Good choreography (what even that means) should be the most important aspect of the dance, followed very closely by execution. Imbalance of the two does not work well. If the choreography is "over done" (poor execution or poor quality of dancers), the flaws in execution become glaring and obvious. If the dance is "underchoriographed" the flaws are not as visible.
Over the years it has been my observation that well choreographed AND well executed items win. I am sure there are exceptions. I particularly don't like to see "props for the sake of props" where the dancers use them briefly like a rich man who rarely drives his Ferrari and leaves it outside his house just to show off. If a team uses "Ghada" (pots for water, they should be used properly and for more than 30 seconds. Some competitions (not the college ones) limit the number of props for this reason.
This years winners (thank you You tube and Bob tube) seem to be a nice mix, but good choreography and seem lees execution with great synchronization (where all dancers look like just one dancer with many forms) should win.
When Lord Krishna danced with Gopis) there was one Krishna for each Gopi (as depicted in Rajasthani paintings and mentioned in Puranas). Each Gopi felt close to Krishna as if she was the only one who was with Krishna. It reminds me of one story of Radha.
Once Lord Krishna invited Radha to the inner sanctum of his garden. No one was allowed there. Radha was very happy being so close to Krishna. Soon she thought that she was special and the only one who had this privilege. As she experienced a great deal of pride for being special, she felt very lonely and sad. She realized that this false pride lead to separation from her lover. Based on this Narsinh Mehta wrote the famous lines of Raas "Nagar Nandji Na Lal, Raas ramanta mari Nathdi Khovani (oh Krishna, while doing raas, I lost my precious nose ring"). Nose ring represents false pride. When she became one with Krishna and lost her false pride, she lost the nose ring. Lesson for modern day American Raas dancers? Don’t let pride of winning go through your head. Leave your rage, frustration, anger at judges aside and focus on the exhilaration that American Raas is supposed to bring! Winning and losing is based on fickle minds of judges and not on your performance!
(Picture courtsey of http://www.gaudiyadiscussions.com/index.php?showtopic=2014)
