Final List of Official Judges for Worlds 2011

Before I begin with the intended topic, let me state straight-away that while the list of adjudicators published below is 100% accurate, the writing surrounding it is my own and thus not an official voice of the body of An Coimisiun. I am but one member who is sharing what I can to help everyone understand the situation a little better. My obligation as an attendee of the Coimisiun meetings is to share my notes with my fellow teachers but given it is the holiday season and perhaps not all teachers are around to pass my notes on to their dance families (including me), I am sharing some points on the blog. While I have made every attempt to ensure everything is accurate, whatever An Coimisiun says in any situation referred to below is the final word. Before making any travel plans, check with your teacher. "Ryan's blog said..." will not be accepted as a reason for erroneously booking flights to Dublin.

CLRG recently distributed the names for the panel for the 2011 World Irish Dancing Championships to all Coimisiun members, and they are shown below in alphabetical order. Voting took place at the meeting last weekend and the votes were counted straight away by independent tellers. Once the list was compiled, attempts were made to contact the successful candidates to confirm acceptance. 11 or 12 names (I don't have my notes handy to double-check) were announced at the meeting. The rest of the names remained private until the candidates were contacted. That should explain why the list was incomplete in the hours/days following the meeting. Three halls will run until Thursday; two after that. It was decided to hire four panels to keep the schedule running smoothly all day in order to finish the days at reasonable hours. That should explain why there are 20 names. Each panel will consist of five members. Each entrant's highest and lowest score per round will be discarded; something new this year and something requested by teachers and dance families around the world.

Along with this list comes disappointment, excitement and confusion; disappointment for those who are just learning they are unable to attend, excitement for those are learning they suddenly ARE able to attend and confusion for the reasons why.

Any dancer unable to attend due to a judging conflict, (either by their teacher being on the panel or an adjudicator with whom their school has a conflict such as a family relation or workshop connection or an adjudicator with whom an individual dancer has a conflict such as a family relation, a professional show conflict if the judge was a dance captain/choregorapher or if a dancer changed schools without serving a six month adjustment period due to moving or school closure) their WQ status is held over until Belfast 2012, provided they compete in 2012 for the school with which they qualified.

Their WQ status for Dublin 2011 gets passed onto the next dancer in the result at their Regional Oireachtas provided that dancer: a) recalled and completed the third round, b) will still compete for the school they represented at the Regional Oireachtas at Worlds and c) they too do not have an association conflict. Should the next dancer in line also have an association conflict, the dancer after them shall be invited and so on.

Should that next dancer in line opt not to go, has given up competing or has left the school with which they competed at their Regional Oireachtas, then no one further shall be invited.

The same bumping system applies in the case of qualifiers from the Secondary Oireachtas (in North America's case - the NAIDC) although there is no requirement that bump-up dancers have to recall or dance their set. However, they must have participated in their Regional Oireachtas for the same school as at the NAIDC.

It is very important to note that 2010 World Medal Holders will have already been skipped over at the qualifying events, so if it is a WMH who is ineligable to attend Dublin 2011, then their WQ status does NOT get passed onto the next available dancer in the result.

Figuring out who can't go and thus, who can, is fairly tricky in some cases as there associations not obvious to everyone. The onus is and has always been on each school to make themselves aware of their associations. Presently, there is no master list of schools affected by the association rules. Some of the adjudicators do not run classes so it is likely that some judges on the 2011 Worlds panel do not have any connections however they may have family members who teach and those family members may also have teachers in to do workshops. As such, I can't speculate as to who is free and clear (in case you are considering writing to me to ask).

There has been much speculation as to why judges can put their names in to judge, comments that they are in it for the money, and comments stating that workshops should be banned thus ending associations. I don't wish to comment on those points - everyone is entitled to their opinions. However, I have also read complaints about the same judges showing up time after time and complaints about judges without dance classes being out of touch. No system will satisfy anyone in anything in life. This system was brought about due to demand from teachers and dance families not in favour of previous systems. "The powers that be" can and do listen - but not to anonymous chatter on message boards. If you have anything constructive to contribute, you can talk to your TCRG or send an email to the address on this blog site at any time.

For those dancers who were next in line by a couple of spots and suspect a conflict which could lead to them being eligible to attend Worlds, talk to your teacher to start investigating. I will try to obtain more information on this issue but not until January.

Alison Reaney Brown Canada
Anne Reid Ireland
Antony Ferguson Ireland
Conleth Mullan Ireland
Denise Elebert Ireland
Eoghan O'Cuinn Australia
Gary Healy USA
Jackie Scanlan Ireland
Julie Loughlin England
Kathleen O'Keefe USA
Lisa Delaney Galal England
Mandy Hennigan O'Loughlin England
Miceal Hopkins Ireland
Michael Mullane USA
Noreen Redmond Loughran Ireland
Rose Kenny England
Sharon McCaul Kelly Ireland
Stella Moore England
Sue Fay Healy Canada
Vourneen McLoughlin Ireland


List provided by:
Máire Dixon
Office Manager
An Coimisiún Le Rinci Gaelacha.
B.A.C. 7

Notes and explanations provide by:
Ryan Carroll
ADCRG and regional rep to An Coimisiún Le Rinci Gaelacha.
Eastern Canada