Jazz (No Tricks) Solo Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A single dancer performing a jazz routine that leans on style, rhythm and clean technique rather than acrobatic or gymnastic skills, scored out of 100 and placed in a skill-level band.

A jazz (no tricks) solo is the jazz solo with the acrobatics taken out. One dancer performs one routine to one piece of music, and the choreography is built from the core vocabulary of the style: isolations, jazz walks and runs, kicks, leaps, turns, floor-level changes and a strong sense of rhythm. The point of the section is that a dancer can win marks on style and control alone, without competing against classmates who can add back walkovers, aerials or other acro-style skills.

On the Time to Shine Dance Competitions template, which this page is written from, it sits directly after Jazz Solo as the second of about twenty solo styles. Dancers enter a division defined by years of dance training and by age. There are three experience levels: less than two years, two to five years and five years or more. Each has its own run of ages, from 4 and under up to 16 for the newest dancers, from 6 and under up to 18 plus Adult and Mature Age for the middle level, and from 10 and under up to 18 plus Adult and Mature Age for the most experienced. A separate Masters division is open to dance teachers. Age is counted as at 1 January of the competition year.

A round is a single performance. The dancer is announced, the music starts and the adjudicator writes a critique while watching the whole routine. Every performance is scored out of 100 on five lines: Technique 40, Stage Presence 25, Execution of Performance 20, Choreography 10 and Overall Appearance 5. The score decides a skill-level band rather than a first, second or third place, from Ruby at 60-69 up to Platinum Plus at 97 and above, so several dancers in the same division can earn the same band.

Solos for dancers with two years or less of experience run to two minutes and every other solo to three, with a penalty for running more than ten seconds over. The same dancer may enter each genre up to three times with different routines, boys and girls compete together and no language is required. The syllabus lists Jazz (No Tricks) Solo as its own style, so the published rules, not this page, are the final word on exactly which skills count as tricks; the template does not define them.

Where Jazz (No Tricks) Solo is run

In eTalenter data Jazz (No Tricks) Solo appears on two dance templates, both Australian: Time to Shine Dance Competitions and an Albury-Wodonga area dance eisteddfod, where it is one of 19 solo styles offered in age-based and Novice or Open classes. A ‘no tricks’ split is a recognised way for dance competitions to separate technique-and-style routines from those that include acrobatic skills, but it is not a universal section, so this page claims only the Australian use shown in the data.

• Australia

Key facts

• Individual entry; boys and girls compete together; no language requirement.
• Divisions on this template: three experience levels (under 2 years, 2 to 5 years, 5 years or more) crossed with single-year ages, plus Adult, Mature Age and a Masters division for teachers.
• Time limit: 2 minutes for dancers with 2 years or less of experience, 3 minutes for everyone else; more than 10 seconds over is penalised.
• Scored out of 100: Technique 40, Stage Presence 25, Execution of Performance 20, Choreography 10, Overall Appearance 5, the same sheet as Jazz Solo.
• Result is a skill-level band by score (Ruby 60-69 up to Platinum Plus 97 and above) with a written critique; no points are printed for placings.
• Idea starters, not rules: a jazz-walk and isolation routine to a classic big-band track, a pop piece built on rhythmic accents and level changes, a character-led number that relies on facial performance rather than skills.

On eTalenter, Jazz (No Tricks) Solo is filed under Dance and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 2 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Jazz (No Tricks) Solo is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to 2–3 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Jazz (No Tricks) Solo

What a Jazz (No Tricks) Solo panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Technique (40): the biggest line on the sheet. With no acro to lean on, the panel sees kicks, leaps and turns in full, so footwork, extension, landing control and a jazz line through the torso decide the mark.
• Stage Presence (25): projection and eye focus from the first count, and energy that stays up to the last pose; a routine with no big skills depends on performance to hold attention.
• Execution of Performance (20): how cleanly the planned routine is delivered, with accents landing on the beat, controlled transitions and no visible recovery from slips.
• Choreography (10): a clear shape, varied levels and floor patterns, and interesting rhythmic ideas that make up for the absence of showy skills, at a difficulty that suits the dancer’s level.
• Overall Appearance (5): costume, hair and presentation that look finished and suit the style; a small mark, but an easy one to secure.
• Keeping to the brief: building the routine without acrobatic skills so it fits the section as the organiser defines it, and finishing inside the time limit.

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Jazz (No Tricks) Solo under Scoring Setup, or start from the full group dance judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Jazz (No Tricks) Solo

How entrants and their teachers usually get Jazz (No Tricks) Solo right on the day:

• Read the organiser’s definition of ‘tricks’ before choreographing, and ask the organiser if a skill such as a turning leap or a floor roll is borderline.
• Choose the experience level by total years of dance training, not by age, because the division decides who the dancer is marked alongside.
• Put the effort into the 40 technique marks: drill isolations, jazz walks and kick lines slowly with a count, then at performance speed.
• Fill the space that tricks would have taken with rhythm: layered accents, level changes, stillness and sudden stops, planned with the teacher against the music.
• Practise the performance face on video and rehearse the entrance and final pose as carefully as the steps.
• Time the routine with the music cut and finish a few seconds inside the limit, remembering the two-minute limit for newer dancers.
• Run the routine twice back to back in the real costume and shoes a week before the event to build stamina for the closing thirty seconds.
• After a lower band, read the written critique with the teacher and fix one technique point and one performance point before the next event.

Frequently asked questions

Is Jazz (No Tricks) Solo 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 does ‘no tricks’ mean in a jazz solo?

It means the routine is performed without acrobatic or gymnastic skills, so the marks come from jazz technique, rhythm and performance. The template does not define the term, so check the organiser’s written rules for the exact list.

Is Jazz (No Tricks) Solo the same as Jazz Solo?

No. They are listed as separate solo styles with the same five-line scoring sheet, and a dancer can enter both with different routines. The no-tricks section is for routines that leave out the acrobatic skills.

How long can the routine be?

Two minutes for dancers with two years or less of experience and three minutes for everyone else. A routine more than ten seconds over the limit is penalised, though the amount is not printed.

Do dancers get first, second and third place?

Not on this template. Each performance is scored out of 100 and the dancer receives a skill-level band, from Ruby at 60-69 to Platinum Plus at 97 and above, with a written critique.

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