A team dance item in a national performing arts festival in Jamaica, where a group presents a modern or contemporary choreographed piece that values movement quality, ideas and strong group work over traditional steps.
Dance – Modern / Contemporary Dance is a team category in the Dance discipline of the Jamaican national performing arts festival that this template is rebuilt from. Modern and contemporary dance, as a style, is a free, expressive way of moving that is not tied to a set vocabulary of steps: choreographers explore weight, floor work, breath, off-balance shapes and the use of space, and the piece is usually built around an idea or a feeling instead of a fixed storyline. In a festival that also has ballet, jazz, folk and popular dance categories, this is the place for original, concept-led movement.
The extract used to build the template lists the category and its limits but prints no definition, no list of permitted music or props and no per-criterion marking table for it, so this page does not claim what the festival allows or forbids. An organiser who runs the category should publish a short definition in the entry notice, covering whether spoken word, props and recorded vocals may be used and how much of the piece may borrow from other styles, so that teams and the panel are working from the same sentence.
On the template the item is a Team entry in every one of the seven classes, from the youngest children (ages 3-6) through to adults and the combined class. The limit is four minutes with a warning bell at three, the score is out of 100, both genders are entered in a single list and the language is English. Those are the facts the source supports, and they are what a programme can safely be built around.
A typical entry opens on a clear image, such as a still group or a single dancer travelling through the others, and develops one or two movement ideas through changes of level, speed and grouping before arriving at a clear ending. Because the festival runs in stages, with parish auditions first and finals later, the same piece is performed more than once, so the choreography, the music edit and the costume have to be fixed before the first round.
Organisers like a category of this kind because it rewards invention. A school dance club, a youth group or a community ensemble can enter a piece built around its own idea, and a panel gets to see a wider range of work than a list of set styles would produce.
Where Dance – Modern / Contemporary Dance is run
On eTalenter this item is used in one template, the Jamaican national performing arts festival template, where it is assigned to all seven age classes (six age bands from 3-6 up to adults aged 20 and over, plus a combined class) within the Dance discipline of a festival that also runs drama, music, speech and traditional folk forms. Modern and contemporary categories are a staple of school dance festivals, youth arts events and community showcases in many countries, usually under their own names and rules, so read the notice of the event you are entering instead of assuming these limits.
- Jamaica (the national performing arts festival the template is built from)
Key facts
- A Team item: one group performs one piece, entered as a team in every class
- Open to both genders in a single list, with the language set to English
- Offered in all seven classes, from Class 1 (ages 3-6) to Class 6 (adults, 20 and over) and the combined class
- Four-minute limit with the warning bell at three minutes
- Scored out of 100 on the template; the festival awards medals against published mark bands, not first, second and third
- The extract used for the template prints no definition of the category and no per-criterion weights, so none are asserted here
On eTalenter, Dance – Modern / Contemporary Dance is filed under On Stage 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, Dance – Modern / Contemporary Dance is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 4 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Dance – Modern / Contemporary Dance
What a Dance – Modern / Contemporary Dance panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- The source does not print this category’s marking table, so what follows is organiser guidance for agreeing yardsticks with the panel, not rules from the source
- Originality of idea: a piece built around a clear idea or feeling that the choreography actually develops, rather than a string of fashionable moves with no thread
- Movement quality: control of weight, balance, fluency and transitions, including floor work and changes of level where the piece uses them, judged at the level the age class can reasonably reach
- Use of space and grouping: formations that change with purpose, dancers who use the whole stage, and moments of unison and contrast that are clearly chosen
- Musicality and dynamics: movement that responds to the phrasing, tempo and mood of the music, with real contrasts of fast and slow, strong and soft rather than one energy level throughout
- Staging and time: costume and staging that serve the idea, a definite start and finish, and a piece that ends inside the four-minute limit
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Dance – Modern / Contemporary Dance under Scoring Setup, or start from the full group dance judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Dance – Modern / Contemporary Dance
How entrants and their teachers usually get Dance – Modern / Contemporary Dance right on the day:
- Ask the organiser how the category is defined, including what music, props and spoken elements are allowed, before choosing a track; if the entry notice is silent, ask in writing and keep the reply
- Start from a single sentence about what the piece is saying, then pick two or three movement ideas that express it, and let those ideas return and change instead of piling on new steps
- Build contrast on purpose: plan where the group is still, where it is fast, where it gathers and where it scatters, so the four minutes has a shape
- Cut the track to a timed edit of about three and a half minutes, so the three-minute bell is a cue to finish rather than a surprise
- Teach floor work and off-balance moves slowly and safely, check the stage surface, and keep the youngest classes to movement they can control cleanly
- Rehearse spacing with floor marks until dancers can find their positions without looking, then film a run-through and watch it for gaps, collisions and dancers who drift out of line
- Rehearse in the costume, check it for freedom of movement and safety, and bring the music in two formats to test on the festival equipment before performing
Ready-made event templates that include Dance – Modern / Contemporary Dance
Open any template to preview it in eTalenter and install it as a live, editable event.
| Template | Category | Score label | Competitions |
|---|---|---|---|
| JCDC National Performing Arts Festival (Jamaica) | On Stage | Marks | 7 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Dance – Modern / Contemporary Dance 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 modern or contemporary dance?
It is a free, expressive style of group dance that is not bound to a fixed set of steps, built around ideas, shapes and the quality of movement. The extract used for this template gives no further definition, so check the organiser’s entry notice for what is expected.
Is it the same as jazz or ballet?
No. The template lists ballet and jazz as separate Dance categories, so a modern or contemporary piece is expected to stand on its own idea and movement language rather than a ballet or jazz syllabus.
Is it judged individually or as a team?
As a team. It is a Team entry in every class on the template, so the group is entered and scored as one unit.
How long can the piece be?
The template sets four minutes, with the warning bell at three minutes.
How is it marked?
The template scores out of 100. The festival awards medals against mark bands, and the extract used for the template prints no per-criterion weights for this category, so an organiser using it should agree and publish their own.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full group dance judging criteria guide, or browse every on stage competition item.
Try Dance – Modern / Contemporary Dance in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Dance – Modern / Contemporary Dance, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
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