A team dance item in a national performing arts festival in Jamaica, where a group stages a piece of expressive dance of praise and gratitude, set to music with an uplifting message.
Dance – Praise Dance is a team category in the Dance discipline of the Jamaican national performing arts festival that this template is rebuilt from. Praise dance, as a style, is expressive group movement performed as an act of thanks or celebration, usually to music whose words or mood carry an uplifting message. Where the neighbouring creative categories ask a group to build a piece on folk material, this one is defined by its spirit: the dance is meant to lift the audience as much as to display technique.
The extract used to build the template lists the category and its limits but prints no definition, no list of permitted music 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 what kind of music and message are expected and whether spoken or sung passages may be included, so teams and 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 with a clear first picture, such as a group in formation, and builds through phrases that follow the shape of the music towards a visible high point and a settled close. Because the festival runs in stages, with auditions first and finals later, the same piece is performed more than once, so the choreography, the music edit and the costume all have to be fixed before the first round.
Organisers like a category of this kind because it welcomes groups of every age and experience: a youth group, a school class or a community ensemble can all take part, and the emphasis on feeling and unity gives newer dancers a way to shine alongside the technically polished.
Where Dance – Praise 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. Other community, school and youth events run praise-style dance categories 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 – Praise 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 – Praise 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 – Praise Dance
What a Dance – Praise 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
- Spirit and message: the piece should come across as a sincere expression of thanks or celebration, with faces and movement that match the music instead of a mechanical run of steps
- Unity: dancers move together where the choreography asks for it, with level lines, even spacing and shared timing, and no single dancer left a bar behind
- Musicality: movement that follows the phrasing and builds with the music, with a visible high point rather than one energy level from start to finish
- Technique and control: clean, finished movement at the level of the age class, judged against what that class can reasonably do
- Staging and time: costume and formations 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 – Praise Dance under Scoring Setup, or start from the full group dance judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Dance – Praise Dance
How entrants and their teachers usually get Dance – Praise Dance right on the day:
- Ask the organiser how the category is defined, including what music and message are expected, before choosing a track; if the entry notice is silent, send the question in writing and keep the reply
- Choose music whose words or mood the whole group understands, and tell the dancers in plain terms what each section is meant to express so the faces carry the same meaning as the feet
- 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
- Shape the dance as an opening picture, a build and a settled ending, and rehearse the ending as carefully as the start so the group does not trail off
- Drill the timing in small sections with a count first and the music second, then record a run-through and watch it for dancers who are early, late or out of line
- Give the youngest or newest members movement they can do cleanly, and let stronger dancers carry the harder passages instead of stretching everyone to the same level
- Rehearse in the costume, check it for movement and safety, and bring the music in two formats to test on the festival’s equipment before performing
Ready-made event templates that include Dance – Praise 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 – Praise 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 praise dance?
It is expressive group dance performed as an act of thanks or celebration, usually to uplifting music. The extract used for this template gives no further definition, so check the organiser’s entry notice for what music and message are expected.
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 dance be?
The template sets four minutes, with the warning bell at three minutes.
Can adults and children enter?
Yes. The template assigns the item to all seven classes, from ages 3-6 up to adults aged 20 and over, plus a combined class for mixed-age groups.
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 – Praise Dance in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Dance – Praise Dance, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
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