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

A team dance item for groups of school pupils, performed as one routine of up to five minutes and marked out of 100 on an Australian multi-genre dance series template.

School group is a team dance class for pupils who dance together as a school entry. Where the other troupe classes are defined by dance genre, this one is defined by who is dancing: a group put together by a school performs a single routine, and the panel marks it like any other troupe. The style is not fixed by the item, so a school may bring a jazz piece, a cultural dance, a story told through movement or a mixed routine, as long as it fits the organiser’s entry conditions.

In eTalenter data School Group appears on one template, a multi-genre Australian dance series. It is a team item open to both genders, with a five-minute limit and a mark out of 100. It is listed beside the genre troupes and runs in the same eight troupe bands: average age 6 and under, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 and under, plus an open-age band. The template’s source prints no separate age bands for school groups, so the troupe bands and the five-minute troupe limit are applied to it.

The same five-part mark sheet used for the genre troupes is installed: Technique 40, Stage Presence 25, Execution of Performance 20, Choreography 10 and Overall Appearance 5. Unlike the solo and duo classes, troupe classes on this template are awarded places rather than skill-level prizes, so the result is a ranking within each band.

For organisers it is an easy way to open a dance competition to schools without asking each school to pick a genre. Register each school group as a team, place it in the band that matches its dancers’ average age, record every adjudicator’s marks and let the ranking give the placings. Matters the software does not enforce, such as how many groups one school may enter, minimum group size, props and music licensing, belong in your entry conditions.

Where School Group is run

In eTalenter data School Group appears on one template, a multi-genre Australian dance series, alongside nine genre troupe items. School dance showcases and inter-school dance days elsewhere run similar open group classes, but this page describes only what that template carries.

• Australia

Key facts

• Team item: one routine performed by a group entered as a school group; the software enforces no dancer count.
• Time limit is five minutes, the same as the troupe classes.
• Marked out of 100 as Technique 40, Stage Presence 25, Execution 20, Choreography 10, Appearance 5.
• Runs in eight bands: average age 6 and under, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 and under, plus open age; gender is open.
• Awarded by place within each band, not by skill-level prize.
• Idea, not a rule: build the routine around the age of your youngest dancers so the whole group can perform it cleanly rather than only its strongest members.

On eTalenter, School Group 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, School Group 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 School Group

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

• Technique (40): clean basic technique across the whole group, with posture, lines and footwork matched between dancers.
• Stage presence (25): focus and energy from every pupil, including those at the back or on the edges of the formation.
• Execution (20): unison and timing, tidy formation changes and a start and finish that are secure.
• Choreography (10): steps that suit the age of the group, use of space and levels, and a clear shape from opening to end.
• Overall appearance (5): costumes that are tidy, safe to move in and match across the group.

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

How to prepare for School Group

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

• Choose choreography at the level of your least experienced dancer; a simple routine done together scores better than an ambitious one done raggedly.
• Count the music against the five-minute limit with a margin, and prepare a clean start position and a held finish.
• Plan formations for the real number of pupils on the day, in case someone is absent, and practise a version that still works.
• Rehearse on a floor and stage area close to the competition size so spacing is not a surprise.
• Teach eye focus and facial energy as part of the routine, not as an extra left to the day.
• Film a run from the judges’ viewpoint and check unison, spacing and transitions together.
• Confirm with the organiser how the age band is worked out for a group of mixed ages before you register.

Frequently asked questions

Is School Group 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 a school group in a dance competition?

A team routine entered by a group of pupils from a school. On the template that carries it, it is a team item marked out of 100 with a five-minute limit.

How long is a school group routine?

Five minutes, the same limit as the troupe classes. Check the organiser’s own rules for the event you are entering.

Is it different from a troupe class?

The format is the same, a team routine marked out of 100, but a school group is defined by being a school entry, not by a dance genre.

How is a school group marked?

Out of 100: Technique 40, Stage Presence 25, Execution of Performance 20, Choreography 10 and Overall Appearance 5, with places awarded within each age band.

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