Dancesport Glossary

The judge on the floor. In early rounds an adjudicator marks a set number of couples to go through; in the final they place every couple from first to last in each dance.

Two competitive divisions with separate rankings and, usually, separate events. The split is about eligibility and prize money, not about how the dancing is judged.

The official who runs the adjudication panel: briefs the judges, decides how many couples are recalled, and rules on disputes. Does not normally mark alongside the panel.

Latin dance in 4/4, danced at about 30 bars per minute. The second Latin dance of a round, after Samba.

The skill grade a couple competes in — commonly E, D, C, B, A and S from beginner upward. Couples earn points to move up; the class defines which figures are allowed.

A closed event restricts couples to a defined syllabus of figures. An open event allows any choreography. Beginners dance closed; higher classes dance open.

Turning the opposite hip and shoulder toward the moving leg. One of the technical foundations adjudicators read as movement quality rather than scoring separately.

The competing unit in Standard and Latin. The couple is placed, not the individual dancers — which is why a protocol lists one number per couple.

The mark an adjudicator gives a couple in a qualifying round. Crosses are counted, not scored: the couples with the most crosses go through. Also called an X.

One of the five items in a Standard or Latin round. Each dance is placed separately, and the summary combines those placings — a couple can win a dance and still lose the final.

The last round, typically six couples. Here adjudicators stop marking crosses and place every couple in order in every dance.

Navigating a crowded floor without collisions or blocked lines. A real part of Standard, where every couple travels the same direction at once.

A team event, usually six to eight couples dancing a choreographed routine as one unit. Judged as a single entry against other teams.

A subdivision of a round when too many couples enter to fit on the floor at once. Heats are a logistics split, not a separate stage of the competition.

The frame the couple maintains in Standard. A broken or inconsistent hold is one of the fastest things a panel notices.

The fifth Latin dance, in 4/4 at about 42 bars per minute. Placed last in the round and often decisive, because it exposes stamina.

The division of five dances: Samba, Cha Cha Cha, Rumba, Paso Doble and Jive. Danced in open position, without the travelling line of Standard.

Any figure where one partner's feet leave the floor with the other's support. Forbidden in Standard and Latin; permitted in Showdance.

The anticlockwise direction every couple travels in Standard. Dancing against it is a floorcraft fault, not a scored deduction.

More than half the panel. The Skating System is built on it: a couple is placed by the smallest place that a majority of adjudicators gave them or better.

The sheet or screen an adjudicator fills in for one dance. What they write is a mark — a cross in a qualifying round, a place number in the final. Together the sheets are the raw material the scrutineer works from.

A place number, as opposed to a score. Ordinal judging is why lower is better in a dancesport protocol — first place is 1.

Latin dance in 2/4 built on the imagery of the bullfight. Choreographed to musical highlights, which makes it unusually dependent on the track played.

The published document showing every adjudicator's marks and how the places were derived. It is the audit trail: a result without a protocol cannot be checked.

The fifth Standard dance, in 4/4 at about 50 bars per minute. The fastest travelling dance in the division.

Being marked through to the next round, also called a callback. The number recalled is announced in advance, so couples know how many places are available.

One complete pass of all five dances by all couples still in the event. A competition narrows through rounds — qualifying, semi-final, final.

Latin dance in 4/4 at about 25 bars per minute, the slowest of the five. Judged largely on body action and the shaping of each movement.

The first Latin dance, in 2/4 with a characteristic bounce action. Travels around the floor, unlike most of the division.

The official who turns adjudicators' marks into places using the Skating System. Independent of the panel — a scrutineer never judges the dancing.

A free-choreography event where lifts and props are allowed. Judged on performance and composition rather than syllabus technique.

The set of rules that converts marks into a result. Rules 5 to 8 place couples within one dance; rules 9 to 11 combine those placings into the final order. It was written for skating and adopted by ballroom, which is where the name comes from.

Standard dance in 4/4 at about 28 bars per minute. Continuous, unhurried travel — technically the least forgiving of the five.

The division of five dances: Waltz, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Slow Foxtrot and Quickstep. Danced in closed hold, travelling anticlockwise. Everyday speech calls it ballroom, which is why entry forms say Standard instead.

The total of a couple's placings across all dances in the final. Lower is better, and it is the first thing the summary rules look at.

The list of figures permitted in a given class. Dancing outside it in a closed event is a rules breach, not a low mark.

Standard dance in 2/4, danced without rise and fall and with a sharper, more staccato action than the rest of the division.

A combined event over all ten dances — five Standard and five Latin. Rare, and demanding, because the two divisions ask for opposite body use.

Two couples the marks cannot separate. The Skating System has explicit tie rules, and only when those are exhausted is a tie declared.

Standard dance in 3/4 at about 60 bars per minute, built on continuous rotation with a very limited figure vocabulary.

The first Standard dance, in 3/4 at about 30 bars per minute. Defined by rise and fall across every three-beat measure.

World Dance Council — one of the two international governing bodies, historically the professional side of the sport.

World DanceSport Federation — the body recognised by the IOC. Runs its own rulebook, ranking and adjudication systems.

The qualifying-round method itself: adjudicators mark couples with a cross instead of placing them, because placing forty couples per dance is not workable.