Rules for Jack & Jill Division

| CRITERIA DEFINITION | JUDGING ITEMS for JACK AND JILL |

Judging Jack and Jill competitions is a skill that needs to be developed to ensure judging is done accurately, consistently, and fairly.

Judging is never intended to punish a competitor for weaker skills. Rather, the spirit is to recognize competence in the different categories explained in this training, for the purpose of supporting and growing a strong, healthy Zouk community.

With this in mind, the Brazilian Zouk Dance Council recognizes five distinct areas for judging. These include the Three T’s, plus a few additional categories. The Three T’s are:

• Timing (20%)
• Technique (40%)
• Teamwork (20%)

In addition, judges will also consider:

• Difficulty (10%)
• Presentation (10%)

Timing & musicality (20%)

• All styles of Brazilian Zouk dance to 4/4 time music.
• The timing defined as “Tum-Tic-Tic” where in a full 8 counts the “Tum” step must be on the down beat.
• It is accepted that your long step may be on any down beat on a full 8 count phrase.

Key points to remember

• Timing must be consistent.
• Competitors should take care in the manner they interpret the selected song.
• Use appropriate breaks and holds, being rhythmically in sync with the music.
• Competitors must demonstrate basic timing for a minimum of 60% of each song. This can be reflected in foundation movements, turn patterns and others.

NOTE

1. DJs will play medium (80bpm or 85bpm) speed songs with a clear Zouk beat for Novice. Traditional Zouk songs, Kizomba songs or Top 40 remixed songs are allowed.
2. DJs will play slow 75bpm (150bpm), medium 80bpm or 85bpm (170bpm) and/or fast 90bpm (180bpm) speed songs with a Zouk beat for Intermediate & Advanced competitors. Traditional Zouk songs, Kizomba songs, Top 40 remixed or New Zouk songs are allowed.
3. All songs for all levels must have a Zouk beat.

Technique (40%)

• Brazilian Zouk motion and posture – How well the competitors execute the movements
• Proper use of Brazilian Zouk Foundation movements: Basic – “Lateral” – Simple turns – Lunges (prep for turns) – “Soltinho” – Elastico “Rau” – “Bonus” – “Io Io”
• Correct footwork in all foundation movements and good footwork during turn patterns
• Fundamental dance technique (e.g footwork placement, frame, balance, how well spins are executed and control of arms and hands)
• Proper use of head movements and Cambrés (accordingly to competitors level)

Team Work (20%)

• How well the couple work together
• How Appearance of lead/follow or action/reaction between the partners
• Ability to work together as a team. One partner ignoring or out-dancing the other indicates poor teamwork.

Difficulty (10%)

• The complexity of the foot work
• The complexity of overall improvisation
• Originality of turn patterns

Appearance (10%)

• Wear Shoes (Dance shoes or other comfortable shoes for dancing are allowed)
• High heels are not mandatory however judges will favourably take into account the additional complexity this introduces to the dance
• Wear clothes as one would wear to a social dance party – you want to stand out to the judges

| BZDC Points Registry Information for JACK AND JILL |

The ‘Brazouky Brazilian Dance Festival’ is a Brazillian Zouk Dance Council (“BZDC”) Registry Event. As such, points are awarded to the winners and place getters (and possibly finalists) of our Jack n Jill Competitions.

The BZDC records and tracks points for every competitor and these points are used to identify the category a person should compete in. There must be a minimum number of five couples per category for points to be recorded.

As a competitor, you can gain points and level up through Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, and All-Star divisions at BZDC Registered Jack and Jill competitions. Non-registered competitions or competitions that do not follow our event rules will not give you points in the database.

You can level through Newcomer, Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, and All-Star as follows:

Tiers are calculated by role – not by couple. For example, a competition with 15 Leads and 20 Follows would be a Tier 1 competition for Leads and Tier 2 for Follows.

The BZDC recognises three Tiers with the following associated points:

No points are ever awarded for non-final rounds. Scratched (no-show) competitors are not counted towards the total number of competitors. For example, a competition with 16 registered follows where only 15 attend preliminaries would still be a Tier 1 competition.

In some cases, a competition final may have an imbalance between leads and follows. In these cases, some dancers will be required to dance twice. If a dancer gets more than one placement that should result in points, only the higher placement will get the points. For example, if a competitor gets both 1st and 3rd place, they will only get points for the 1st place finish.

We will consider your petition and approve or deny your petition based on your reasons and dance history. Please note, if you have petitioned to dance at a higher division at one event you may still need to petition at future events. The guidelines for each category are set out on this page. If you want to enter a category for which you do not meet the entry requirements stated or want to change categories, you may submit a petition by sending us an email with a brief explanation of the reason(s) for your request.

For a complete detailed Rules and Guideline for J&J competitions, please check out BZDC website