Dance – Non-filmy Contemporary Choreography Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A team item in which up to five students present an original contemporary dance piece that does not borrow film songs or film steps, marked on style, innovation, costume, presentation, music and a short write-up with a video.

Dance – Non-filmy Contemporary Choreography is the open, creative group dance item of a school arts festival. A small team of students in classes IX to XII builds an original piece of movement around an idea, a story or a theme from everyday life. The word non-filmy is the key rule: the piece should not lift its music, steps or styling from film songs. Instead the team is expected to choose its own music, shape its own formations and say something with the movement.

On the national school arts festival template the item is a team entry, boys and girls together, with a six-minute limit and a mark total of 100. No warning time is set and no language applies, because the item is judged on movement. The printed sheet is weighted: Authenticity in style, Variations / Innovations, Presentation skills and Write-up and video carry 20 marks each, while Costumes and Music carry 10 each. For a contemporary piece, authenticity is read as honesty to the chosen idea and to the movement language the team has picked, not loyalty to a traditional form.

An entry has two parts. On the day the team performs one choreographed piece within the limit. Before the day the team prepares a short written note explaining the idea behind the piece and a recorded video, judged together for 20 marks. The best entries make the link between the note and the stage obvious: a panel reading about a theme of water saving should see that theme in the groupings, levels and pace of the dance.

Organisers run this item to give students a place to create rather than copy. Classical and folk dance items reward faithfulness to an inherited form; this one rewards invention, teamwork and taste, and it is often where a school’s most imaginative group work appears.

Where Dance – Non-filmy Contemporary Choreography is run

On the eTalenter templates this item appears on one: a national school arts festival in India for classes IX to XII, where it is the third dance item beside a solo classical dance and a regional folk or tribal group dance. Original group choreography, sometimes called contemporary, creative or theme dance, is a regular class at school, college and youth festivals in many countries. This page describes the item as that template sets it up, so organisers elsewhere should check their own rules for team size, time limits, recorded music and what counts as film-derived.

• India

Key facts

• Team item: up to five students on the source rules (the template does not model the cap), classes IX to XII, boys and girls together
• Time limit on the template: 6 minutes; no warning time is set
• Marked out of 100: Authenticity in style 20, Variations / Innovations 20, Costumes 10, Presentation skills 20, Music 10, Write-up and video 20
• Non-filmy: the piece should not use film songs or film choreography as its base
• The write-up and video are prepared in advance and judged separately from the live performance
• No language applies, because the item is judged on movement
• The source prints placings but no points, so no rank points are installed and each organiser decides their own

On eTalenter, Dance – Non-filmy Contemporary Choreography 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, Dance – Non-filmy Contemporary Choreography is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 6 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Dance – Non-filmy Contemporary Choreography

What a Dance – Non-filmy Contemporary Choreography panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Authenticity in style: the piece holds to one clear movement language and one clear idea from start to finish, and is not a patchwork of borrowed film steps
• Variations / Innovations: fresh formations, levels, transitions and use of space; originality is judged against the idea of the piece, so novelty for its own sake earns little
• Costumes: dress supports the theme and lets the dancers move freely; only 10 marks, so simple, matching and well-fitted beats elaborate
• Presentation skills: spacing, timing, unison where intended, eye lines, confident entries and exits and a clear ending
• Music: original, instrumental or non-film music cleanly edited to the six-minute limit; film songs are the quickest way to lose marks in this item
• Write-up and video: a short note stating the idea and how the movement shows it, with a clear recording; marks are lost to a note that does not match the dance
• Time discipline: a piece that overruns risks being cut off, and one that is far shorter leaves the panel little to mark

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Dance – Non-filmy Contemporary Choreography under Scoring Setup, or start from the judge scoring and tabulation guide.

How to prepare for Dance – Non-filmy Contemporary Choreography

How entrants and their teachers usually get Dance – Non-filmy Contemporary Choreography right on the day:

• Start from a single idea the team can explain in one sentence, such as a season, a journey or a community problem, and let every section of the dance serve it
• Choose music with no film association and cut it to fit; get permission or use recordings the school may legally play
• Build the piece in sections with clear changes of pace and formation, so the 20 variation marks are earned deliberately
• Use the small team well: contrast solo moments with unison passages and use levels (floor, kneeling, standing) to make five dancers look like a bigger piece
• Keep movement within what every dancer can do cleanly; a simple step done together scores above a hard step done raggedly
• Rehearse to the stopwatch with the exact music file, and carry a copy on a second device
• Write the note in the team’s own words and film the video in good light with every dancer in frame
• After a lower placing, replay the video against the six printed aspects and rework the weakest one first

Frequently asked questions

Is Dance – Non-filmy Contemporary Choreography 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 does non-filmy mean for this dance?

It means the piece should not be built on film songs or film choreography. The team chooses its own music and movement. Organisers who follow the same rules should say in advance how they treat borderline cases.

How many students can be in the team?

The source rules cap group entries at five students. The template installs the item as a team entry without modelling that cap, so organisers should enforce it themselves.

How long is the piece?

On this template the limit is six minutes for one piece. No warning time is set, so the team should keep to the limit through rehearsal.

Is the write-up and video part of the marks?

Yes. Twenty of the 100 marks are for the write-up and video, prepared before the day and judged separately from the live performance.

Is it the same as a modern or contemporary dance class?

It is close in spirit, but this item is a group piece with a printed six-aspect sheet and a rule against film-derived material. Other festivals may use the same name for different formats.

Want the full judging picture? Read the judge scoring and tabulation guide, or browse every dance competition item.