Traditional Folk Forms – Burru Song Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A staged group performance of the Jamaican fertility masquerade of Clarendon, with earthy drum music, hip-rotating dance and effigy characters; recorded on the template as a four-minute team entry scored out of 100.

Traditional Folk Forms – Burru Song is the seventy-sixth entry on the Jamaican national performing arts festival template and the ninth of the seventeen items in its Traditional Folk Forms discipline. The festival handbook lists it as Burru (and, in its explanatory notes, Burru Song & Dance), and it sits beside Jonkunnu as one of the masquerade-style forms in the syllabus. A school or community group stages it on the competition stage, and the panel rewards how truthfully the dance, the drum sound and the effigy characters keep the character of the form.

The handbook describes Burru as a form with similar features to Jonkunnu: a fertility masquerade found in Lionel Town and Hayes in Clarendon. The dance carries strong fertility elements, seen in a deliberate rotating action of the hip while bending through the knees, accompanied by breaks of intermittent small jumps. The music is described as earthly and provocative, using a set of drums such as the Fundeh and the Repeater.

The characters are part of what makes the entry recognisable. The handbook names a pregnant-woman effigy, Mada Lundy, accompanied by young girls who are her children, together with other effigies such as the cowhead, the alligator and the reindeer, which it relates to the European Hobby Horse. A staged piece therefore needs a clear cast of figures as well as a dance vocabulary, which sets it apart from the couple and circle forms in the same discipline.

The size and music rules are specific. A group aged 19 and under fields a minimum of twelve and a maximum of sixteen dancers, not counting drummers and singers, who may not exceed six people. Live musical accompaniment is required for all of these folk forms. The general rules also ask for a strong element of the form staged for presentation without losing its authenticity, with no sacrifice of animals and no rum used as a libation, and each group may enter only four categories and only one entry in each.

On the day the group is marked on the shared table used for the folk forms other than quadrille, maypole and ring games, which has eight headings and totals 100 at auditions and parish level and 50 at the national finals. Organisers run it because it keeps a regional tradition of Clarendon in front of young performers alongside the better-known forms, and because it asks for drumming, dance and character work to be rehearsed together.

Where Traditional Folk Forms – Burru Song comes from

The handbook describes Burru as a fertility masquerade with features similar to Jonkunnu, found in Lionel Town and Hayes in Clarendon. It gives no dates or founding history, so none is claimed here.

Where Traditional Folk Forms – Burru Song is run

On eTalenter this item is used in one template, the Jamaican national performing arts festival template, where it is the ninth Traditional Folk Forms category and is assigned to Class 3 up to Class 6 (adults aged 20 and over) plus the combined Class 7. The handbook bars Classes 1 and 2 from Burru, and its regional list names Clarendon as the parish where the form is primary. The festival runs in parishes, and only the top gold-medal group per class and category in a parish moves on to the national finals. This page covers the staged competition version defined by that handbook, which is a presentation of the form rather than the community masquerade itself.

• Jamaica (the national performing arts festival the template is built from)

Key facts

• Team entry, both genders together, in English; assigned on the template to Classes 3 to 6 and the combined Class 7. Classes 1 and 2 are not allowed to enter Burru
• The template records a four-minute window with the warning bell at three minutes, scored out of 100. The handbook category table gives three minutes for Class 3 and four minutes for Classes 4 to 7, while its explanatory note says four minutes for each entry, so confirm the limit with entrants
• 12 to 16 dancers for groups aged 19 and under, not counting drummers and singers, who may total no more than six; live music only
• Defining features: a rotating hip action while bending through the knees, intermittent small jumps, earthy drumming on drums such as the Fundeh and the Repeater, and effigy characters led by the pregnant woman Mada Lundy
• The handbook lists Clarendon as the parish where Burru is the primary folk form
• Ideas, not rules, for a staged piece: open with the drummers alone to set the pulse; bring in the effigy characters one at a time; build a central hip-and-knee passage with the small-jump breaks; close with the full company and the effigies together. Check the choice against the rules and the organiser before rehearsing it

On eTalenter, Traditional Folk Forms – Burru Song 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, Traditional Folk Forms – Burru Song 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 Traditional Folk Forms – Burru Song

