What does it take to get invigilated in Gold American
style?
I got to answer this question (sort of) at DC DanceSport
Inferno this past weekend. The problem
with invigilating American style, as I’ve mentioned before, is the fact that
doing so is based upon restrictions rather than one syllabus. Bronze level has some clear-cut distinctions
that an invigilator can catch. Silver
has a few as well. Gold really only gives
two listed restrictions: no lifts, and partners must return to closed hold
after eight measures of being in other holds.
So when you have a Gold Rhythm heat with only enough couples
for a final, and one of the couples does something that you think should be
disallowed, what, as an invigilator, do you do?
To be clear, the couple in question did return to closed hold within the
directed number of measures and did not perform any lifts. They did not specifically violate either of
the written rules. They did, however,
include a number of “tricks” such as splits, drops, dips, and other typically
open material. In other words, the
routines were obviously fully choreographed, which goes against the purpose of
dancing in a syllabus category. Gold may
not have many restrictions, but it is still technically syllabus.
In this situation, I spoke first with the chair of
judges. We talked about the nature of
invigilation and the difficulty of the situation – here was something that
reasonably should not be allowed but cannot be disallowed by the actual letter
of the rules. We agreed that calling the
couple and having a conversation with them would be the best strategy. I explained what the chair and I had
discussed – that they were not technically breaking any rules but they also
were not exactly abiding by them – and noted that because there was nothing to
invigilate them for, they were not being penalized, or even technically
warned. I did, however, stress that what
they were dancing was clearly out of place in a syllabus category, and
suggested that they move into open categories in the future. You already have the routines; why not use
them where they belong?
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