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Judges Tackle Tough Job, Pick First Female Champ

by Bill Giduz

The top three competitors in the IJA Individual Championships each presented polished, professional acts -- but each presented juggling in a totally different light.

How did the five judges seated at the front of the auditorium decide that Cindy Marvell's lively routine to Gershwin's music rated better than Larry Vaksman's eccentric combination tricks, and that Vaksman deserved to finish above Michael Mene's steely cold, smooth moves with balls and rings?

The choice of Marvell as the 1989IJA Individual Champion was not unanimous, as this year's judges' scoresheets show. In an attempt to make the process sturdier, championships director Craig Barnes eliminated the points system of the past and asked

judges to simply rate the seven final acts as one through seven. And while Marvell got three of five top votes, she also was picked as second by one judge and third by another.

Vaksman got two first place votes, a second and a fourth. Menes got two second place votes, a third, a fourth and a fifth. The final outcome was simply a compilation of scores, rather than a unanimous decision.

The scores also show that judges can interpret the same set of scoring guidelines in different ways, arriving at their own subjective decisions. Though the rules have been adjusted in minor ways during the past few years, they have not changed substantially. Judges were told to count technique as 60 percent of their score, and performance as 40 percent. Hence, the difficulty of the juggling tricks in the act, combined with how well they are executed, is paramount.

"Performance" is defined in the guidelines as stage presence and characterization, routining and choreography, costume and music, and artistry.

WHEN THEY WERE INTERVIEWED after the championships, the judges all said their duty was extremely difficult because of the tremendous number of variables in a juggling routine. Marvell' s routine ultimately won because it combined difficult tricks with well-planned choreography. While Vaksman's routine included combination tricks that were probably more difficult than Marvell's, the act did not have a strong "plot." Rather than a planned beginning, middle and end, Vaksman simply presented trick after trick after trick. Menes, on the other hand, presented a routine that was minutely choreographed down to each glance and turn of the head, but the judges felt the level of technical skill he displayed was not as high as in the top two acts.

But technique and presentation can hardly be viewed separately, and therein the contention begins. One judge explained, "Menes did three balls and four and five rings. On the surface that doesn't seem to be difficult, but you combine it with his incredible movement skills and the fact that he's working so close to the music, and it becomes much more difficult. It's not easy though, unless you're familiar with that type of juggling, to know how difficult it is."

While the judges had a hard time picking between those three acts, the four that finished below were largely knocked out of the running by drops. One judge said, "We were on the lookout for very clean acts, and Cindy, Michael and Larry were very clean. Larry didn't miss at all, and Cindy and Michael only had two mistakes. That was a primary reason they were tops."

With so many difficult decisions to make about technique and performance, it seems the judges consider dropped props as a good reason to drop a routine from their consideration. One judge said, "Why would you do act where there is any possibility of a drop? It baffles me why people do stuff they're not 100percent comfortable with. It's like playing a recital where you're not sure of the score." .

Said another, "According to sheet I was given, it should be a professional quality routine that would work in the open market. You don't chase balls across the stage in Vegas."

In making recommendations for people who may consider competing in the future, the judges' primary advice was to be totally comfortable with the routine. One said, "The competitions used to be a pretty loose show of technique, but now everyone looks at it like a Tonight Show audition."

The judges agreed that the IJA championships have come a long way, but that the old problem of how to judge juggling fairly has not gone away. So while the increased visibility and prestige of the championships has led to more professional acts on stage, it has only meant that the judges face a tougher task. As one judge said, "One of the great things about the championships is that it forces people to put something together. It's a real motivating factor and that's great. I just wish we could find a way to make it a little less nerve-wracking for everyone!"