An individual, on-stage dance performance entered as its own named genre in a festival’s dance line-up, judged live by a panel rather than tied to one fixed national dance style.
Solo Dance, as eTalenter carries it, is a stage item for a single performer, entered as a distinct genre in its own right rather than as a slot for any dance style whatsoever. In Kenya’s national schools drama and film festival, it sits on the official genre list alongside separate entries for Cultural Creative Dance and Modern Creative Dance – so an entrant choosing Solo Dance is choosing that specific genre lane, not simply “any kind of solo dance” the way an open-style item would be framed. In eTalenter’s own kids-fiesta starter template, by contrast, it is a general early-years solo dance slot for young children, with no single dance tradition behind it.
A round is run with one performer at a time taking the stage alone, presenting a short piece of their own choice or preparation while a panel watches live and scores the performance. Kenya’s festival runs it in English at every one of its five age and level bands, without a published time limit on record; eTalenter’s own kids-fiesta template gives it a default time and score band pending an organiser’s own edit, at each of its two age categories.
Organisers include Solo Dance because it gives a stage slot to solo performers without folding them into a broader creative-movement or drama category, and because a national syllabus like Kenya’s benefits from separating Solo Dance out as its own judged genre distinct from named creative-dance styles and from the event’s other performance genres such as Mime and Stand-up Comedy.
Where Solo Dance is run
Solo Dance is a formally listed genre of Kenya’s national schools drama and film festival, run by the Ministry of Education through the Kenya National Drama Committee across the festival’s five progressive levels – Zonal, Sub-County, County, Regional and National. It is also offered, with no real-world event backing it yet, in eTalenter’s own generic kids-fiesta starter template as an early-years solo dance item for young children.
- Kenya – a genre on the official syllabus of the Kenya National Drama and Film Festival, run nationally by the Ministry of Education through the Kenya National Drama Committee
- Available wherever eTalenter’s generic kids-fiesta starter template is installed – no specific country or region beyond Kenya is asserted
Key facts
- Always an Individual competition in both templates that carry it
- Mixed-gender in every template on record – no boys’/girls’ split appears anywhere in the dataset
- In Kenya’s national festival it is its own genre, run separately from that same festival’s Cultural Creative Dance and Modern Creative Dance genres
- Offered at all five of the Kenyan festival’s age and level bands – Pre-Primary, Primary, Junior School, Secondary and Tertiary – rather than being restricted to a narrower age range
- Scored out of 100 marks in Kenya’s festival, with no time limit recorded there; eTalenter’s own kids-fiesta template sets an editable default time and score band instead
- Language is fixed to English in the one real-world template that records it
On eTalenter, Solo Dance is filed under On Stage 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, Solo Dance is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 10 minutes where a limit is set.
The scoring method the templates attach to this item, and what that scale means. The category this competition is filed under when a template is installed. Others in this category: Dance, Music, Drama, Mimicry, Debate, Elocution, Story Telling, Group Song, Action Song eTalenter matches an item to its criteria on the words in its name, and creates exactly these when the template is installed.How it is scored
Where it sits
Judging criteria installed for it
What judges look at in Solo Dance
What a Solo Dance panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Technique and control through the piece the dancer has chosen to perform
- Stage presence carrying a solo performance with no group or partner to share the stage with
- Musicality – movement that stays genuinely in time with the accompaniment used
- Use of the stage space across the piece, rather than remaining static in one spot
- Confidence and composure appropriate to the performer’s own age and level band
- Overall presentation, including costume suited to the piece being performed
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Solo Dance under Scoring Setup, or start from how judging, scoring and tabulation work on eTalenter.
How to prepare for Solo Dance
How entrants and their teachers usually get Solo Dance right on the day:
- Settle on a piece the dancer can perform confidently alone before the day, rather than adapting a group routine at the last minute
- Rehearse the full piece at performance length and tempo, not only its opening section
- Practise entering and leaving the stage cleanly, since a solo performer has no one else to cover a hesitant start or finish
- Check the event’s own time and scoring rules in advance, since these vary between a national syllabus like Kenya’s and a generic starter template
- Rehearse in front of even a small audience beforehand to build comfort performing without a group around
- Confirm what accompaniment, if any, the event allows or provides, so the choice of music or rhythm is settled well before the performance
Ready-made templates that already include this competition. Installing one sets it up for you.Events that run this (2)
Frequently asked questions
Is Solo Dance 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.
Is Solo Dance the same item as Dance?
No – they are separate catalogue items. Dance is eTalenter’s deliberately open-style solo item, left free on genre. Solo Dance is the specific genre name used on Kenya’s national schools drama and film festival syllabus, and a separate general item in eTalenter’s own kids-fiesta template.
Is Solo Dance the same as Cultural Creative Dance or Modern Creative Dance?
No. On Kenya’s national festival syllabus, Solo Dance is its own genre, listed and judged separately from both Cultural Creative Dance and Modern Creative Dance, which are their own named genres on the same syllabus.
Is Solo Dance judged individually or as a team?
Individually, in every template that lists it. A team dance performance is a separate item on eTalenter’s platform.
What age groups compete in Solo Dance?
It depends on the event. Kenya’s national festival runs it across all five of its levels, from Pre-Primary through Tertiary. eTalenter’s own kids-fiesta template offers it at both of its early-years age categories.
Similar competitions
Items whose names share a word with this one — usually the same discipline in another form.
Want the full judging picture? Read how judging, scoring and tabulation work on eTalenter, or browse every on stage competition item.
Try Solo Dance in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Solo Dance, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
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