In short: the Skating System is the default — 'The Skating System shall be used' — and produces a sum of places where lower is better. The Absolute Judging System is the alternative: four components on a 1 to 10 scale in half-point steps, with a twelve-judge panel split into four groups of three, each group scoring ONE component.
Scoring a dance competition with JudgeMate
Ordinal scrutineering, rules 1 to 11
JudgeMate implements the Skating System — the eleven rules, the majorities, the sums of places and the tie-breaks — for club, school, national and regional competitions. It does not implement the Absolute Judging System, and it is not certified scrutineering software.
Rules 1 to 11
Majorities per dance, sums of places for the section and the tie-breaks of rules 10 and 11, including the half-place rule that counts 2½ as 3 but adds it as 2.5.
Which rule decided
Every place in the protocol carries the rule that produced it. 'Why is couple 4 ahead of couple 5' is a question that always gets asked, and without this field the result cannot be checked.
Recalls in preliminaries
A cross-marking sheet for preliminary rounds with a counter against the number the chairperson asked for — and no block halfway through, because a judge corrects as they go.
A permutation editor for finals
Tapping couples places them in order, so the card is a permutation by construction. Separate fields would let a judge write two firsts and save a card the rules forbid.
Rounds as linked categories
Preliminary, semi-final and final as one path, with a cut line, an advancement rule that lets a tie through, and a start order seeded from the previous round.
A scrutineer's protocol
PDF with places per dance, the sum, the rule applied and the panel — the document a scrutineer signs.
Formats and judging
How a competition runs
Rounds and recalls
A preliminary round is any round that is not the final. Judges call back exactly the number of couples the chairperson asks for. A final holds a maximum of eight couples; if more than eight come out of a semi-final, another preliminary round has to be danced.
Closed marking
Finals use closed marking. Open marking is not permitted at WDSF competitions except to display the couples' places in each dance — and never the individual placing given by each adjudicator, unless the chairperson allows it.
Formation
A formation team is six, seven or eight COUPLES, and no person may dance in more than one team at the same event. Up to four team members may be replaced by reserves at any stage.
Revised competition format
In Standard and Latin, two solo dances — one at the start of the final and one at the end — with each couple performing for a full minute, followed by a further full minute of group competition in that dance.
Two systems, one federation
The two systems are not variants of each other. The Skating System is ordinal: a judge ranks, and the tabulation compares rankings. The AJS is absolute: a judge marks Technical Quality, Movement to Music, Partnering Skills or Choreography and Presentation on a scale from 1 to 10, with half points allowed.
The panel shape differs too, and that catches software. Under the AJS, twelve adjudicators are divided into four groups of three, and each group scores one component only — so 'twelve judges' does not mean twelve marks per couple per component. Showdance is the exception: there, ten or twelve adjudicators each judge all four criteria.
Technical Quality — the technical half of the AJS, with Movement to Music
Movement to Music — the second technical component
Partnering Skills — the artistic half, with Choreography and Presentation
Choreography and Presentation — the fourth component
Skating System — no components at all: the judge ranks, and rules 1 to 11 do the rest
WDSF requires a minimum of seven adjudicators at its World Championships, and there must be a break of at least twenty minutes between rounds — thirty between semi-final and final at World and Continental Championships and GrandSlams.
Lower is better
Dancesport is the one judged sport where the winning number is the small one. A couple's result in a section is the SUM OF ITS PLACES across the dances, and the lowest total wins. That single fact breaks most scoring software, which assumes a score grows upwards — and it is why a dancesport protocol cannot be produced by inverting the number and calling it a score. The scrutineer checks the protocol line by line against the sum of places.
Where it is competed
The federation structure decides which system a competition runs on.
WDSF World and Continental Championships
Run under the WDSF Competition Rules, which name the Skating System as the default and allow the Absolute Judging System at the discretion of the WDSF Sports Director.
National championships and open competitions
Run by national member bodies, usually on the Skating System, and often below the level where certified scrutineering software is required.
Club and school competitions
The layer where most dancing actually happens — and the layer this page is written for.
What the rules govern
The dancesport rulebook is mostly about the conduct of the competition, not the score.
The floor
A semi-final must be danced in two heats on a floor smaller than 250 square metres, and no more than ten couples may dance in a heat up to the quarter-final at World and Continental Championships.
Dress
Competitors dress according to the WDSF Dress Regulations, which form part of the rules. A couple may change costume up to three times across all rounds, but never during a round.
Rest between rounds
At least twenty minutes between rounds, and thirty between semi-final and final at the top events. Finals for juveniles must end before 21:00.
Where the sport is going
A certification gate
Competitions sanctioned by WDSF have required certified scrutineering software since January 2013. JudgeMate is not certified and does not claim to be — it is built for club, school, national and regional competitions, which do not require certification. That is the overwhelming majority of dancesport.
The absolute system, slowly
The AJS is described in the rules as the foundation for future developments in adjudication, and it may be applied at the Sports Director's discretion. It has not replaced the Skating System, which the rules still name as the one that shall be used.
Below the sanction line
Club competitions, school championships and regional opens run the same tabulation without the certification requirement. That is where a general scoring tool is useful, and where the software available today is oldest.
How the tabulation works
Majority before arithmetic
Rules 5 to 8 place the couples in a single dance, and they do it by majority, not by average. The majority of seven judges is four. A couple with four marks of first place wins the dance outright. If nobody has a majority of firsts, you move to 'second place and higher', and keep moving until somebody does.
When the majority ties
Two couples with an equal majority in the same column are separated by ADDING the marks that make up that majority — not the marks of every judge. This is the single most common implementation error in the Skating System, and it produces a plausible, wrong result. If the sums are equal too, you move to the next column for those two couples only.
From dances to a section
Rule 9 transfers the RESULTS — the places, not the marks — into a final summary and adds them. Lowest total takes the section. Rules 10 and 11 break ties in that summary, and rule 10 has a detail that catches everyone: a half place such as 2½ counts as 3 when you COUNT places, but enters at face value when you ADD them.
Tools & Resources
Calculators, vocabulary, and platform research for competition organizers
Open the scoring calculator
Run the scoring formula across a full round. Verify results and model tie-break scenarios before you publish.
OpenOpen the scoring calculator
Run the scoring formula across a full round. Verify results and model tie-break scenarios before you publish.
OpenBrowse the competition glossary
Every scoring, judging, and movement term used at competitions, defined in plain language.
OpenCompare software alternatives
Head-to-head pages with pricing, fit, and switching cost against the main platforms.
OpenSurvey competition platforms
Multi-platform surveys: the free options and the full landscape of competition software.
OpenExplore every resource
Software comparisons, organizer playbooks, calculators, and the glossary — direct links.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- WDSF Competition Rules — World DanceSport Federation
- The Skating System — rules 1 to 11 — Österreichischer Tanzsportverband
- WDSF — Competition Rule E.8 and the Absolute Judging System — World DanceSport Federation
Run your next competition on the eleven rules, not a spreadsheet
Recalls, placements, sums of places and a protocol that says which rule decided each place.
Built for club, school, national and regional dance competitions. Not certified scrutineering software.