Every Navratri pandal runs a garba night, and most of them end the same way: a panel picks a winner on a shared impression, and by the next morning nobody can say why that circle beat the other one. Part of the problem is that garba and dandiya raas are two different dances scored with one borrowed rubric — a circle dance with no props judged on the same sheet as a stick dance built entirely around hitting a beat with a partner. This guide gives separate judging criteria for a garba competition and a dandiya raas competition, each as a 100-mark marking scheme with weightage, a printable score sheet you can hand a judge, a deduction table, the rules to settle before entries open, and the age/category structure that keeps a nine-year-old’s circle and a college team’s raas from being judged against each other.
Timing matters this year. Sharad Navratri 2026 opens on Sunday 11 October and runs nine nights to Vijayadashami / Dussehra on Tuesday 20 October. Housing societies, colleges, cultural associations and corporate campuses that run a competition rather than just a dance floor need entries closed and judges briefed well before the first night — everything below is written to be set up in the weeks ahead of that date.
The Navratri competition list: what actually gets judged
A Navratri programme is nine nights of open dancing, but the part that needs a panel, a rubric and a result is the competition slice run alongside it — usually one or two nights, or a closing final. Below is a catalogue of the judged items commonly run; pick two or three rather than attempting all of them, and treat nothing here as fixed — every column is a decision for your own published rules.
| Competition | Individual / Team | Typical duration | Decided mainly on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garba (traditional circle dance) | Individual, or a group performing together | 3–5 min per entry, or one continuous round judged live | Steps, rhythm, formation discipline |
| Dandiya raas (with sticks) | Team, usually in pairs within the team | 4–6 min per team | Stick coordination, rhythm, formation variety |
| Best dressed / best couple | Individual or pair | Judged on the floor during the main rounds | Traditional attire, presentation, confidence |
| Kids garba | Individual or small group | 2–3 min, shorter clock | Enthusiasm, steps for age, costume |
| Choreographed group raas | Team of 8–16 | 5–7 min, prepared routine | Choreography, synchronisation, difficulty |
Best dressed and kids garba are presentation-and-participation categories best scored on a short, simple sheet of their own; the two that need a full rubric — garba and dandiya raas — get the full treatment below. For a prepared stage routine judged more like a dance item than a floor competition, the existing group dance judging criteria and folk dance judging criteria guides also apply.
Garba is not dandiya raas — two dances, two rubrics
Competitions lose credibility fastest when they score these as one item.
- Garba is danced in a circle, empty-handed, built on footwork and hand movements around a central lamp or idol. Formation discipline — the circle staying even, dancers not colliding or cutting across — is part of what is judged, and it is unique to this dance.
- Dandiya raas is danced with a pair of short sticks, usually in lines or facing pairs rather than one circle, and the sticks striking in time with the beat are the whole point of the item. A team that dances beautifully but drops sticks or strikes off-beat has failed the item’s actual test.
- Best dressed is a presentation category, not a dance skill category — judge it on attire, grooming and stage presence alone, and never let it decide the dance placing.
Decide which item you are running, name it on the entry form, and use the matching rubric below. Letting a raas team win a “garba” title because they danced with more energy — without ever picking up a stick — is the fastest way to a dispute you cannot defend.
Garba competition judging criteria: a sample marking scheme (100 marks)
Publish this scheme with the entry form so dancers know what earns marks before the first beat.
| Criterion | Weightage | What the judge looks for | What pulls marks down |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steps & technique | 25 | Clean, correctly executed traditional steps; footwork that matches the style announced (do garba, dodhiyu, popular filmi-garba variants, etc.) | Steps that drift into generic freestyle; missed counts |
| Rhythm & sync with the beat | 20 | Movement locked to the taal; claps and turns landing exactly on the beat, not just near it | Dancing ahead of or behind the music; recovering after every phrase change |
| Formation & circle discipline | 15 | An even circle that holds its shape as it rotates; spacing kept; no collisions or cutting across the centre | A circle that collapses inward, bunches on one side, or breaks apart |
| Costume & presentation | 15 | Traditional attire (chaniya choli, kediyu, or the style declared) worn correctly and completely; grooming and stage presence | Incomplete or mismatched attire; jewellery or props that interfere with movement |
| Expression & energy | 15 | Joy and involvement carried through the whole piece, not switched on only when a judge walks past | Energy that visibly drops after the first minute |
| Originality within tradition | 10 | A fresh combination of traditional steps or an interesting variation, without abandoning the form | A routine that stops being garba and becomes generic dance |
Two deliberate choices here. Steps and rhythm together carry 45 of the 100 marks, because garba is, underneath the costume and the lights, a rhythm discipline — a dancer who is always exactly on the beat should beat a dancer who merely looks more excited. And originality is capped at 10, so a routine that drifts away from recognisable garba into general dance cannot out-score one that stays disciplined inside the form.
