How to Play Competitive Dance?
The dance which is performed by a group of dancers or a single dancer in a competition is called a routine. These routines are required to be entered into appropriate categories in every competition. The factors which determine the category that is entered with its appropriate routines are −
Dance Styles
Dance style has a large variation depending upon the type of area upon which it is going to be showcased like musical theatre, dance theatre, opera, etc. The basic types involve jazz, acro, contemporary, Hip-hop, lyrical, tap, pointe etc. Open dance category has further more classifications that are not mentioned above.
Number of Dancers
Depending upon the type of group performance, the number of dancers will vary. For example solo has single dancer, duo needs two, trio demands three and so on. Among the same group also there are numerous categories.
Average Age of Dancers
This depends on the competition. Typical age divisions are −
- Petite − 8 and under
- Junior − 9 to 11
- Teen − 12 to14
- Senior − 15 to 18
- Adult − 19 and above
The Dance Music
It is obvious that for dance, song is necessary and these songs are commercial songs created by artists or the ones used in films or albums. Time limit is also there. So, songs are edited and cropped in a manner so that it will best fit into the performance of the dancers.
Quality of music is not a matter of concern over here as judgement will be done upon the dance performance only but songs are selected in such a manner that it fits well into dancer’s age and character.
There are also some dance routines those don’t demand necessity of music at all. For example, tap dancing. Here music is not played to highlight and judge the tap movement skill of the performer.
