Callbacks and the Running Order Between Rounds

A callback is announced by the chairman of judges, not by the scorer and not by the emcee. The chairman reads the numbers that advance, the deck captain or emcee repeats them to the floor, and the scorer rebuilds the running order for the next round from the list the chairman signed. The paperwork that carries those numbers is the same set of documents that a competition desk produces for every event: heat lists, program, category results, placements and scoresheets by person. A program of events at a university arts season follows the same discipline of a printed order that everyone can read, and the archived season calendars of the CSU, Chico School of the Arts show how a printed order is built and published before the doors open.

Who announces a callback, and who writes it down?

The chairman of judges owns the announcement. In a syllabus event with three or five judges, the chairman collects the marked sheets after each heat, tallies the marks with the scorer, and then calls the numbers that advance. On a small floor the chairman calls them aloud; on a large floor the emcee repeats each number into the microphone so the couples at the far end hear it. The scorer writes the same numbers onto the callback sheet, and that sheet becomes the source for the next round. Nothing is announced that is not first written. A number called from memory and not entered on the sheet is the most common cause of a couple dancing a round they did not qualify for, or missing one they did. The desk keeps the callback sheet with the heat list for the round, so the two documents can be checked against each other after the event.

How are the numbers called?

Numbers are called in the order they appear on the callback sheet, not in the order they were marked. The chairman reads a block of numbers, pauses, then reads the next block. The pause matters: it gives the floor time to clear and the deck captain time to place the next block of couples. In a final, the numbers are usually called in reverse order of the previous round's placement, so the highest placed couple is called last and enters last. In a semifinal, the numbers are called in the order the scorer drew them from the tally, which is why the same couple can enter first in one round and eighth in the next. The emcee repeats each number once, clearly, and does not add commentary. If a number is called twice, the couple should present themselves to the deck captain rather than walk onto the floor, because a double call usually means a transcription error on the sheet.

How is the running order rebuilt between rounds?

The running order is rebuilt from three documents: the callback sheet, the heat list for the new round, and the program. The scorer takes the advancing numbers, sorts them by the rule the event uses, and writes a new heat list. Most events use one of two rules. Under a random draw, the advancing couples are shuffled and the heats are filled in the shuffled order. Under a placement order, the couples are sorted by their marks in the previous round and the heats are filled from the top down. The rule is stated in the event's rules of competition and does not change between rounds. The scorer then assigns each couple to a heat and a position within that heat, and the deck captain uses that list to place couples on the floor. The program is updated only if the event prints a new one for the next session; otherwise the program stays as printed and the heat list carries the change. A running order rebuilt without the callback sheet is a guess, and a guess is what produces two couples in the same position.

What changes between a preliminary, a semifinal and a final?

A preliminary round is danced in heats of a fixed size, usually six to eight couples, and the callback cuts the field to a semifinal. A semifinal is danced in the same heat size but with a smaller field, and the callback cuts to a final of six to eight couples. A final is danced once, all couples on the floor at the same time, and the placement is decided from that single dance or from a set of dances. The running order changes character at each step. In a preliminary, the order is a draw and the couples are interchangeable. In a semifinal, the order is still a draw but the field is smaller and the heats are fewer. In a final, the order is the placement order from the semifinal, and the last couple called is the couple that led the semifinal. The number of judges can also change: a preliminary may be judged by three judges, a final by five or seven. The scorer records the judge count on the scoresheet for each round, because a placement from three judges and a placement from seven are not the same document.

What does the desk hand to the chairman before the callback?

The desk hands the chairman three things: the marked sheets for the round just danced, the tally sheet with the marks totalled, and a blank callback sheet. The marked sheets carry the judges' individual marks. The tally sheet carries the sum or the majority, depending on the scoring system. The blank callback sheet is where the chairman writes the advancing numbers. The desk does not write on the callback sheet; that is the chairman's document. When the chairman has written the numbers, the desk takes the sheet, the scorer enters the numbers into the event software, and the new heat list is printed. The time between the last heat of a round and the announcement of the callback is usually ten to twenty minutes, and it is the tightest window of the day. A desk that has the tally sheet ready before the last heat ends can cut that window in half.

Why does the same couple sometimes dance twice in a row?

A couple can dance twice in a row when the draw places them at the end of one heat and the start of the next, or when the callback cuts a large field into heats that are filled in the order the numbers were drawn. The rule does not prevent it. The deck captain can sometimes adjust the placement within a heat to give a couple a rest, but only if the event's rules allow a discretionary placement, and most do not. The couple's remedy is to know the heat list before the round starts. The heat list is posted at the deck, and a couple that reads it can see whether they are back to back. The scorer can also flag back to back placements when building the heat list, and some events require the flag. The flag does not change the order; it tells the deck captain to watch for a couple that needs a moment.

What the documents show after the event

After the event, the callback sheets, the heat lists, the tally sheets and the scoresheets by person are the record of how the running order was built. A couple that wants to know why they entered eighth in a semifinal can read the callback sheet from the preliminary and the heat list from the semifinal and see the draw. A coach who wants to know why a placement changed between rounds can read the scoresheets by person and see the judge count. The documents do not explain the judges' reasoning, and they are not meant to. They record the numbers, the order and the count, which is what a running order is.