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

A street-style dance section built on grooves, isolations and attitude, performed as a solo, duo/trio or group and marked out of 100 by the adjudicator.

Hip hop dance grew out of street and club dance culture and is built on a low, grounded stance, rhythmic bounces and rocks, sharp isolations of the chest, shoulders and hips, and a strong sense of attitude. In a competition it is one of the most energetic sections on the programme, and the audience tends to feel the beat before they see the steps.

A round is a single performance. The dancer or team is announced, the track starts, and the adjudicator watches the whole routine from the opening pose to the final freeze. Strong routines open with an immediate statement, change level and direction often, mix hard-hitting sections with softer grooves, and finish exactly on the last beat. Cleanliness matters as much as energy: a move that is hit precisely on the beat scores above a bigger move that is smudged.

On the Rise Up Dance Creative template, which this page is written from, Hip Hop is entered in solo sections split into three levels (Specially Restricted, Restricted and Open) across age divisions, plus duo/trio, parent and child, troupe and school-group sections. Solos, duo/trio and parent and child entries run to three minutes and troupes and school groups 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 and the adjudicator’s own sheet applies.

Organisers run it as its own section because the style asks for a different vocabulary from jazz, lyrical or contemporary work. 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 placings follow within each division.

Where Hip Hop is run

In eTalenter’s data Hip Hop appears on twenty-three dance templates, all of them Australian studio-style dance challenges, festivals and eisteddfod programmes. Hip hop sections are also a regular part of dance festivals and school dance competitions in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and elsewhere.

• 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 division.
• 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 routine built around one rhythmic idea such as a bounce-and-freeze pattern, a call-and-response between two dancers, a crew formation that splits and rejoins, or a track that slows to half-time for a showcase moment.

On eTalenter, Hip Hop is filed under Dance and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 23 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Hip Hop 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 Hip Hop

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

• Rhythm and musicality: moves landing exactly on the beat, with the dancer reacting to accents and breaks in the track rather than simply counting through it.
• Technique and control: clean isolations, grounded bounces and rocks, and sharp stops, with difficulty that the dancer can actually hold under pressure.
• Style and attitude: a confident, authentic hip hop look and feel, rather than jazz or contemporary technique with a street costume.
• Choreography and variety: changes of level, direction and tempo, a clear opening and finish, and a routine that does not repeat the same phrase.
• Performance and energy: commitment from the first beat to the last freeze, with eye contact and expression that suit the track.
• Unison, spacing and presentation for groups: matched timing and formations, tidy transitions, a costume and music cut suitable for the age, and finishing inside the time limit.

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

How to prepare for Hip Hop

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

• Pick one rhythmic idea and build the routine around it; a clear concept reads better than a long list of unconnected tricks.
• Learn the track by heart, noting every accent and break on paper, then check each hit on video to see whether it lands on the beat.
• Drill the foundations (bounces, rocks, isolations and freezes) in every rehearsal; polish on the basics is what separates the top placings.
• Rehearse the performance as well as the steps: practise with the face on and in front of an audience before the day.
• Build stamina with full run-throughs at performance speed, so the last sixteen counts are as sharp as the first.
• For duos, trios and crews, rehearse entrances, formations and exits as carefully as unison, and film from the front to check spacing.
• Check the music cut against the time limit and the age division, and choose a track and costume that suit the entrants’ age.
• Make sure footwear grips the stage floor and does not mark it, and test any loose clothing in rehearsal so nothing slips in a spin or freeze.

Frequently asked questions

Is Hip Hop 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.

How long is a Hip Hop 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 Hip Hop 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 boys and girls separate in Hip Hop?

Not on this template. Boys and girls compete together in each age 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.