Dance (Tari) Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A team dance for groups of primary school pupils in classes 3 to 5, marked out of 100 on idea, technique, appearance and creativity.

Dance, called Tari in Indonesian, is the dance branch of a national school arts and literature festival in Indonesia for primary pupils. A small group performs together as one team, boys and girls mixed, and the choreography is the group’s own idea rather than a single set piece. The source festival guide describes a team of three to five dancers.

On the template the item sits in one team group for classes 3 to 5, which eTalenter maps to ages 8 to 11, with Indonesian as the language and a total performance time of 7 minutes. The festival guide gives classes rather than ages, so the age band is an eTalenter mapping. The template does not model the guide’s team-size range or its online video submission rules.

It is marked out of 100 on four printed criteria: idea 15, technique 25, appearance 30 and creativity 30. Appearance and creativity together carry 60 of the 100 marks, so the panel rewards a dance that looks finished and original over one that only repeats steps correctly.

A strong entry has a clear theme the dancers can express, steps the whole group can perform together, a costume and stage presence that suit that theme, and some choreography that feels the children’s own. Organisers run the item because it builds confidence, rhythm and teamwork in young children with almost no equipment.

Where Dance (Tari) is run

On the eTalenter templates this item appears on one: a national student arts and literature festival in Indonesia for primary classes 3 to 5, where it sits beside drawing, singing, craft, storytelling, story writing and pantomime. Group dance is a standard item at school festivals in many countries, but the four-part weighting here belongs to this festival, so organisers elsewhere should set their own criteria.

• Indonesia

Key facts

• Team entry; pupils in class 3, 4 or 5 (mapped by eTalenter to ages 8 to 11), boys and girls together
• Language on the template is Indonesian; total performance time is set at 7 minutes and no entry fee is set
• Marked out of 100: idea 15, technique 25, appearance 30, creativity 30
• Appearance and creativity together carry 60 of the 100 marks
• Variant note: the source guide describes teams of three to five dancers, which the template does not model as a limit

On eTalenter, Dance (Tari) 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 (Tari) is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 7 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Dance (Tari)

What a Dance (Tari) panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Idea (15): the dance has a clear theme or story the audience can recognise; a string of unrelated steps with no central idea loses marks here
• Technique (25): steps, timing and body control are clean and the group stays together; dancers out of step with each other or with the music lose the most marks in this row
• Appearance (30): costume, stage presence and tidy formations suit the theme and look prepared; this is the largest row, so neat entries and confident faces matter
• Creativity (30): original choreography, transitions and use of space; copying a well-known video move for move scores lower than a simpler routine the children shaped themselves
• Overall: appearance and creativity make up 60 marks, so a simple, original routine performed in step and well presented usually beats a hard routine that is untidy

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

How to prepare for Dance (Tari)

How entrants and their teachers usually get Dance (Tari) right on the day:

• Choose one theme the children understand, such as a harvest, a game or a festival, and build every section of the routine around it
• Check the team size and time limit your own organiser sets; the template uses 7 minutes in total, while the source festival guide describes three to five dancers
• Give every dancer real steps in each section so the group moves as one team and nobody is simply standing at the back
• Count the music aloud in rehearsal so the whole group hits each change together, then drill the transitions between sections separately
• Plan formations on a floor marked to stage size, and rehearse entering and leaving so the start and finish look as tidy as the dance
• Let the children suggest at least one part of the choreography, since the creativity row rewards ideas that are their own
• Do a full dress run to time, then ask a teacher to name the weakest of the four criteria and practise that one next

Frequently asked questions

Is Dance (Tari) 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.

How many children perform in Dance (Tari)?

The template treats it as a team item without a fixed number. The source festival guide describes a team of three to five pupils from classes 3 to 5, boys and girls together.

How is Dance (Tari) marked?

Out of 100 on four printed criteria: idea 15, technique 25, appearance 30 and creativity 30.

How long can the dance last?

The template sets a total time of 7 minutes. Confirm the limit for each round with your own organiser.

Can we use any style of dance?

The template does not restrict the style or record a rule on music and props, so follow the notice from your own organiser. The marking rewards a clear theme and original choreography rather than a particular style.

Is this the same as Group Dance on eTalenter?

It is the same kind of item, but this page covers the Indonesian primary-school version with its own four-part marking. Group Dance on eTalenter is a separate catalogue item with different criteria.

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