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

A staged group performance of the lively Jamaican dance of cheer held the night after a death, built on hip movement, knock-knee steps and call-and-response singing; recorded on the template as a four-minute team entry scored out of 100.

Traditional Folk Forms – Gerreh is the seventy-first entry on the Jamaican national performing arts festival template and the fourth of the seventeen items in its Traditional Folk Forms discipline. The festival handbook lists it as Gerreh / Gere, category 12 of the folk forms syllabus. A school or community group presents a living Jamaican custom on the competition stage, and the panel judges how faithfully it keeps the character of the form rather than how modern the choreography looks.

The handbook describes the Gerreh as a dance of African origin performed the night after the death of a person. Unlike the slow, reverent opening of a nine night, it is very lively and celebratory, and its purpose is to cheer the bereaved. It is similar to the Dinki Mini and the Zella, with more emphasis on the hip movement, which is executed mainly by the female dancers. The movements, although vigorous, are described as very subtle.

The handbook also describes the men’s part. The males keep a knock-knee position as they dance, with subtle breaks towards their female partner, and those breaks are signalled by the drums. The songs are of the ring games type and are sung in call and response style, which the handbook says is integral because the song indicates the type of movement the dancer should do. The instruments are similar to those used in Dinki Mini, with pot covers taking the place of the benta.

The entry rules are precise. Live musical accompaniment is required for these folk forms, so a recorded track is not an option. A group of 19 years and under fields 12 to 16 dancers, not counting the drummers and singers, who together may not exceed six. Each entry has a four-minute limit. The folk forms rules ask for a strong element of the form, staged without losing authenticity, with no sacrifice of animals and no rum used as a libation. A group may enter only one entry in a category and only four categories in all.

Unlike the Wake / Ni Nite, Revival and Kumina categories, the handbook does not bar Classes 1 and 2 from Gerreh, and the template assigns it to all seven classes, including the combined Class 7 that is open to community groups only. 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 lets a community show a joyful side of its funeral customs and tests singing and rhythm as well as dancing.

Where Traditional Folk Forms – Gerreh comes from

The handbook calls the Gerreh a dance of African origin performed the night after the death of a person, to cheer the bereaved. The source for this template gives no dates or founding history, so none is claimed here.

Where Traditional Folk Forms – Gerreh is run

On eTalenter this item is used in one template, the Jamaican national performing arts festival template, where it is the fourth Traditional Folk Forms category and is assigned to every class from Class 1 to Class 6 (adults aged 20 and over) plus the combined Class 7, which is open to community groups only. 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; the Gerreh itself is a community custom after a bereavement, and a staged entry is a presentation of the form, not the custom.

• 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 1 to 6 and the combined Class 7
• The template records a four-minute window with the warning bell at three minutes, scored out of 100. The handbook’s category table gives three minutes for Classes 1 to 3 and four minutes for Classes 4 to 7, while its explanatory note says four minutes for each entry, so an organiser should 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: strong hip movement mainly by the women, men in a knock-knee stance with subtle breaks towards their partners signalled by the drums, and ring-game style call and response songs that cue the steps
• Instruments are similar to Dinki Mini, with pot covers used in place of the benta
• Ideas, not rules, for a staged piece: open with a call-and-response ring game song to bring the dancers in; give one section to the women’s hip work and another to the men’s knock-knee breaks on the drum signal; let a lead singer change the song to change the step. Check the choice against the rules and the organiser before rehearsing it

On eTalenter, Traditional Folk Forms – Gerreh 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 – Gerreh 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 – Gerreh

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

• The handbook marks Gerreh 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, 20 at auditions and parish level and 8 of 50 at the national finals. The panel asks whether this is recognisably a Gerreh and not a general party dance with a funeral label. Marks go to cheerful, subtle hip work and call-and-response singing; they are lost where the group performs a modern routine under the name
• Traditional content, 20, 20 and 8 of 50. This covers whether the songs, rhythms, pot-cover sounds and movement vocabulary come from the tradition. A made-up chant with no ring game character loses marks even if it is neatly sung
• Relevance of form, theme and mood, 15, 15 and 7 of 50. The mood is celebration meant to cheer the bereaved, so a solemn or slow piece misses the point, and so does one so wild that the subtlety of the movement disappears
• Role playing, 10, 10 and 5 of 50. Dancers should stay in the partner relationship the form implies, women leading with the hips and men answering with knock-knee breaks, rather than dancing in parallel lines
• Movements and steps (10, 10, 6 of 50) and musicianship, rhythm and tempo (10, 10, 6 of 50): breaks that land on the drum signal, singers and drummers that stay together, and a song that clearly drives the dancers rather than running beside them
• Costuming (5, 5, 5 of 50) and stage presence (10, 10, 5 of 50): ordinary-looking, community-style dress, 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 – Gerreh under Scoring Setup, or start from the full folk dance judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Traditional Folk Forms – Gerreh

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

• Begin with the rules: confirm the class, the 12 to 16 dancer count, the six-person limit for drummers and singers, the four-minute time limit and the live-music requirement, then plan the piece inside them
• Learn the hip movement properly with someone who knows it. It is described as vigorous but very subtle, and the common mistake is to exaggerate it into a different dance
• Teach the men’s knock-knee stance and the breaks towards their partners separately, and rehearse them to a live drum so the signal is heard, not guessed at
• Choose songs from the ring games type and rehearse the call and response until the lead singer can change a step simply by changing the line. The song is meant to tell the dancers what to do
• Make the pot covers part of the percussion from the first rehearsal, and balance them against the drums so the singing is never lost
• Keep costumes close to ordinary community dress and suitable for the age of the performers, and for younger classes pick a clear, short sequence the group can repeat accurately
• Time the piece at full speed with entrance and exit included, then trim it. A clear ending at four minutes 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 mood was low, rehearse the lift from the opening song into full celebration; if authenticity was low, go back to a community teacher

Frequently asked questions

Is Traditional Folk Forms – Gerreh 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 the Gerreh in a folk forms competition?

The festival handbook describes it as a lively, celebratory dance of African origin performed the night after a death to cheer the bereaved, with strong hip movement and call-and-response ring game songs. In competition a group stages it as a short presentation.

Which classes can enter Gerreh?

The handbook does not bar any class from Gerreh, and the template assigns Classes 1 to 6 (adults) and the combined Class 7, which is open to community groups only.

How long is a Gerreh entry?

The template gives four minutes with a warning at three minutes. The handbook’s category table gives three minutes for Classes 1 to 3 and four minutes for Classes 4 to 7, while its note says four minutes for each entry, so the organiser should confirm the limit before entry.

Can we use a recorded track?

No. The handbook requires live musical accompaniment for these folk forms, with drummers and singers together limited to six, and the instruments are similar to Dinki Mini with pot covers in place of the benta.

Is Gerreh the same as Dinki Mini or Zella?

No. They are separate categories. The handbook says Gerreh is similar to both but puts more emphasis on hip movement, mainly by the women, uses ring game style call-and-response songs, and uses pot covers in place of the benta.

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