I just returned from watching American Dance Awards today and saw some very good work by several schools. I was a little confused by some of the categories though. When the Competitive Jazz division was performing it only seemed like one group out of three was executing true jazz style and technique. One group was more fluid modern and the other was an edgy new kind of contemporary. I liked all the styles but was confused by them all being in the Jazz category. Then there was a Large group lyrical but the piece looked like a Martha Graham style modern piece to instrumental music with no emotion or expression.
I guess I'm wondering if some dance styles have all been fused together so that they can be interchangeable in any category. The only styles I was able to clearly identify today was ballet and tap. Is this a new developement in the competition world?

Its becoming more and more difficult to fit every dance into neat little categories. Dance has evolved so much that "jazz" "contemporary" and "lyrical" - (short for lyrical jazz) are becoming more intertwined and blended.

Frankly as someone who judges these things all the time I really don't care what category its filed under. I judge it for what it is. Not what its called.

But how do you judge a dance that is in the jazz category but doesn't have any of the elements of that style? I was wondering how the judges determined how to score such variation in one category. I would be inclined to reward the school that stayed within what I consider the style of the category.

Its not really a factor to me. The teacher labeling the dance correctly doesn't matter much to me.....

Oh, okay. I was curious because I once took a modern piece to a competition years ago that didn't have that category available so I put it in the open category but I got called on it by one judge for being in the wrong category. The other two judges didn't comment on it. Thanks for your input.

Bisoubisou is correct. If you are judging the basics.. technique and performance, it does not matter. If you see them doing poor technique and you are well-versed in many styles, it does not matter.

I remember the days when the only categories were age and the size of the group. Tap competed against jazz and ballet, etc. There was no such thing as lyrical because lyrical is not a dance form, it is a style of jazz that started to be separated when adjudicated competitions evolved.

Up until the mid-eighties, it was 1, 2, 3 placement, too.

But, the point is, good dancing is good dancing and if you are a good jazz dancer competing against a bad modern dancer, the jazz dancer will win.