Anyone who's ever attended a feis with a newbie will no doubt have been asked "what are the judges looking for?" What's the difference between first and second place? How could the same dancer have come first in the reel and tenth in the hornpipe? They're tough questions to answer as we don't have a standardised marking system and therefore can't speak for the individual judge on the day. Everyone's got their own hot buttons that will turn them off a dancer, and elements they have to see in order to award high marks. Now I know I'm not a teacher let alone an adjudicator, but these are the most important elements to me - roughly in order:
1. Foot placement
This is only the most important element to me if we work on the assumption that timing is a given. You simply must be on time with the music, otherwise you're not actually dancing.
Foot placement covers not only adequate turnout and crossing of the feet/legs, but also thinking about the positioning of the foot. Is it pointed all the way through the foot whenever it's off the floor, or is it flat or even flexed? Are the toes scrunched rather than properly pointed? Is the instep in the correct position, but the point not extended all the way to the tips of the toes? And then when the foot is on the floor, is it on a high tiptoe (not en pointe) at all times or does the heel drop closer and closer to the floor? Can the dancer sustain this height all the way through or does tiredness make the heels drop? Whenever a move calls for the foot to not be pointed, is it exaggerated enough to have the desired impact? (e.g. a pointe hold with the front foot flexed, a drum roll, a heel walk or spin...) Finally, are the feet positioned strongly and confidently? Does the dancer sickle, or lose control of a point before attaining the position, lending the impression of floppy ankles? Can they achieve turnout with both feet all the time, without the back or supporting foot straightening or turning in? Is their positioning unaffected by stamina - can they maintain good, strong positioning throughout?
2. Deportment
For me this covers absolutely every element of the body from the hips up. Hips and shoulders must always be level - not only right to left, but front to back. No leaning forward into a jump or kick, no sticking the bum out on turns or treble/footwork sequences, no dropping the leading shoulder into a turn or leading with your shoulder into a leap or kick. Lower arms controlled, but without tension. Neat fists, no waggling fingers. Head straight forward - no chins on chests, no tilting, no mouths wide open or saying/miming steps, no eyes down. Our deportment is absolutely unique in the dance world which is why it's so high up my list - it's characteristically Irish and therefore needs to be worked on and perfected very early on. It's my own opinion that the reason we don't use our arms is to show how in control of our bodies we are, to be able to move our feet at 50mph without so much of a quiver in our shoulders. Tense arms make the whole performance seem more laboured - excellent carriage makes everything look easy.
3. Extension
Not just height on kicks, clicks and leaps, but height with control and style as well. Straight knees, maintaining turnout and carriage, perfect lines from hip to knee to ankle to toe. Kicks that take an equal amount of time to come down as to go up - retracting the leg with control proves leg and core strength, rather than letting gravity do its work. Kicks that don't look "throw-y" - that are deliberate about their placement, rather than swinging it up and hoping for the best. And looking at the back leg on kicks and clicks as well - that needs a straight knee too, and that needs to maintain placement too. I always look for the back leg on hops and single-leg work - is it just hanging there or is it contributing to a neat, controlled look?
4. Style and precision
Style will always be individual preference but I believe strongly that dances aren't just a technical exercise, they're a performance. Dancers will similar technical qualities can be easily separated in the marks if one is enjoyable to watch and the other is simply "nice". It's hard to quantify but I like to see individual choreography tailored to a dancers' strengths, with clever bits that you can't wait to see on the left foot - or make you curse the hornpipe half-step when you can't see it again! Elements of elegance, athleticism, control and freedom combine in each person's mind to create their own preferred style, and I can't really explain what my preferred is. Perhaps it's when a dancer is so elegant that you know they're leaping as high as the athletic types, without immediately pegging them as athletic. When they're so light on their feet yet so fast that it seems impossible they can jump so high or treble so loud.
Precision to me goes hand in hand with style. You can have one without the other (I've seen dancers with breathtaking tricks and beautiful choreography, but straight feet) but to excel, you need both. Precision is everything from points 1-3, but moreso. Everything performed in a textbook way. Every individual movement - a leap, a rock, a treble, a cross key - could be extracted from the performance and used as an example of "this is how it's supposed to look". Every movement could make a perfect action shot to be plastered over tumblr with an inspiration quote.
Opinions of dancing are of course fluid, and perhaps this list will change over time. Perhaps one day I'll think carriage should be more important than crossing or I'll change my definition of what style means. Perhaps I'll start to prefer a different style - subconciously, no doubt.
Trying to come up with a list of your most important Irish dancer qualities just reminds you that results are very, very rarely "wrong", just a matter of personal choice. My favourite dancer not winning doesn't always mean they had an off day or that they went wrong or something else was up. It just means someone else's opinion was different to mine, and that's good. That's why competitions employ panels rather than one single adjudicator, and why they're not paid just to tie everyone.
It's frustrating as you can do everything right and still not win, but that's what makes competition and that's why people are attracted to competing. In tennis you could perfect your serve but come up against the perfect returner. Sprinters could have the perfect start but be overtaken by the perfect finisher. It's why people carry on when they've won everything there is to win. It's why we dance in the first place.
What are your most important things in Irish dance?
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