Dandiya raas competition judging criteria: a sample marking scheme (100 marks)
Raas is a team sport in dance form — a stick dropped or a strike missed is visible to the whole floor, and the rubric should weight that.
| Criterion | Weightage | What the judge looks for |
|---|---|---|
| Stick coordination & rhythm | 25 | Sticks striking cleanly, in time, with the correct partner every pass; no drops, fumbles or air-swings |
| Formation & pattern variety | 20 | Lines, crosses and rotating patterns executed cleanly, with genuine variety across the piece rather than one pattern repeated |
| Synchronisation as a team | 20 | Every dancer moving and striking as one unit; no visible half-beat lag between partners |
| Choreography & difficulty | 15 | A built sequence with a clear structure — opening, a build, a climax — and moves that are genuinely difficult to keep synchronised |
| Costume & presentation | 10 | Matching, complete traditional attire across the whole team; sticks in good condition |
| Energy & audience engagement | 10 | A performance that reads from the back of the hall, sustained to the last beat |
Notice the shape: 65 of 100 marks sit on coordination, formation and synchronisation — the things that make raas a team discipline rather than several individuals dancing near each other — and costume drops to 10, because in a stick dance presentation matters, but it should never rescue a team that cannot keep time.
How to judge a garba or dandiya competition, step by step
- Watch one full round before scoring anything. If entries perform in sequence, the panel needs to see the range before committing a number to the first one.
- Score criterion by criterion where the format allows it. For a single continuous floor round, agree in advance which minute or lap each judge is scoring, so all judges are watching the same window rather than different moments.
- Listen as much as you watch. Off-beat striking and steps that drift from the taal are easier to catch by ear than by eye — don’t let visual energy distract from a rhythm fault.
- Watch the whole circle or team, not just the strongest dancer. A group item is scored on the group; one standout performer in an uneven team should not lift the formation and synchronisation marks.
- Score independently, then total. No discussion between judges until every sheet is signed and handed in.
- Hand in the sheets, not a winner. Totalling, ranking and grade calculation are the organiser’s job, done centrally so the result is auditable if a team asks for a review.
Printable score sheet (garba and dandiya raas)
Print one per judge per entry. Fill in the entry number, never the dancer’s or team’s name.
| Garba criterion | Max | Marks | Dandiya raas criterion | Max | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steps & technique | 25 | Stick coordination & rhythm | 25 | ||
| Rhythm & sync with beat | 20 | Formation & pattern variety | 20 | ||
| Formation & circle discipline | 15 | Synchronisation as a team | 20 | ||
| Costume & presentation | 15 | Choreography & difficulty | 15 | ||
| Expression & energy | 15 | Costume & presentation | 10 | ||
| Originality within tradition | 10 | Energy & audience engagement | 10 | ||
| Total | 100 | Total | 100 | ||
| Less deductions | Less deductions | ||||
| Final score | Final score |
Leave four lines under the table: Entry number ______ Category ______ Judge’s name ______________ Signature ______________ Date ______. To start from a blank template for any other item, see the judges’ score sheet template.
