Slow/Straight Tap Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A tap dance section danced to a slower, steady beat, where clean sounds, control and clear timing matter more than speed, performed as a solo, duo/trio or group.

Slow or straight tap is the section for tap dancing at an unhurried tempo, usually built on a steady four-beat feel rather than a fast, driving rhythm. Because the pace is gentle, nothing can hide: every heel drop, shuffle and flap is audible, and every uneven sound or late step shows. The dancer’s feet are the instrument as well as the movement, so the panel is listening as much as it is watching.

A round is a single performance on the stage floor. The dancer or team is announced, the music begins, and the adjudicator listens to the taps from the opening step to the final pose, marking the sound, the timing and the way the dancer carries the routine. Slower music leaves space for stillness, so good routines use pauses, accents and changes of weight deliberately, and finish with a clear last sound rather than drifting out.

On the Rise Up Dance Creative template, which this page is written from, Slow/Straight Tap is a large section. Solos are split into three levels (Specially Restricted, Restricted and Open) across seven age divisions, from 6 and under to 17 and over. There are duo/trio sections for each age division, a parent and child section, troupe sections, and school-group sections covering preschool, primary, high school and small schools. Solos, duo/trio and parent and child entries run to three minutes; troupe and school sections run to four. Boys and girls compete together, no language is required, and every entry is marked out of 100 under the label Marks. The template prints no marking criteria for this item, so none are installed here and the adjudicator’s own sheet applies.

Organisers keep it separate from Fast Tap because the skill is different: control and clarity at a steady tempo rather than speed and stamina. For a coordinator using eTalenter it is entered like any other item: register each dancer or team in the right level and age division, record the adjudicator’s mark out of 100, and ranking and placings follow within each division.

Where Slow/Straight Tap is run

In eTalenter’s data Slow/Straight Tap appears on two Australian dance templates, Rise Up Dance Creative and APEX Dance Challenge. A slow or straight tap section is a regular part of studio-style dance programmes and eisteddfods in Australia, and tap sections of this kind are also run in dance festivals in the United Kingdom, North America and other countries with a studio dance tradition.

• Australia
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Canada

Key facts

• Solo, duo/trio, parent and child, troupe and school-group entries on the Rise Up Dance Creative template.
• Solos are split by level (Specially Restricted, Restricted, Open) and by age: 6 and under, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and under, and 17 and over.
• Boys and girls compete together; no language requirement.
• Time limit in the template: 3 minutes for solos, duo/trio and parent and child; 4 minutes for troupes and school groups.
• Marks out of 100 under the label Marks; the template prints no criteria, so the adjudicator’s sheet decides.
• Idea starters, not rules: a smooth swing standard, a gentle soft-shoe style routine, a ballad with sparse accents, a number that builds from heel-and-toe work into a single clean time step.

On eTalenter, Slow/Straight Tap 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, Slow/Straight Tap is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to 3–5 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Slow/Straight Tap

What a Slow/Straight Tap panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Sound quality: every tap clear, even in volume and placed squarely on the beat, with no scuffed, double or missing sounds.
• Rhythm and timing: steady tempo kept without rushing the slower beat, and accents that land with the music.
• Technique: weight placed over the foot, relaxed ankles, tidy shuffles, flaps and heel drops, and secure balance on single-leg steps.
• Posture and carriage: upright, controlled upper body and quiet arms, so the feet carry the routine rather than fighting the rest of the body.
• Choreography and musicality: a routine with a clear shape, deliberate pauses and a strong last sound, with difficulty suited to the level and age.
• Presentation and timing: finishing inside the limit with a confident performance; for groups, unison of both sound and movement across the stage.

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

How to prepare for Slow/Straight Tap

How entrants and their teachers usually get Slow/Straight Tap right on the day:

• Choose steps the dancer can make sound clean at tempo; a simple routine played cleanly scores better than an ambitious one with muddy sounds.
• Practise the basic sounds slowly each week with a metronome: shuffles, flaps, heel drops and time steps, listening for evenness rather than just looking.
• Record the practice with sound and play it back; the ear catches uneven taps that the mirror misses.
• Count the phrasing with the teacher and mark where the pauses and accents fall, so silence is a choice rather than a mistake.
• Rehearse in the real tap shoes on a floor like the stage floor, since a different surface changes the sound.
• For duos, trios and troupes, rehearse sound unison separately from visual unison: eyes closed, listen for one set of taps rather than several.
• Run the full routine back to back twice near the date, and rehearse the entrance and the final pose so the last sound lands with the music.
• Check the music cut fits the time limit before the day.

Frequently asked questions

Is Slow/Straight Tap 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 the difference between slow/straight tap and fast tap?

Slow or straight tap is danced at a steadier, gentler tempo and rewards clean, controlled sounds, while fast tap is quicker and rewards speed and stamina. They are marked as separate sections.

How long is a Slow/Straight Tap routine?

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

Is Slow/Straight Tap judged individually or as a team?

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

Are the judging criteria printed for this item?

No. The template prints no criteria for it, so the adjudicator’s own sheet is used and eTalenter records a single mark out of 100.

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