I still cant get an answer from you guys. Am I the only one who thinks its unfair that a should judge their own couples.

I would like to see the day come where like tennis the umpires are a professional body they do not teach they umpire. Wouldn't that be loverly.
If I were to say the name of this professional teacher most would know him. It was announced that he would be judging in this paticular up coming competition. He was saturated with calls wanting to book a lesson. Sorry I can't take you until next month would you like to book a lesson then. Oh we will let you know was the answer . Need I say more.

In all my yrs of Judging, from in house to "small" to major champ. events, never have i personally been approached ,or even discussed, before the event , any entry .

Think about what is being proposed...invariably, one does not know many of the competitors. To make a decision based upon collusion ,would quite probably show up in the markings .
Why would any judge risk that ?.. bottom line , I really dont have any " axe " to grind .

"I would love to see a madatory ban put on a judge who allowd themselves to judged their own pupils in a dance competition. A year wouldn't be too harsh would it.."

Since your proposal would ban almost every judge worthy of employing in that role, I think it would indeed be very harsh. We competitors would have to suffer through a whole year of competitions without any skilled judges!

NDCA rules (Article IV Paragraph A(1)) state that a judge must excuse himself or herself from a judging panel if a member of his/her immediate family is competing in a particular heat.

At the last 2 NDCA competitions in which I competed, I have seen violations of that rule. In one instance, both the affected judge and the competitor notified the chairman, and the chairman did not require the judge to sit out. I have no reason to believe that the judges in each were anything other than "fair" in their marking - but the appearance of impropriety is still there.

Both of the violations of the rule occurred in Pro-Am events - so, although the NDCA rule applies to ALL events at a competition, I'm assuming that most people's reactions here will be - "Oh - pro-am, sigh, ho-hum, who cares."

I've never heard of a judge in the US being sanctioned for consistently
outlying voting.

jj

Thats because IF it did , it would be done in confidence .