Dance – Styled Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A folk dance class that takes traditional dance as its starting point and allows the most creative freedom, scored out of 10 across seven age divisions.

Styled is the third and freest class in a three-way folklore split. Where an authentic dance is kept as it is in its home tradition and a processed dance is an arrangement that still reads as the original, a styled piece borrows from folk movement, music or costume and then develops it into something new: modern staging, fresh formations, mixed influences or a theme the dancer has chosen.

On the template it is an individual item offered in seven divisions: Mini Kids (4 to 6), Kids (7 to 9), Children (10 to 13), Junior (14 to 17), Adults, Senior (50 and over) and a Mixed Age division. Each entry receives one score out of 10 as Marks. The source describes the award tiers as Diamond Grand Prix, Grand Prix and Small Grand Prix, then first to fourth place, with a Participant Diploma and a Debut Diploma.

A round runs one entry at a time. Because the class invites invention, the panel is judging a whole performance: whether the idea is clear, whether it still draws on folk roots, and whether the dancer can carry it. Results are ranked inside each division, so a Kids entry never competes with an Adults entry.

Organisers offer a styled class so that choreographers and young dancers who want to experiment are not forced into the stricter authentic or processed classes, and so that the festival can show how folk dance keeps changing.

Where Dance – Styled is run

On eTalenter this item is used in one template, an international folklore dance and music festival template based in Krakow, Poland, where every discipline is offered in authentic, processed and styled forms. Heritage festivals elsewhere sometimes keep a free or contemporary folk category, but the names and limits differ, so the organiser’s own notice decides what counts as styled.

• Poland (the festival the template is built from)

Key facts

• Individual item on the template: one entry is scored at a time
• Seven divisions from Mini Kids (4-6) to Senior (50+), plus a Mixed Age division
• Open to both genders, scored out of 10 as Marks
• Language setting on the template is Polish
• No time limit is set on the template, so the organiser’s notice decides how long an entry may run
• The freest of the three dance classes, after Dance – Authentic and Dance – Processed

On eTalenter, Dance – Styled 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 – Styled is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 10.

What judges look at in Dance – Styled

What a Dance – Styled panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• A clear idea: the panel should be able to say what the piece is about, whether a story, a mood or a reworked tradition
• Folk roots: even a free piece is expected to draw on genuine folk movement, music or dress, so work with no visible link to the tradition risks losing marks in this class
• Originality: fresh formations, transitions and use of the floor count for more here than in the stricter classes, provided they are well controlled
• Technique: inventive choreography does not excuse untidy timing, weak posture or steps that are out of step with the music
• Costume and music choices that support the concept rather than distract from it
• With one score out of 10 and no printed sub-criteria, the panel’s overall impression of a confident, coherent piece decides the result

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Dance – Styled under Scoring Setup, or start from our judging and score tabulation guide.

How to prepare for Dance – Styled

How entrants and their teachers usually get Dance – Styled right on the day:

• Read the organiser’s notice to see how far a styled piece may move from tradition and whether recorded music is allowed
• Start from one folk element you know well, such as a rhythm, a step pattern or a costume detail, and build the piece outward from it
• Write the idea in one sentence before choreographing; if you cannot, the piece is not yet clear
• Limit the number of changes of style so the entry feels deliberate rather than a collection of tricks
• Rehearse in costume on a floor the size of the stage and film a run to check spacing and timing
• Choose the correct age division, since each is ranked separately, and keep the content suitable for that age
• After a loss, ask whether the panel found the idea unclear or the folk link too thin, and change that one thing
• Ideas, not rules: a harvest dance retold as a short story, a traditional circle dance reshaped with modern formations, or a folk rhythm paired with a contemporary movement pattern

Frequently asked questions

Is Dance – Styled 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 styled, processed and authentic dance?

Authentic keeps the dance as it is in its home tradition. Processed arranges it for the stage while staying recognisable. Styled allows the most freedom. The template does not print exact definitions, so the organiser’s notice decides.

Is Dance – Styled judged individually or as a team?

On the template it is an individual item, scored one entry at a time. Whether groups may enter is for the organiser’s notice to say.

How is Dance – Styled scored?

Out of 10 as Marks, with no printed sub-criteria. The source describes award tiers from Diamond Grand Prix down to a Debut Diploma.

Which age divisions can enter?

Mini Kids (4-6), Kids (7-9), Children (10-13), Junior (14-17), Adults, Senior (50+) and a Mixed Age division.

Want the full judging picture? Read our judging and score tabulation guide, or browse every on stage competition item.