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

A flowing solo or group dance in which the movement is shaped by the emotion and lyrics of the music, blending ballet technique, jazz and contemporary freedom.

Lyrical dance sits between ballet and jazz. The dancer uses the clean lines, turns and leaps of classical training but lets the movement be driven by the feeling of a song rather than by a fixed vocabulary of steps. Phrases are usually fluid and sustained, with turns that melt into floor work, leaps that carry across the stage and arms that follow the meaning of the music. The name comes from the lyrics: a good lyrical piece tells you what the song is about without a word being spoken.

A round is one performance on a stage floor. The dancer or team is announced, the track starts, and the adjudicator watches the whole piece, writing comments and a mark as it unfolds. There is no fixed set of steps to check against, so the panel is looking at how well the choreography suits the music, how cleanly it is executed, and whether the dancer actually communicates the emotion they are trying to show.

In the eTalenter catalogue Lyrical appears on 20 dance templates. On the Rise Up Dance Creative template it follows Classical Ballet, National Character, Demi Character and Variation and is entered as a solo in three levels (Specially Restricted, Restricted and Open) across seven age divisions from 6 and under to 17 and over, and also as duo/trio entries by age, a parent and child section, troupe entries by age, and school sections from Preschool to High School Grade 12 and Small Schools. Solos, duo/trio and parent and child run to three minutes, troupe and school sections to four. Boys and girls compete together, there is no language requirement, and entries are marked out of 100 under the label Marks. The template prints no marking criteria, so none are installed here and the adjudicator’s own sheet applies.

Organisers list Lyrical separately from Contemporary and Jazz because the focus differs: lyrical is about expressing a song’s story and mood through connected, flowing movement, while the other sections lean on different movement styles. For a coordinator using eTalenter it is entered like any other item: register each dancer or team in the correct age division and level, record the adjudicator’s mark out of 100, and ranking and placings follow within each division.

Where Lyrical is run

In eTalenter’s data Lyrical appears on 20 dance templates, mostly Australian eisteddfods and dance challenges including Rise Up Dance Creative, Tutus and Tapshoes Eisteddfod and several city and regional festivals. It is a standard section of dance competition programmes in Australia, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, usually listed beside Jazz, Contemporary and Ballet.

• Australia
• United States
• Canada
• United Kingdom

Key facts

• Solo (Specially Restricted, Restricted, Open) in seven age divisions from 6 and under to 17 and over on the Rise Up template; also duo/trio, parent and child, troupe and school entries.
• Boys and girls compete together; no language requirement.
• Time limit in the Rise Up template: 3 minutes for solos, duo/trio and parent and child; 4 minutes for troupe and school sections.
• Marks out of 100 under the label Marks; the template prints no criteria, so the adjudicator’s sheet decides.
• Used on 20 dance templates in the catalogue, so one set of results can be compared across festivals that use the same section name.
• Idea starters, not rules: a song about growing up, a piece about letting go, a rain-and-sunshine story, a tribute to a grandparent, a quiet piece that builds to a joyful finish.

On eTalenter, Lyrical is filed under Dance and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 20 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Lyrical is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to 2–5 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Lyrical

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

• Emotional connection: the face, eyes and body should show the feeling of the song from the first count to the last, not only in the big moments.
• Fluidity and continuity: movements should link into phrases, with turns, falls and recoveries that look effortless instead of a string of separate steps.
• Technique: secure turns, controlled leaps with pointed feet, strong posture and clean landings underpin the soft style and lose marks when they wobble.
• Musicality and interpretation: choreography should follow the words and dynamics of the track, with quiet moments honoured and builds placed on the crescendo.
• Choreography and use of space: a clear shape from opening to finish, using the whole floor, with levels and direction changes that serve the story.
• Presentation: costume and hair that suit the mood, a confident entrance and a finish that holds the final pose cleanly.

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

How to prepare for Lyrical

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

• Choose a song the dancer can feel. Listen to it with the teacher, discuss what it means, and decide what story the piece will tell before any steps are set.
• Match difficulty to level. A calm, clean piece with two strong turns scores better than an ambitious one that falls apart.
• Build technique first: rehearse the turn sequences and leaps on their own, then link them into phrases so the changes between steps stay smooth.
• Rehearse the emotion as much as the steps. Practise the piece in front of a mirror, then in front of family, and check that the face stays engaged.
• Time the track. Make sure the cut is within the three or four minute limit and that the piece does not end abruptly.
• Run the piece back to back twice near the date to build stamina, and film one run-through to review arm lines and finishes.
• Rehearse in the actual costume and shoes, with a plan for floor work if the stage surface is slippery.

Frequently asked questions

Is Lyrical 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 lyrical dance?

Lyrical is a fluid style that blends ballet technique with jazz and contemporary movement and is danced to music with meaning, usually a song with words. The dancer expresses the emotion of the lyrics through connected, flowing movement.

What is the difference between lyrical and contemporary?

They overlap, but lyrical is closely tied to the feeling of a song and keeps a softer, ballet-influenced line, while contemporary uses a wider range of movement and may not follow lyrics at all. Many festivals mark them as separate sections.

How long is a Lyrical entry?

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

Is Lyrical judged individually or as a team?

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

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