Acro Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

An acrobatic dance section that blends dance technique with tumbling, balance and partner work, performed as a solo, duo/trio, parent and child or group and marked out of 100 by the adjudicator.

Acro, short for acrobatic dance, combines classical dance lines with gymnastic skills such as cartwheels, walkovers, balances, rolls and, in partner and group work, lifts and shapes held by more than one dancer. The skill is not the tumbling alone: the dancer is expected to link each skill to the music with dance steps, so the routine reads as choreography rather than a string of gymnastics passes.

A round is one performance. The entrant or team is announced, the music starts, and the adjudicator watches the whole routine from the opening position to the final pose. Strong routines place their hardest skills where the music lifts, travel across the whole floor, vary levels between floor work, standing work and any lifts, and settle the final balance before the last note. A skill that is landed softly and held cleanly scores above a bigger one that is rushed or scrambled.

On the Rise Up Dance Creative template, which this page is written from, Acro is entered in solo sections split into Restricted and Open levels across age divisions from 6 and under to 17 plus, and in duo/trio, parent and child, troupe and school-group sections. Solos, duo/trio and parent and child entries run to three minutes and troupes and school groups to four. Boys and girls compete together, no language is required, and every entry is marked out of 100 under the label Marks. The template prints no marking criteria for this item, so none are installed and the adjudicator’s own sheet applies.

Organisers run it as a separate item because the safety and floor requirements differ from other dance styles. For a coordinator using eTalenter it is entered like any other item: register each dancer or team in the right level and age division, record the adjudicator’s mark out of 100, and placings follow within each division.

Where Acro is run

In eTalenter’s data Acro appears on nine dance templates: eight Australian dance challenges and festivals and one Scottish festival programme. Acrobatic dance sections are also a regular part of dance festivals and studio competitions elsewhere, usually alongside jazz, lyrical and contemporary.

• Australia
• Scotland

Key facts

• Solo (Restricted and Open levels), duo/trio, parent and child, troupe and school-group entries on the Rise Up Dance Creative template.
• Solos run from 6 and under to 17 plus; troupes use the same age bands, and school groups are split by school grade.
• Boys and girls compete together; no language requirement.
• Time limit in the template: 3 minutes for solos, duo/trio and parent and child; 4 minutes for troupes and school groups.
• Marks out of 100 under the label Marks; the template prints no criteria, so the adjudicator’s sheet decides.
• Idea starters, not rules: a routine where a balance is passed from one dancer to the next, a duo that mirrors each other through a roll sequence, a troupe that builds and dissolves one shape on the beat, or a solo that opens on the floor and rises into the hardest skill on the music’s lift.

On eTalenter, Acro is filed under Dance and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 9 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Acro is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to 1–5 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Acro

What a Acro panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Technique and execution of skills: straight lines, controlled landings and held balances, with difficulty the entrant can actually complete cleanly.
• Dance content and linking: dance steps, turns and transitions between skills, so the routine is choreography and not a series of tricks.
• Musicality and timing: skills placed on accents and phrases, finishing together with the music.
• Choreography and variety: use of the whole floor, changes of level, a clear opening and finish, and no repeated sequence.
• Performance and presentation: confidence and expression through the skills, with costume and music suited to the age division.
• Partner and group work: safe, secure lifts and shapes, matched timing, tidy formations, and a finish inside the time limit.

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Acro under Scoring Setup, or start from the full group dance judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Acro

How entrants and their teachers usually get Acro right on the day:

• Build the routine from skills the entrant lands cleanly every time; a simpler skill done well beats a harder one that wobbles.
• Choose the music first and fit the skills to its phrases, placing the most demanding moment where the track builds.
• Rehearse the transitions between skills as carefully as the skills themselves, so the dance content shows.
• Warm up fully and condition shoulders, wrists, core and flexibility with the teacher before every rehearsal.
• For duos, trios and groups, practise lifts and shapes with spotting and a clear count until they are secure, and film from the front to check unison and spacing.
• Run the routine in full at performance speed to build stamina, so the last sequence is as sharp as the first.
• Check the music cut against the time limit and the age division, and test the routine on a surface like the stage floor.
• Wear fitted costume and secure hair and jewellery, so nothing catches during rolls, lifts or balances.

Frequently asked questions

Is Acro judged individually or as a team?

Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.

What is Acro in a dance competition?

It is acrobatic dance: dance technique combined with tumbling, balances and, in partner and group sections, lifts, all performed to music and marked as one routine.

How long is an Acro routine?

On the Rise Up Dance Creative template solos, duo/trio and parent and child entries run to three minutes, and troupe and school-group entries to four.

Is Acro judged individually or as a team?

Solos are judged individually. Duo/trio, parent and child, troupe and school-group entries are judged as one performance and ranked within their own division.

Are the judging criteria printed for this item?

No. The template prints no criteria for it, so the adjudicator’s own sheet is used and eTalenter records a single mark out of 100.

Want the full judging picture? Read the full group dance judging criteria guide, or browse every dance competition item.