[Ansteorra] AAA memories - Middle Eastern Dance Championship

[Sandra Jakl]

Greetings unto the list!

I was one of the judges for the Middle Eastern Dance
Championship and I am responding formally to this
e-mail because I feel these are serious allegations.
This e-mail calls into question the caliber of both
the judges and the individual who won.

These are the items that were taken into account. Each
judge could award a maximum of 20 points, broken out
as follows.

(One.) 5 points for technical skill.
I don’t think this needs any particular explanation. 
(Two.) 5 points for documentation.
Only 5 of the 14 entrants submitted documentation.
Most of the documentation was for clothing only.
(Three.) 5 points for authenticity of the performance
as supported by the documentation. Many styles of
dance were performed. Traditional “cabaret”; American
Tribal Style (which is technically _newer_ than
“cabaret”); a little Persian/Indian; Etc. Certainly no
style that was more documented than any other, in what
we received.
(Four.) 5 points for complexity, difficulty, or
ambitiousness of the performance.
Whether the performance was all the same, whether it
incorporated different facets of the dance, different
props, different levels, etc.
(Five.) 5 points for presentation, interpretation,
overall impression.
Effect on the audience, introductions, bearing while
performing

I am very surprised at this response to the outcome of
a kingdom level championship. I think, in any field
other than Middle Eastern Dance, that these issues
would have been brought up with the judging panel
privately before being broadcast onto the Ansteorra
list. The maturity of the Middle Eastern Dance
community in Ansteorra has been brought into question.
At this point, what can I say…?

Please contact me, any of the other judges or HL
Rhiannon, the past champion, for any further private
discussion of this subject.

Let me say that Lady Toryn Seven Stitches, the 2nd
Ansteorrean Champion of Middle Eastern Dance, showed
extreme and astounding skill. I am honored to have her
as the Middle Eastern Dance Champion of Ansteorra.

HL Clara von Ulm
Aka
Sayidda al Sheriffa Sana bint Kieran al Kerra
Barony of Loch Soilleir


Message: 1
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2004 12:10:17 -0500 (CDT)
From: mtucker at airmail.net
Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] AAA memories
To: "D. Vandever" <hlannes at ev1.net>, "Kingdom of
Ansteorra - SCA,
	Inc." <ansteorra at ansteorra.org>
Message-ID:

<46575.66.152.234.9.1089738617.squirrel at webmail.airmail.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1

> What are your most vivid and/or interesting memories
of our Argent
> Anniversary?
>
> Annes

I would also add the Kingdom Middle Eastern Dance
competition Saturday
night after the fireworks.

The tent was beautifully decorated, and the dancers
were lovely and
talented, with more than a few showing great skill in
their art. The 
music
was alternately haunting and compelling. All in all,
it was a wonderful
and memorable event.

It was a shame, at least in my opinion, that
historical dance costumes 
and
routines did not prevail that day. Instead, a
beautifully performed,
crowd-pleasing performance that seemed to draw mostly
from modern,
American cabaret dance style (and audience "shtick")
took first place. 
The
best historical dancers scored 2nd, 3rd and 4th place.

My first reaction was that we had sent a message to
the kingdom with 
this
score, and that it was the wrong message. However, in
retrospect my
opinion has moderated - a little. I guess that Middle
Eastern dance is 
at
roughly the same place in Ansteorra that other art
forms were at 20 
years
ago. Back then very few people could tell the
difference between, say,
period and modern weaving techniques; or the
difference between
crowd-pleasing filk and historical music. Very often
the judges of A&S
competitions then (and now, sadly) are largely
ignorant of the forms 
they
are called upon to judge. We do the best we can, and
try to learn as we
go.

Still, the competition was great fun and very
memorable. I look forward 
to
next year's competition, to see if we can do a better
job of reliving
history, and recognizing those who strive to do so.

Michael Silverhands



	
		
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