The stupidity of all of your objections is evident in the ease with which you're purported "problems" are solved. In this particular case, apparently all of your judges are illiterate. They can't read what is printed and can't write notes with, oh, say, a pen?

Besides, Sir Look-how-much-I-think-know, so much of competition operations and presentations are computerized that a simple facility could be developed (I could do it myself but Jonathan would probably do a better job) by which a judge would simply enter his list of clients from the CD in his satchel or memory stick on his keychain and the system would create the list.

In this case, the judge would be automatically notified and would simply have to read his list from the device screen.

That sound you hear is 99% of your arguments being flushed down the toilet.

But, you know, I've been going about this all wrong. Instead of simply forcing you to confront serious and counterproductive tendencies in the competitive dance world, I simply need to let you demonstrate your lack of knowledge.

Your entire position in this exchange has been based on the premise that the outrageous fees that you pay to what you call "high-level" or "world-class" are justified by the enhanced knowledge which you are allowed to share.

Please describe for all of us one specific lesson (skill, resolution, strategy, tactic, etc.) that helps to justify that extra expense. In other words, what have you learned from one of your "advanced coaches" that the average dancer (myself, for example) could not or would most likely not learn from a "local teacher"?

Just one simple one, mind you, and not too detailed. I'd hate to see you whine about my trying to benefit from your expenditures.


You might also try confirming the existence or non-existence of your amateur partner. However, I'll be happy with an brief description of one of those skills.



jj

""If you were experienced in the real world of competitions, you'd know that many couples register too late to make it into the program. That's especially true of some of the top competitors."

The stupidity of all of your objections is evident in the ease with which you're purported "problems" are solved. In this particular case, apparently all of your judges are illiterate. They can't read what is printed and can't write notes with, oh, say, a pen?"

If the program does not accurately represent the couples (which is more often than not), then they will have to declare their relationships as the couples take the floor - they can't work it all out in advance.

"Besides, Sir Look-how-much-I-think-know, so much of competition operations and presentations are computerized that a simple facility could be developed (I could do it myself but Jonathan would probably do a better job) by which a judge would simply enter his list of clients from the CD in his satchel or memory stick on his keychain and the system would create the list."

Competition operations are in the stone age of computerization - it's a world of badly written systems that are incompatible with each other, crash at the worst possible moment, etc. And now you want to force all judges to carry a common recording PDA or laptop whenever they travel??? Get real.

"That sound you hear is 99% of your arguments being flushed down the toilet."

Nope, the sound I hear is the ranting of someone with no knowledge of the real dance world sitting in his armchair proposing things that those involved can only laugh at.

Face it - you have no chance of enacting your crazy ideas. But do go ahead - you seem to be in the US so the NDCA would be the appropriate governing body for competitions you might attend. Write to them and see what they say...

"Your entire position in this exchange has been based on the premise that the outrageous fees"

Your entire premise has been based on the fallacy that twice the usual rate for something exceptional is "outrageous".

"In other words, what have you learned from one of your "advanced coaches" that the average dancer (myself, for example) could not or would most likely not learn from a "local teacher"?"

This message board is bursting with such content that I have posted over the past few years. Some key points: the reality of how cbm works in reverse turns. How a HT foot action is actually danced. Timing of body movement relative to foot movement. And on and on... there are hundreds of posts on those topics here. Local teachers may occasionally attempt to address these, but the experts have a clarity of their own understanding which enables them to develop these skills in students more practically than other teachers. Many of these lessons transcend the level of the student - from beginner to national finalist, they all have the same things missing and sometimes get essentially the same lesson, because their local teachers have been unable to effectively communicate these points to any of them.

Anonymous. You wrote that many couples register too late. There is always a closing date for entries. This should be enforced. On another site it is written Thank heavens for Blackpool Assen and the UK. No entries taken after the due date. Do you think that that is as it should be. Why have a due date if you are not going to stick to it. I suppose we should all join in one chorus of Money Money Money Its a Rich Man's World.
Heres one for the panel. Does it sometimes happen that four of the judges are pupils of the couple they are judging. I could re-phrase that so that it reads. How many judges are judging their own teachers. Which means more than one judge is involved.

"Anonymous. You wrote that many couples register too late. There is always a closing date for entries. This should be enforced."

A competition is in large part defined (for both audience and other competitors) by the number and strength of the couples who shows up to dance at it. It's not in the organizers interest to turn them down if they can be accommodated without ruining the schedule. This is especially true as many of those who register late are the couples who are likely to win or take top places - the competition benefits a lot in reputation if they are there and looses a lot if they are not.

Anonymous. Those who enter after the closing date . Their names and numbers will not be in the program. It is anoying to see couples dancing and not to know their names.

"Anonymous. Those who enter after the closing date . Their names and numbers will not be in the program. It is anoying to see couples dancing and not to know their names."

Avoiding such minor audience annoyances is hardly the most important guiding principal in running a competition.

Many of the couples who enter late are also quite well known from their leading position in the field, and can make a large difference in the prestige of a competition by their presence.

This statement more than any other shows that you do not know what's going on.

The remote-driven scoring software is a fully fledged application that I've seen in use in at least two different amateur competitions (perhaps pro/am competitions are behind the curve). The handheld devices are provided by the competition. The actual roster for each heat is projected on the wall.

Do you know what a memory stick (also called a flash drive or a USB drive) is? It's not even as large as a man's thumb. I honestly don't think that it would impose a burden on anyone.

Will the NDCA go for my idea? Of course not. The current system serves their membership very well and they want nothing to stem the flow of those outrageous fees.

Anyone looking at the calendar of NDCA-sanctioned events will see that they are almost exclusively those competitions that are dominated by pro/am.



jj

Just as an FYI: there are NDCA events that utilize the o2cm competition management system (with hand-held pdas). Windy City Open and City Lights are two that spring to mind.

"Just as an FYI: there are NDCA events that utilize the o2cm competition management system (with hand-held pdas). Windy City Open and City Lights are two that spring to mind."

IF you want proof of my "stone age" comment, try loading an o2cm generated results or registrations page for a larger competition...

They made the most ridiculous of design mistakes in their system, which makes the web interface all but unusable as it's constantly trying to recalculate huge pages, which are themselves outrageously bloated with inefficient coding.

Perhaps you don't know what you're doing.



jj