The Skating System: Working Out the Marks in Ballroom Dancing Championships by Arthur Dawson is a classic technical reference explaining how adjudicators’ marks are calculated to determine results in Ballroom Dancing competitions.
Rather than teaching dance technique, the booklet focuses on competition judging and scrutineering. It explains how marks from multiple adjudicators are combined, how an absolute majority is established, how couples are placed in individual dances, and how ties and overall championship results are resolved.
Arthur Dawson’s system became fundamental to competitive Ballroom Dancing and was adopted by the British Official Board of Ballroom Dancing, now the British Dance Council. The system developed into the familiar 11-rule Skating System, with its modern form established by 1956. Wikipedia
This is particularly useful for adjudicators, scrutineers, competition officials, teachers, competitors, and advanced Ballroom students who want to understand how competition results are calculated.
Contents
The booklet works through the Skating System rules with practical examples. The British Dance Council describes Dawson’s publication as explaining championship mark calculation in detail and containing numerous examples showing how the system is applied. Scribd
The core structure covers:
- Marking in Preliminary Rounds
- Adjudicators’ Marks in the Final
- Establishing an Absolute Majority
- Determining Placings in an Individual Dance
- Resolving Equal Majorities
- Resolving Ties
- Calculating Results Across Multiple Dances
- Determining the Overall Championship Result
- Rules 1–11 of the Skating System
- Worked Examples and Final Analysis
In the established system, Rules 5–8 determine placings within individual dances, while Rules 9–11 are used to establish overall results across dances and resolve relevant ties.
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