has processed over a
million bits of information and assigned
a total of 60 scores (2 per score sheet). Furthermore,
he/she is expected to remember everything in order to
hold intelligent and informative dialogs
with the instructors at a meeting which is held following
a 6 hour contest when both judge and instructor are drained.
Still, they remain committed,
they continue to work, they continue to care and inevitably
they get better and better. They certainly aren't perfect,
but God love them, they
are important and valuable to our process.
Remember, you've had intimate involvement with every count for 4
months or more, they've had a 5 minute exchange with
your creation and your
students. Be realistic in what you expect from them in
this time frame.
The best way to get the most information from any judge’s tape is
to be organized in your preparation for listening to tapes and preparing
for critique.
I’m going to reference this approach using GE as an example. You
should know each effect in your show and how you hope your audience will
respond to it. The judge is a member of the audience, and his/her response
should be measured in the same way.
• Make a chronological list of your effects (or in the case of EA,
list design events or in equipment/movement the vocabulary)
in a vertical column, leaving space either next to or
following each effect/event/vocabulary notation
for you to note comments
• Review each judge’s response to your show and make whatever
notes you hear next to the particular moment in your show. You’re
going to measure not only what the judge says, but also any change in their
tone
of voice or even if there was silence. Here’s what you will learn.
• The ideal "read" will provide you with an ongoing
commentary of response that includes both positive and
negative issues and is well balanced between what the
students are doing and how they are doing
it. This ideal situation allows you to have a dialog
with the judge from a common base of reference, since
it’s probable
that you are aware of the strengths and weaknesses as
well. From this kind of commentary, coupled
with your own areas of awareness, you will begin to make
a "list of
things to do" that will start to improve the show design
and the performance quality.
• No response from the judge at a key time means that the event
either didn't make a strong impression, or the judge
didn't
see it because they were looking at something else. They
may have been processing it in the context of what you
did earlier or later. This tells you that
you might want to look at the staging as well as what
was going on around the particular effect or event. It
is also an area to highlight for further
conversation with the judge.
• The judge's tone of voice changes and there is a gap in
the dialog. This suggests that something bothered the
judge, that they are watching the process to determine
what the problem is, or they may not have
enough information to make a comment. Pinpoint this area,
look at it to see if you realize it is a "weak spot"
and do what you can to improve it. It's also an
area for dialog with the judge.
• The judge who gives you a "roadmap" of what you're
doing, at least can assure you that he/she is processing
everything. The fact that they can read your work as
you hope they will, tells you that
much, even though it might not give you the information
that lets you know if it was successful or not. The success
or question of each event is the
focus of conversation with this judge.
• The judge pinpoints problems within the show and seems to focus
only on weakness. Recognize this and understand that sometimes judges are
trying very hard to help you see points that you might have overlooked or
which are hampering the success of the show. They may feel that their greatest
contribution is through that approach. This is frustrating to you because
you want to know if you did ANYTHING right and all you’re getting
is the negative. Nonetheless, accept the information, note it and try to
determine what, if anything, you can do to make it better, or that you can
offer the judge to clarify his/her concerns. When you see him/her, you should
encourage the judge to let you know when something was successful and when
it was not and if it was not, what specifically was the problem. Even if
you don’t get the problem identified, highlight that moment and re-examine
it yourself.
• The judge is totally focused on performance and never talks about
the design/effect of the show. Performance is the single
most commonly understood aspect of judging. Everyone
from the best judge out there to the newest
audience member, shares an awareness of excellence (or
its absence). It's
a secure area from which a person can respond. Sometimes,
if the performance is so weak that you can't really
appreciate or even process "the
show" then that approach to commentary is understandable.
Even if this is not what you hope to hear, still,
note the performance issues and let them be a basis for
consideration during "cleaning".
Never negate this information just because you are disappointed
that it lacked
balance relative to program.
If there is a critique, this process puts you in focus and allows you
to pinpoint specific areas about which you wish clarification
or about which you wish to supplement the judge's recognition.
