How it works
The criteria judges score by, what happens when a judge is close to a dancer, and how judges are chosen.
Judging criteria
Judges give every dancer one overall score from 0 to 10, in steps of 0.1, guided by five pillars that all weigh the same, 20% each. There are no separate marks per pillar. These are the criteria of the World Cup Finals, the standard of the whole circuit.
The base the whole dance sits on, and it has to be bachata.
Timing, weight transfer, grounding, posture, and a basic that really works at any tempo. We are looking for bachata: the dance has to be recognisable as bachata from the first step, whatever style you bring to it.
How the body executes what it is asked to do.
Balance, axis, turns, footwork, body movement, lines, and how clearly a lead or a follow is executed. A simple movement done to a high standard scores above a difficult one done roughly.
Everything that only exists because there are two of you.
Adapting to a partner you have never danced with, building the dance together instead of one person deciding it, and making it comfortable and safe for the person in your arms.
Turning what you hear into what you dance.
Phrasing, accents and breaks, dynamics, instruments, pauses, and changing what you do because of what the song is doing right now.
Attitude, styling and creativity.
Presence and attitude, styling and movement textures, and the creativity to improvise instead of repeating. Looking like yourself rather than a copy.
Judging rules
A judge does not score someone they are close to, or were: their dance partner or romantic partner, current or former, their family, their students, their own team or school, anyone they work with, or someone they are in an open conflict with. It works both ways, so two finalists who judge each other's role do not score each other.
01
Judges tell the competition coordinator in advance, as the rules for judges ask, and the conflict is recorded before the first heat. Competitors can raise it too: if a judge on your panel is your teacher, partner or family, tell the coordinator before your round.
02
A judge who only finds out at the event taps the flag on the dancer's card on their scoring screen, says who the dancer is to them and holds the button to send. Until it is decided, the card shows Waiting for the coordinator.
03
The request appears at once on the screens of the event's coordinators. They approve it for that round or for the whole competition, or decline it. Nothing is applied automatically. If it is declined, the judge scores the dancer normally and the request stays on record. If the coordinator has a conflict with that dancer, another coordinator of the event decides, or the head judge.
04
Once approved, that judge gives the dancer no score at all, never a 0. The dancer's level with the other judges becomes a score on that judge's own scale, strict or generous, and the dancer takes their place in that judge's ranking like anyone else: no rounding, no shared places, a full panel. In ranking rounds the dancer goes into that judge's order where the other judges' average puts them. A head judge cannot have a conflict in the round they head.
05
The public results mark that vote as a conflict of interest and show the place it was given. The relationship and any note stay with the event team.
06
Having a relationship is never a fault. Hiding it is. Anyone can report an undeclared conflict to info@bachatasocialworldcup.com, even after the event. Until the qualified list is final, that judge's vote is corrected in the results. In every case, the judge is reviewed under the Code of Conduct.
Every dancer is scored directly by at least 3 judges in each round, and 4 in the Final.
Before the event
Because judges declare their conflicts in advance, the coordinator can see if a dancer would fall below that. They fix it in one of three ways:
On the day
If a conflict only comes up at the event and no judge is available, the round still goes ahead. The results mark every conflict vote, so anyone can see how many judges scored that dancer directly, and the event reports it to the Bachata Social World Cup.
Never without a judge
If every judge on the panel has a conflict with a dancer, the coordinator must bring in another judge before that dancer's round.
Want to judge?
From scores to results
See, step by step and with an example you can play with, how relative placement turns every judge's scores into one fair result.
