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

A staged Jamaican folk dance in the Etu (Ettu) tradition, with a crouched, flat-footed African posture, shawling and kerosene-pan drumming.

Traditional Folk Forms – Etu (also spelt Ettu) is the eighty-second entry on the Jamaican national performing arts festival template and the fifteenth of the seventeen items in its Traditional Folk Forms discipline. Etu is an African retention that, according to the 2026 festival handbook, is usually played and performed at weddings, feasts and nine nights. The festival presents it as a staged team dance with live music.

The handbook singles out two features. The first is shawling, a ritual of appreciation in which dancers acknowledge one another’s skill and movement, and which it calls an integral part of every performance. The second is the posture: each dancer executes their own style, but the basic stance is characteristically African, with bent knees, the body crouched slightly and flat-footed contact with the ground. Songs are accompanied by drumming on the kerosene pan, beaten with bare hands, which the handbook says is the only folk group known to use that pan as a drum.

A finished entry is a team of twelve to sixteen dancers, not counting the singers and drummers, who may number no more than six. Judges watch for a grounded, rhythmic posture, individual style within a shared group feel, a genuine shawling moment rather than a staged bow, and music that is clearly live and clearly Etu.

Organisers run it because it keeps a distinctive, less commonly staged tradition in view. The kerosene-pan drum and the shawling ritual make it easy to tell apart from other folk forms in the same discipline, and it gives older classes a form with real depth to research.

Where Traditional Folk Forms – Etu is run

On eTalenter this item is used in one template, the Jamaican national performing arts festival template, where it is a Traditional Folk Forms entry assigned as a team of boys and girls to all seven classes, Class 1 (ages 3 to 6) up to Class 6 (adults) plus the combined Class 7. The festival runs in three stages, parish auditions, parish finals and national finals. Note that the handbook’s summary table lists Etu for Classes 4 to 7 only, while the template assigns every class; follow your organiser’s class list.

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

Key facts

• Team entry of boys and girls in English, with 12 to 16 dancers; singers and drummers are extra and may not exceed six
• Live accompaniment is required for this folk form; the handbook names song with kerosene-pan drumming played by bare hands
• The handbook gives a four-minute limit; the template records four minutes with the bell at three
• Judged on the handbook’s shared table for other traditional folk forms: 8 headings, worth 100 at parish auditions, 100 at parish finals and 50 at the national finals
• Handbook class bands differ from the template (handbook table: Classes 4 to 7; template: every class), so confirm which classes your organiser opens
• Ideas, not rules: research the nine-night and wedding settings with a local elder, teach the crouched stance as a separate drill, and plan the shawling as a short, respectful exchange between pairs

On eTalenter, Traditional Folk Forms – Etu 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 – Etu 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 – Etu

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

• Etu has no table of its own in the 2026 handbook, so it falls under the shared table for other traditional folk forms. The points below summarise that table for this item and are not a quotation of the rule
• Authenticity and traditional content (20, 20 and 8 for content, with authenticity added at parish level): the posture, the shawling ritual, the kerosene-pan drumming and the songs must be recognisably Etu rather than general African-style dance
• Relevance of form, theme and mood (20, 20 and 7) and role playing (15, 15 and 5): the mood of a wedding, feast or nine night should show, and each dancer should take part in the shawling with conviction rather than as a stage gesture
• Movements and steps (10, 10 and 6) and musicianship, rhythm and tempo (10, 10 and 6): flat-footed contact with the ground, bent knees, personal style within a steady group beat, and drumming and singing that stay in time
• Costuming (10, 10 and 5) and stage presence (5, 5 and 5): dress that suits a community gathering, and a team that holds its energy and spacing for the full four minutes

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

How to prepare for Traditional Folk Forms – Etu

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

• Start with the stance. Practise the crouched, bent-knee, flat-footed posture daily in short sets, since tired legs lose the shape first
• Learn the setting before choreographing. Ask a knowledgeable elder or teacher what a wedding, feast or nine night looks and sounds like, so the mood is real
• Plan shawling as its own moment: who acknowledges whom, how long it lasts and how the group returns to the main pattern. Keep it respectful and unforced
• Get the kerosene-pan drumming right early. Practise with bare hands, keep the pattern steady and rehearse with the dancers so the drum supports the song
• Keep the music team to six or fewer, all suitably costumed for the form, and make sure singers are the same age group as the dancers
• Time a full run with the band and leave a margin under four minutes; the warning bell comes at three
• Check numbers and class before registering: twelve to sixteen dancers, and confirm with the organiser which classes may enter Etu
• After the result, match the adjudicator comments to the headings: low authenticity means more research; low musicianship means more rehearsal with the live music

Frequently asked questions

Is Traditional Folk Forms – Etu 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 Etu (Ettu) in the festival?

It is a staged Jamaican folk dance based on an African retention usually played at weddings, feasts and nine nights. It features a crouched, flat-footed posture, shawling and songs with kerosene-pan drumming.

What is shawling?

The 2026 handbook describes shawling as a ritual of appreciation for a dancer’s skill and movements, and says it is an integral part of each Etu performance.

Why is a kerosene pan used?

The handbook says the songs are accompanied by drumming on the kerosene pan beaten with bare hands, and that Etu is the only group known to use it as a drum.

How many dancers and musicians can we have?

Twelve to sixteen dancers, not counting singers and drummers, who must not exceed six in total. Live music is required.

How long can an Etu entry be?

The handbook gives four minutes; the template records a four-minute window with a warning at three minutes. Confirm with your organiser.

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