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

A tap dance section where quick tempo and fast, precise footwork are the point, performed as a solo or duo/trio up to three minutes long.

Speed tap is the tap section where the music is quick and the feet have to keep up. Every sound still has to be clean, so the test is not how many steps a dancer can cram in but whether fast shuffles, flaps, cramp rolls and wings come out evenly and in time at tempo. A dancer who is a fraction behind the beat at speed is exposed immediately, because the adjudicator is listening as closely as watching.

A round is a single performance on the stage floor, announced by name or number, with the music starting at its brisk pace. Strong routines do not run flat out from the first bar. They build: a crisp opening phrase, a few moments where the rhythm opens up so the audience can hear the clarity, then a faster finish that still lands every accent. Arms, posture and facial focus matter as much as the feet, because tension at speed shows quickly in the upper body.

On the Australian October solo and troupe eisteddfod template this page is written from, Speed Tap is one of the tap genres printed in the syllabus alongside Slow Tap, Waltz Tap and Straight Tap. The template carries it for 24 groups: single-year solo ages from 4 to 21, a solo Open Age group, four Star groups (Junior, Intermediate, Teen and Open) and a Duo/Trio group. Boys and girls compete together, no language is needed, the time limit is three minutes, and every entry is marked out of 100 under the label Marks. The syllabus prints no marking scale or criteria for the section, so none are installed and the adjudicator’s own sheet decides; the adjudicator may place a dance, award Highly Commended or give no placing, and a first place moves the dancer up a section.

Organisers keep a separate speed section because it rewards a different skill from the slow and waltz sections: stamina, relaxed ankles and rhythmic accuracy under pressure. For a coordinator using eTalenter it is entered like any other item: register the dancer in the right age group, record the adjudicator’s mark out of 100, and the placing follows within that group.

Where Speed Tap is run

In eTalenter’s data Speed Tap appears on three Australian dance templates: an October solo and troupe eisteddfod, a regional dance festival and a city eisteddfod dance-solos programme. Tap sections split by tempo are a regular feature of Australian studio and eisteddfod syllabuses, and tap classes of various kinds run at dance festivals in the United Kingdom, North America and other countries with a studio dance tradition.

• Australia
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Canada

Key facts

• Individual (solo) entry in the age and Star groups, and a team entry in the Duo/Trio group; boys and girls compete together.
• 24 groups on the Australian October eisteddfod template: solo ages 4 to 21, Solo Open Age, Star Junior, Star Intermediate, Star Teen, Star Open and Duo/Trio.
• Time limit in the template: 3 minutes.
• Marks out of 100 under the label Marks; the syllabus prints no criteria, so the adjudicator’s sheet decides.
• A sibling of Slow Tap, Waltz Tap and Straight Tap in the same tap family, each judged as its own section.
• Idea starters, not rules: a swing or jazz standard taken at tempo, a rhythm-tap number built around a clean trading-fours break, or a routine that deliberately drops to half-time in the middle before the speed returns.

On eTalenter, Speed Tap is filed under Dance and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 3 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Speed Tap is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 3 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Speed Tap

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

• Clarity at tempo: every shuffle, flap and ball change should sound as a distinct, even tap rather than a blur; muddy, uneven sounds at speed lose the most marks.
• Rhythmic accuracy: landing accents exactly on the beat and finishing phrases with the music, not slightly behind it as the pace climbs.
• Control and relaxed technique: loose ankles, a steady centre and quiet upper body; visible tension or heavy stamping to keep up is penalised.
• Musicality and dynamics: a routine that varies volume and builds to its fastest passage reads better than one that runs flat out from the first bar.
• Performance and presentation: composure, posture, focus and an appropriate costume and shoes show a dancer is in command rather than chasing the music.

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

How to prepare for Speed Tap

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

• Choose a tempo you can dance cleanly, not the fastest you can survive; practise the routine at a slower speed first and raise the tempo in small steps.
• Drill the core speed steps on their own (shuffles, flaps, cramp rolls, wings) until the sounds are even before you chain them into a routine.
• Record a rehearsal and listen with the picture turned away: if the taps sound blurred or uneven, the audience and adjudicator will hear the same.
• Plan where the routine breathes: write in one or two clear, simpler moments so the fast passages stand out and your breathing and posture reset.
• Build stamina with a full run-through of the three-minute routine twice in a row, then once more in your costume and tap shoes before the day.
• Check your shoes and the floor before you start; loose screws or an unfamiliar stage surface change the sound, so warm up your ankles and test a few steps if the organiser allows.

Frequently asked questions

Is Speed 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 speed tap and straight tap?

Speed tap is built around a fast tempo and is judged on clean, accurate footwork at pace. Straight tap is performed to a steady, even pulse without that emphasis on speed. They are separate sections on the template, so a dancer can enter both.

How long can a speed tap routine be?

The template sets a three-minute limit for solos, duos and trios. The syllabus it is built from does not print a separate time for this style.

Is speed tap judged individually or as a team?

Both are possible. The solo age groups and Star groups are individual entries marked out of 100, and the Duo/Trio group is a team entry. The adjudicator’s own sheet decides the marks because the syllabus prints no criteria.

What happens if I win?

The syllabus says the adjudicator decides whether to place a dance, award Highly Commended or give no placing, and a first place moves the dancer up a section for later events.

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