Contemporary Small Troupe Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A group contemporary dance section for a small troupe of four to ten dancers, using release, floor work and abstract ideas rather than a literal story, within a five-minute limit.

A contemporary small troupe is a rehearsed group piece in which a modest team explores an idea through movement instead of telling a song lyric step by step. Contemporary dance borrows from ballet, jazz and modern technique but values weight, breath, release and contrast: dancers fall and recover, travel low to the floor, spiral through the spine and move in and out of unison. With four to ten dancers the stage stays readable, and every performer is visible in each pattern the group makes.

A strong routine starts with a concept that can be stated in a sentence, such as crowding and space, holding on and letting go, or a journey from stillness to momentum. The music, often instrumental or atmospheric, is chosen to support that idea. Typical content includes floor sequences, off-balance suspensions, partner weight-sharing, canons and sudden changes of speed. Strong troupes mix moments of exact unison with deliberate difference, so the audience sees both the group and the individuals in it.

On the entry form the act is a team entered in one age division. The template that carries this section uses seven team divisions: 5 and under, 6 and under, 8 and under, 10 and under, 12 and under, 14 and under and 15 and over, taken from the average age of the troupe at the start of the competition year. Boys and girls may dance together, each division is marked out of 100 under the label Marks, and the time limit is five minutes. The source syllabus defines a small troupe as four to ten dancers; the troupe brings its own choreography and music.

Organisers run contemporary as its own section beside lyrical and jazz because the three are judged on different qualities: contemporary rewards originality, movement quality and use of the floor, while lyrical rewards emotional storytelling and jazz rewards attack. A separate small-troupe class also keeps a ten-strong act from being compared with a larger company. The syllabus runs small and large sections only if entries are sufficient, so a coordinator should confirm the final list once entries close.

Where Contemporary Small Troupe is run

In the eTalenter catalogue this section appears on one dance template in New South Wales, Australia: an amateur two-day studio competition in Sydney that runs contemporary in small and large troupe classes. Contemporary troupe classes are a regular part of studio, school and eisteddfod dance programmes in many countries, usually split by age and by group size.

• Australia

Key facts

• Team entry of four to ten dancers, boys and girls together, in contemporary style
• Seven team age divisions in the Sydney template: 5/U, 6/U, 8/U, 10/U, 12/U, 14/U and 15/O, using the average age of the troupe at the start of the competition year
• Five-minute limit for every troupe in that template
• Marked out of 100 (Marks); the source syllabus prints no criteria or placings, so organisers add their own
• Runs only if entries are sufficient, and is separate from the large-troupe section for eleven or more dancers
• The troupe brings its own choreography and music

On eTalenter, Contemporary Small Troupe is filed under Dance and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Contemporary Small Troupe is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 5 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Contemporary Small Troupe

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

• Movement quality: weight, breath, release and recovery look natural and controlled, not just a sequence of poses
• Concept and originality: the piece has a clear idea that develops, rather than borrowing a familiar routine or copying a video
• Musicality: phrasing and dynamics respond to the music, including use of silence and changes of tempo
• Floor work and transitions: moves down to and up from the floor are smooth, safe and together, with no stalls between sections
• Unison, spacing and group awareness: shared phrases are exact, deliberate differences look intentional, and nobody is hidden or crowded
• Performance and presentation: focus and commitment from every dancer, costume that serves the concept, and energy held to the final stillness

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

How to prepare for Contemporary Small Troupe

How entrants and their teachers usually get Contemporary Small Troupe right on the day:

• Count the troupe before entering, because four to ten dancers is a small troupe and one extra dancer moves the act to the large class
• Write the concept in one sentence and test every section of the choreography against it; cut anything that does not serve it
• Choose music with room to move in, and cut the track to finish inside the five-minute limit with a few seconds to spare
• Practise floor work and weight changes on their own until the whole troupe moves down and up together, because ragged floor transitions are the commonest loss of marks
• Rehearse with a mirror and on film, checking that the group is in unison where it should be and visibly different where that is the choice
• Mark floor spots for each formation and rehearse transitions slowly, then at speed, so no dancer searches for a place
• Build one clear peak, such as a collapse, a canon or a sudden stillness, and keep earlier sections quieter so the peak lands
• Check every dancer age against the cut-off date before entry, because the whole troupe is placed by its average age

Frequently asked questions

Is Contemporary Small Troupe judged individually or as a team?

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

What is the difference between contemporary and lyrical?

Lyrical follows the story or emotion of the music with a ballet-and-jazz line; contemporary is freer, with floor work, off-balance movement and abstract ideas. Many events judge them as separate sections, so enter the one that matches your choreography.

How many dancers make a small contemporary troupe?

In the Sydney template a small troupe is four to ten dancers and eleven or more belong in the large troupe. Always check the organiser own definition for the event you are entering.

How long can a contemporary troupe routine be?

Five minutes in the Sydney template. A late finish can cost points in the source syllabus, so the organiser notice is the one that counts.

Do we choose our own music?

Yes. A troupe brings its own choreography and music.

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