Traditional Folk Forms – John Canoe / Jonkunnu Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A staged group performance of the Jamaican Christmas-season masquerade, a procession of costumed male characters with fife and rattling-drum music; recorded on the template as a four-minute team entry scored out of 100.

Traditional Folk Forms – John Canoe / Jonkunnu is the seventy-fifth entry on the Jamaican national performing arts festival template and the eighth of the seventeen items in its Traditional Folk Forms discipline. The festival handbook lists it as Jonkunnu (John Canoe), and it is the one folk form in the syllabus built around masked and costumed characters rather than around couples or a ritual circle. A school or community group stages the masquerade on the competition stage, and the panel rewards how faithfully the characters, the march and the music keep the character of the form.

The handbook describes Jonkunnu as a traditional dance of African origin with a processional form that combines elements of Europe and Africa. It is performed mainly at Christmas time, and a strong feature is the set of characters, all played by males, whose movements match their roles. The handbook names several of them: pitchy patchy, devil, set girls, sailor, horsehead, cowhead, policeman, actor boy, belly woman, warrior and wild Indian, among others. During a stage performance each character gets a turn to perform a specialised set or movement.

The music is distinct from other ritual folk music. The handbook points to a fife, now substituted by the recorder, and a rattling drum carried on the shoulders and played with sticks. Costume rules matter more here than in most folk forms: each masked character’s body must be fully covered and must be identified by movement, except in the processional movement where all the characters do the same march step. All characters except the set girls and the madam must wear a face mask.

The size rules are specific. A group aged 19 and under fields a minimum of twelve and a maximum of sixteen dancers, and the handbook ties this to showcasing twelve, or at least eight, characters. Drummers and singers are not counted among the dancers but may not exceed six people, and live musical accompaniment is required for all the folk forms. Each entry has a four-minute limit. The wider 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.

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 gives young performers a procession-and-character tradition to learn alongside the couple dances and the death-observance forms, and because the handbook lists Jonkunnu among the primary folk forms of several parishes.

Where Traditional Folk Forms – John Canoe / Jonkunnu comes from

The handbook describes Jonkunnu as a traditional dance of African origin with elements of both Europe and Africa, performed mainly at Christmas time. It gives no dates or founding history, so none is claimed here.

Where Traditional Folk Forms – John Canoe / Jonkunnu is run

On eTalenter this item is used in one template, the Jamaican national performing arts festival template, where it is the eighth 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. The handbook’s regional list names Jonkunnu among the primary folk forms of several parishes, including St Thomas, Westmoreland, St James, Portland, St Mary and St Ann. 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 street 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 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 category table gives three minutes for Classes 2 to 3 and four minutes for Classes 4 to 7 (Class 1 is not listed there), 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, showing at least eight characters, not counting drummers and singers, who may total no more than six; live music only
• Defining features: a processional march, male characters whose movements match their roles, fully covered bodies, and face masks on every character except the set girls and the madam
• Music: a fife (now substituted by the recorder) and a rattling drum carried on the shoulders and played with sticks
• Ideas, not rules, for a staged piece: open with the full company in the common march step; give each character one short, clear solo set that shows its role; bring the belly woman and the set girls forward for a contrasting section; return to the march for the exit. Check the choice against the rules and the organiser before rehearsing it

On eTalenter, Traditional Folk Forms – John Canoe / Jonkunnu 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 – John Canoe / Jonkunnu 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 – John Canoe / Jonkunnu

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

• The handbook marks Jonkunnu 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 characters, the march and the fife-and-drum sound belong to the Jonkunnu tradition. A generic masked dance loses marks on both headings
• Role playing, 10, 10 and 5 of 50, is where this item is won or lost: each character must be identified by movement, so a devil that moves like a sailor, or characters that all dance the same steps outside the march, throws away the heading
• Relevance of form, theme and mood, 15, 15 and 7 of 50. A festive, processional mood suits a Christmas-season masquerade; a solemn or disorganised treatment loses marks
• Movements and steps (10, 10, 6 of 50) and musicianship, rhythm and tempo (10, 10, 6 of 50): a crisp shared march step, and a fife or recorder player and drummer who stay together and set the tempo for every character’s set
• Costuming (5, 5, 5 of 50) is a heading with a rule attached: bodies fully covered, masks on every character except the set girls and the madam. A bare arm or a missing mask is an avoidable loss
• Stage presence (10, 10, 5 of 50): 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 – John Canoe / Jonkunnu under Scoring Setup, or start from the full folk dance judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Traditional Folk Forms – John Canoe / Jonkunnu

How entrants and their teachers usually get Traditional Folk Forms – John Canoe / Jonkunnu right on the day:

• Start with the rules: confirm the class, the dancer count of 12 to 16, the character count, the six-person limit for drummers and singers, the time limit and the live-music requirement, then plan inside them
• Choose the characters first, using the handbook’s own list, and give each dancer one role they can learn to perform in a distinct way. Write a one-line description of how each character moves and check that no two look alike
• Teach the common march step before anything else, because it is the one movement every character shares and it opens and closes the piece. Rehearse it until the whole company lands on the beat together
• Give each character a short solo set of a few bars. Rehearse the handover from one set to the next, since gaps between sets are what push an entry over the time limit
• Recruit a recorder player and a drummer early and rehearse with them from the first week. Dancers who practise only to a recording will lose the pulse when live music starts
• Check costumes against the rules well before the day: full body coverage, masks on every character except the set girls and the madam, and nothing that stops a dancer seeing or moving safely
• 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, go back to the character list; if rhythm was low, spend the next fortnight rehearsing only with the live musicians

Frequently asked questions

Is Traditional Folk Forms – John Canoe / Jonkunnu 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 Jonkunnu in a folk forms competition?

The festival handbook describes a traditional dance of African origin with a processional form, performed mainly at Christmas time, in which male characters such as the devil, the sailor, the horsehead and the actor boy each perform a specialised set. In competition a group stages it as a short presentation with live music.

Is John Canoe the same as Jonkunnu?

The handbook gives the form as Jonkunnu (John Canoe), and the template carries both names on one item, so they are the same competition entry.

Do all the characters wear masks?

The handbook says each masked character’s body must be fully covered and that all characters except the set girls and the madam must wear a face mask. Characters are identified by their movement, except in the processional march where they all do the same step.

Can I use a recorded track for Jonkunnu?

No. The handbook requires live musical accompaniment for all of these folk forms, naming a fife (now substituted by the recorder) and a rattling drum. Drummers and singers do not count towards the dancers, but may not exceed six in number.

How long is a Jonkunnu entry?

The template gives four minutes with a warning at three minutes. The handbook table gives three minutes for Classes 2 to 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.