What a Traditional Folk Forms – Burru Song panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• The handbook marks Burru on its shared table for the folk forms, with eight headings worth 100 at auditions and parish level and 50 at the national finals. The points below follow that table and are a summary, not a quotation of the rule
• Authenticity and traditional content, each 20 at auditions and parish level and 8 of 50 at the national finals. The panel asks whether the drumming, the hip-and-knee movement and the effigy characters belong to Burru. A generic fertility or masquerade dance, or a Jonkunnu piece renamed, loses marks on both headings
• Role playing, 10, 10 and 5 of 50, is where the effigies are won or lost: Mada Lundy, her children, the cowhead and the alligator must each be clearly identifiable, and a cast that all move alike gives the heading away
• Relevance of form, theme and mood, 15, 15 and 7 of 50. The handbook describes the music as earthly and provocative and the dance as strongly fertility-themed; a piece that feels polite or unrelated to that theme loses marks
• Movements and steps (10, 10, 6 of 50) and musicianship, rhythm and tempo (10, 10, 6 of 50): a controlled, shared hip rotation through bent knees, small jumps that land together, and Fundeh and Repeater players who hold the tempo for the whole company
• Costuming (5, 5, 5 of 50) and stage presence (10, 10, 5 of 50): effigies that read clearly from the audience, safe and workable costumes, a confident entrance and exit and a finish inside the time limit. The handbook applies strict attention to time limits from the parish finals

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Traditional Folk Forms – Burru Song under Scoring Setup, or start from the full folk dance judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Traditional Folk Forms – Burru Song

How entrants and their teachers usually get Traditional Folk Forms – Burru Song right on the day:

• Start with the rules: confirm the class, remembering that Classes 1 and 2 cannot enter Burru, then the dancer count of 12 to 16, the six-person limit for drummers and singers, the time limit and the live-music requirement, and plan inside them
• Read the handbook description before choreographing anything, then write down the three signatures of the form: the rotating hip with bent knees, the small jumps and the earthy two-drum sound
• Cast the effigies from the handbook list, with Mada Lundy and her children first. Give each figure a distinct way of moving, and check that the cowhead, the alligator and the reindeer do not look alike
• Teach the hip-and-knee action slowly and in isolation, because it is the movement the panel will watch most closely. Rehearse it until the whole company rotates on the same beat without strain
• Bring the drummers in from the first rehearsal. Dancers who practise only to a recording will lose the pulse when the Fundeh and the Repeater play live, and the handbook allows no recorded accompaniment
• Test costumes and effigy props well before the day: nothing that blocks a dancer seeing or moving safely, and nothing that breaks the rules on animal sacrifice or rum libation
• Time the piece at full speed with entrance and exit included, then trim it. A clear ending inside the limit scores better than a longer piece that is cut off
• After the result, ask for the adjudicator comments and find which heading lost marks. If role playing was low, rework the effigy cast; if rhythm was low, spend the next fortnight rehearsing only with the live drummers

Frequently asked questions

Is Traditional Folk Forms – Burru Song 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 Burru in a folk forms competition?

The festival handbook describes it as a fertility masquerade found in Lionel Town and Hayes in Clarendon, with a rotating hip action through bent knees, small jumps, earthy drumming and effigy characters such as the pregnant woman Mada Lundy. In competition a group stages it as a short presentation with live music.

Is Burru the same as Jonkunnu?

No. The handbook says Burru has similar features to Jonkunnu, but they are separate categories with their own entries on the template, and each is marked on its own entry. Burru is the fertility masquerade of Clarendon; Jonkunnu is the Christmas-season masquerade.

Can primary classes enter Burru?

No. The handbook states that participants in Classes 1 and 2 are not allowed to perform in Burru, Kumina, the Medley of Folk Forms, Ni Nite/Wake and Revival. The template assigns Burru Song to Class 3 upwards.

Can I use a recorded track for Burru?

No. The handbook requires live musical accompaniment for all of these folk forms. Drummers and singers do not count towards the dancers, but may not exceed six in number.

How long is a Burru entry?

The template gives four minutes with a warning at three minutes. The handbook table gives three minutes for Class 3 and four minutes for Classes 4 to 7, while its note says four minutes for each entry, so confirm the limit before entry.

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