How is a feis adjudicated?
Who are the adjudicators? And what is an ADCRG?
"Normal" feiseanna and all competitions in a lower grade are adjudicated by one adjudicator. At championship level, there are at least three adjudicators, at the highest level competitions even more (the world championships are adjudicated by seven adjudicators).
Every member of the jury is an official CLRG adjudicator: an ADCRG. The abbreviation stand for Ard Diploma Coimisiún Le Rinci Gaelacha – "The highest diploma of Irish Dancing". These are people who have first been qualified as CLRG-teachers (TCRG's) , and have afterwards taken the adjudication exams (after at least two years of teaching.
For all those who have already taken grade exams : each grade examiner is also an ADCRG.
How does the points system work??
Raw scores and ranking
The points system in Irish Dancing depends on the level of the competition, and on the number of adjudicators at the feis.
In solodancing, equal attention is given to rhythm, elevation, execution (footwork, turnout, crossing of the feet, looseness of the ankles, etc...), and style (the expression of the dancer and the general impression that leaves on the adjudicator) - much as in Grade Exams. In the team dances, points are given for timing and rhythm, correct execution and "neatness" of the various figures of the dance, and general style and impression.
The adjudicator casts a critical eye on all these aspects of the dance(r), and gives each dancer a score between 0 and 100. This is the "raw score". Based on this raw score, the ADCRG then places the dancers of that competition in an order, according to their points: that is the ranking. In smaller feiseanna, lower grade competitions, and any case where there is only one adjudicator, that's where the story stops: the ranking based on this raw score, is the final ranking .
Championships
Championships are a different story.
In championship scoring (and scoring for any competitions with more than one adjudicator) the "raw scores" are laid out as "grid scores", and transformed into "Irish Points".
The Irish points system
The Irish Points system is based on a fixed conversion table, converting the rankings, which in turn are based on the adjudicators' raw scores.
Only the 50 highest ranked dancers can earn Irish Points - anyone below the 50th place get an Irish Points score of 0. The difference in points is larger in the higher rankings, than in the lower rankings; for example, the conversion table for the 10 highest ranked dancers looks like this:
| place
|
1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
4th
|
5th
|
6th
|
7th
|
8th
|
9th
|
10th
|
| Irish Points
|
100
|
75
|
65
|
60
|
56
|
53
|
50
|
47
|
45
|
43
|
.... and that goes on until the 50th place. Rank 51 gets 0 points.
You cann have a look at the full list of Irish points at the bottom of this page.
How does that work?!? Well :
(now concentrate!  )
-
each adjudicator (separately) gives each dancer a raw score;
-
based on his own raw scores, each adjudicator places the dancers of that competition - i.e., creates his own ranking of the dancers;
-
each of the adjudicators' rankings are then converted into Irish Points, using the conversion table mentioned above;
-
then, and only then, all the adjudicators' points are brought together: the Irish Points of each dancer are added up, and those are the dancers' final points;
-
these Irish Points are put in order, and that is the final ranking of the dancers.
For example:
Dancer A receives a raw score of 81 from adjudicator X , 82 from adjudicator Y , and 85 from adjudicator Z .
Dancer B receives 79, 83 and 79 respectively.
And dancer C is awarded 77, 79 and 81.
The calculation and conversion can be seen in the "Grid Score" below:
|
|
ADJUDICATOR X
|
ADJUDICATOR Y
|
ADJUDICATOR Z
|
total irish points
|
final ranking
|
| raw score
|
first ranking
|
irish points
|
raw score
|
first ranking
|
irish points
|
raw score
|
first ranking
|
irish points
|
| DANCER A
|
81
|
1
|
100
|
82
|
2
|
75
|
85
|
1
|
100
|
275
|
1
|
| DANCER B
|
79
|
2
|
75
|
83
|
1
|
100
|
79
|
3
|
65
|
240
|
2
|
| DANCER C
|
77
|
3
|
65
|
79
|
3
|
65
|
81
|
2
|
75
|
205
|
3
|
..... and we have a winner!
Note: the grid above is a simplified version, starting from the idea of competition with one dance only - but with championships, that is never the case. In a championship there are at least two, in higher level championships three dances (one light dance, one heavy dance, and one set dance), so there are three columns with raw scores per dancer and per adjudicator, and it is the sum of these raw scores that determines each adjudicator's first ranking.
But the overall system stays the same.
One of the exams in the total ADCRG exam, is a maths exam.
Now, you probably understand why.
The recall system
As you will have understood, the system is pretty complicated and timeconsuming. On top of that, Irish Solodancing consists of its different dancing styles, and it is therefore of course expected at a high level competition that the dancers should show their competence in both light and heavy dancing, and in a setdance.
But in large competitions, there are so many participants that it would take far too much time to have every single dancer dance three dances.
So, there is a kind of "natural selection procedure": the Recalls.
Here's how that works:
All participants, every single one of them, dance their light dance and their heavy dance. The results of these two parts of the competition are calculated as described above, and a provisional ranking of the dancers is made. The best dancers (numbers depending on the total number of participants) are then called back to the stage to dance their setdance: they get a recall. The lesser gods, alas, have practised their set dance for nothing - they are not allowed to show their third dance.
Exactly how many dancers get a recall depends on the size and the importance of the feis. But to give an example: at the 2011 World Championships in Dublin, one third of the dancers in each solodancing competition will get a recall, but with a maximum of fifty. If, on the other hand, there are sixty or less competitors in a competition, half of them will get recalled.
That way, only the very best competitors get to dance their three dances. When they have finished dancing their set dances, the new raw scores are added to the first raw scores, and the results are calculated all over again (with three sets of points per adjudcator/dancer), and that is what makes the final ranking.
A dancer who has been awarded a recall, is usually very happy about that - it means that he or she is one of the very best, even though maybe not placed in the traditional Top Three.... Furthermore, it is of course very nice for a dancer to be allowed to show - to adjudicators and audience alike - all dances he or she has worked hard for...
Is an audience allowed at the competitions?
Of course. The more the merrier..
I would like to participate. Where do I start?
Feis registration
First, the dancer examines the syllabus thouroughly, to find out with which dances he/she can participate; it is pretty rare that there are competitions of all dances for all age groups and for every level - it would make the feis impossibly long. He chooses his dances, and communicates that to his teacher (and pays the teacher the registration fees for the chosen competitions), who subsequently registers him for the feis. In some areas, the dancers or the schools have to pay an annual fee to be allowed to dance at competitions. For example, in mainland Europe, any school who wishes to participate ina feis run by a member school of r.t.m.e. ("registered teachers mainland europe", the local teacher's organisation), has to pay a feis fee of 100€ before they can register any dancers for the feis.
As it is not a membership fee, but a feis participation fee, it has to be paid by all participating schools, regardless of location or number of participating dancers. This fee entitles the dancers of that school to participate in r.t.m.e. feiseanna for the duration of one year.
The teacher of the school then collects all entries and payments, and passes everything on to the feis organizer (or the person appointed to organise the feis entries) to finalize all the registration of all his or her pupils.
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