What is a Jess & Jo contest?
Typically called a Jack & Jill, a Jess & Jo contest is where competitors are randomly matched to their partners. Dancers are to show their social dance skills with their partner to a variety of music picked by the competition DJ. As such, it truly tests your skills as a social dancer. It’s very friendly and extremely fun!

Our derby format will determine finalists in a series of prelims each week.

Who Is Allowed To Compete
For this competition, Amateurs are defined as dancers who have not taught classes at a weekly event and who have not placed in the top three in any regional or national dance competition.

Registration
Contest registration begins at 9:30pm and closes at 9:50pm Wednesday October 12, October 19, and October 26 at Wednesday Night Hop. Contest spots are available on a first come, first served basis. To prevent time overruns for the contest, we will be limiting the number of participants each week. A limited number of spots will be reserved for in advance registration to help out dancers who have long distance commutes and cannot make it in person for the 9:15pm sign up time at Wednesday Night Hop’s discretion.

Registration costs $3 for each preliminary round contest and is open to any eligible dancers, who haven’t yet won a preliminary round.

How does the contest work?
The Harvest Moon J&J Derby consists of 3 preliminary rounds and 1 final round.

Preliminary rounds take place Wednesday October 12, 19, and 26. Participants can keep entering every week, as long as they don’t win. Contestants will be paired with 3-4 partners, at random. The music style and tempo will vary for each partner. Each week, we will select 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners from our Follows and Leads. If you win a prelim round, you automatically qualify for the finals. You are also not allowed to enter any other prelims. If you don’t win, but place, you are encouraged to enter again. Earning a placement wins you points. In the end of the preliminary rounds, we will be adding up your total points over three weeks to determine any additional finalists and alternates for the finals.

Preliminary round format:

• Each Lead will be randomly paired with 3-4 Follows and dance for 1 minute and 30 seconds to a different song picked by the competition DJ.
• Follows and Leads are judged separately in the preliminary contests.
• Judging for the preliminary rounds will be scored by relative placement.

The final round takes place on November 2, 2016 to LIVE MUSIC. Registration is not required for the final round. Each contestant will be assigned one partner, at random.

Final round format:

• Finals begin with a brief all skate warm-up, followed by a spotlight phrase battle to LIVE MUSIC. We go until the judges and crowd are satisfied!
• Phrase battle format T.B.D.
• Judging for the final round will be scored by relative placement.

Schedule