DERT 2001

The Rules

1. The dance must be a rapper dance danced with swords.
2. Dances must last no longer than 8 minutes from the first dancer walking on to the last going off, or teams will forfeit points.
3. Teams who have won the Open Class must enter the Premier Class.
4. Teams must dance in the designated area.
5. Teams are marked on the following categories:

1. Music (15 points)
2. Stepping (15 points)
3. Presentation (15 points)
4. Sword Handling and Sword Technique.(30 points)
5. Buzz Factor (25 points)
6. Characters (10 points awarded separately for trophy).

6. In the unlikely event of a tie in a class or for the Steve Marris Trophy or one of the classes then the character marks will be added onto the score making a maximum of 110 marks. In the event of neither team having characters or a further tie then an audience vote will take place. (The judging system in place will minimise the event of a tie).
7. In the event of one entry only for a class then the class will still go ahead but the team must achieve 65% or over of the available 100 marks to be awarded 1^st place status, less than that and the team will be awarded 2^nd place.

Your Judges

Music

Mick Roberts - Rapper Dancer with Barnsley Longsword, professional musician and Black Adder musician.

Stepping

Sally Atkinson – Black Adder member, clog dancer.

Presentation & Characters

Frank Lee – Dancer and musician with Carlisle Sword Morris and Clog, and sword maker extraordinaire.

Sword Handling and Sword Technique

Aubrey O’Brien – One of the Godfathers of rapper and generally gets everywhere.

Ian Craigs – of High Spen, Snark, etc. etc.

Buzz Factor

ALL JUDGES

Break Down of Categories:

MUSIC (15 marks)

Music in relation to the dance, part of the dance, speed, timing, awareness of whole dance performance, apt tunes, well played.

PRESENTATION(15 marks)

Kit (tidiness and consistency rather than any particular pattern or style), coming on and going off, entertainment and generally showing awareness of the audience.

STEPPING (15 marks)

Quality, uniformity and consistency. Not favouring any particular style. Simple steps danced well will rate higher than ambitious steps badly executed.

SWORD HANDLING & DANCE TECHNIQUE (30 marks)

Control of swords, tidiness of displays (including locks), lifting rappers to avoid ducking and of course not letting go.

Dance Technique Part 1:

Traditional dances – interpretation and a balance between authenticity, entertainment, and suitability.

Evolved dances – composition, variety, and suitability, matching the team’s strengths and weaknesses.

Dance Technique Part 2: Execution – understanding/mastery of figures, timing, showing figures to good advantage.

BUZZ FACTOR (25 marks an average of all judges)

Excitement, compulsion, atmosphere, that je ne sais quoi.

CHARACTERS (10 marks purely for the character trophy or a tiebreaker)

Characters will also effect the individual marks of other categories – for better or worse. Enhancement of the entertainment rather than distraction from the dance. Entertainment, presentation, character.

Innovation and other aspects of the performance will be taken into consideration in each particular category.

The Trophies & Classes:

• Open Evolved Dance
• Open Traditional Dance
• Premier Evolved Dance
• Premier Traditional Dance

• The Steve Marris Trophy – awarded to the team with the most points overall.

• There is no trophy and teams will not be marked for entry in the exhibition class. These teams will be interspersed in between competitive classes.

TRADITIONAL DANCE CLASSES: To qualify for these classes the dance must be one of the named traditions from the Rapper Villages of Northumberland or a dance over 50 years old. All other dances are to be entered in the Evolved Class.