Deductions and disqualification
Announce every one of these before entries close, so a penalty never feels invented in the moment.
| What happens | Suggested action | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Stick dropped during dandiya raas | −2 to −5 per drop | A dropped stick is the clearest, most visible fault in the item |
| Performance runs over the published time limit | −5 to −10 | Time is part of the contest and shared equally across entries |
| Team size differs from the declared roster | −5 or disqualification | Roster size is part of the entry; an unregistered extra dancer is unfair to teams that stayed within limits |
| Music substituted or altered after submission without approval | −5 | Choreography is built to specific counts; a changed track invalidates rehearsed timing for everyone else on the same schedule |
| Prohibited props brought onto the floor (fire, glass, anything unsafe) | Disqualification | Safety overrides every other criterion |
| Costume incomplete or clearly not traditional attire, where that is required | −5 | Costume marks assume compliance; publish the requirement, then enforce it |
| Entry absent or incomplete at its published slot | Scored as it stands | The panel cannot come back; the slot was published in advance |
Rules to publish before entries close
- Which dance — garba, dandiya raas, or both as separate items with separate results.
- Team size — individual, a fixed team size, or a range, and whether a team may substitute dancers after registration.
- Time limit and music — exact duration per entry, format for submitting the track, and the deadline for changes.
- Costume requirement — whether traditional attire is mandatory, and what counts.
- Sticks (for raas) — whether sticks are supplied or brought by the team, and any size or material restriction.
- Age and category groups — who competes against whom.
- Judging format — sequential entries on a stage/floor, or one continuous round with judges circulating.
- Tie-break — which criterion decides, and whether a shared prize is possible.
- Results and appeals — when results are announced, and the window for a query.
To start from a drafted set of clauses rather than a blank page, the sample competition rules and guidelines template gives you these as numbered clauses you can adapt.
Categories and age groups for a Navratri competition
A college fest can split by year; a housing society or a cultural association cannot, because a six-year-old and a grandparent both want to dance. A structure that works across both:
- Kids — a shorter clock, simpler steps expected, prize weighted toward participation as much as placing.
- Teens / youth — school and early-college age, full technical rubric.
- Adults / open — full time limit, full difficulty expectation.
- Family or mixed-age team — judged as one entry, useful for a residents’ association where teams are built around households rather than age.
- Couple — for best-dressed or a couple’s raas category specifically.
Give each category its own result rather than one combined ranking. Setting up age groups covers how to define these with a cut-off date so a participant is placed correctly without manual checking.
Running the whole competition in one place
eTalenter handles the part that turns a Navratri programme into a result: set up garba, dandiya raas, best-dressed and kids categories with their own age groups, take entries through a public registration form instead of a WhatsApp list, allot entry numbers, assign judges to each item, let them score against your published criteria on a phone or tablet on the floor, and the totals, ranks and results publish themselves — with certificates for the winners. It adapts to any level structure and any Arts or Sports event, so a single society night, a multi-day college fest and a multi-venue circuit all run the same way. See competition management software for the full picture, the college fest management guide if this is running alongside a wider youth festival, or the judging and tabulation guide for how scoring works end to end.
FAQ
What are the judging criteria for a garba competition?
Steps and technique, rhythm and sync with the beat, formation and circle discipline, costume and presentation, expression and energy, and originality within the tradition. A workable split out of 100 is 25 / 20 / 15 / 15 / 15 / 10, which puts 45 marks on steps and rhythm so a technically precise dancer outscores one who is merely more energetic. Publish the split before entries close and give every judge a sheet carrying the same heads.
How is a dandiya raas competition scored differently from garba?
Raas is judged mainly on stick coordination and rhythm, formation and pattern variety, and synchronisation across the whole team — together worth roughly two-thirds of the marks — because dropped or off-beat sticks are the item’s clearest fault and a team performance stands or falls as one unit. Garba, with no props and no partner-dependent contact, weights individual steps, rhythm and formation instead. Run them as separate items with separate results.
When is Navratri 2026, and when should garba competition entries close?
Sharad Navratri 2026 begins on Sunday 11 October and runs nine nights to Vijayadashami / Dussehra on Tuesday 20 October. Work backwards from your first judged night: publish rules and open entries about three weeks ahead, close entries a week before, and brief the panel and print score sheets two or three days before the competition night.
Running a garba or dandiya competition this Navratri? Talk to us on WhatsApp or write to support@etalenter.com and we will set up your categories, judging criteria and results with you.
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