A jazz dance style shaped by pop music, music videos and stage shows, with a relaxed, groovy attack and strong performance to the audience, run in Australian dance competitions as a troupe, solo, duo or trio section.
Commercial jazz is the part of the jazz family that looks like what dancers perform in music videos, on concert tours, in television shows and in advertising. The vocabulary is still jazz – isolations of the head, ribs and hips, kicks, leaps, turns and floor work – but the attack is looser and more groove-based than in traditional jazz, the music is usually a current pop or R&B track, and the performer is expected to sell the routine to the audience with attitude and a clear face.
In the troupe edition this page is written from, Commercial Jazz is one of thirteen genres in a one-day troupes event in Western Australia. A troupe is five or more dancers, placed in an age category by the average age of the performers rounded to the nearest whole year. The categories rise in two-year steps from 6 and under, then there is an Open Age category for troupes averaging 18 or more, or with dancers of 14 and over who want to compete at a higher level. Novice troupes, where at least 80 per cent of the dancers are not Open, have their own Junior, Intermediate and Senior sections. Younger sections can be split into Small Group (five to ten dancers) and Large Group (eleven or more).
A routine may run for up to five minutes. Time spent entering or leaving the stage under ten seconds is not judged, and a routine that runs over time receives a spoken critique only, with no score or placing. The pack says marking follows a set of the organiser’s own criteria but does not print them, so the page makes no claim about marks per criterion.
Two other Australian dance competitions in eTalenter’s data run the same title in a different shape. One is a solos-and-duos competition where each dancer works up through My First Year, Specially Restricted, Restricted and Open levels in each age group; the other is a solos, duos and trios competition where Commercial Jazz sits beside Traditional Jazz, Broadway Jazz and Musical Theatre. Organisers keep commercial jazz apart from traditional jazz because the two reward different things: crisp classical-jazz line and technique in one, groove, hits and stage attitude in the other.
Where Commercial Jazz comes from
Commercial jazz takes its name from commercial dance work – music videos, concert tours, television and advertising. It grew out of jazz dance as pop music and music video shaped what working dancers were asked to perform, and studios and competitions later adopted the name for the style.
Where Commercial Jazz is run
In eTalenter’s data the exact title Commercial Jazz is carried by three Australian dance competitions: a troupes-only event in Western Australia, a solos-and-duos competition where it is judged by levels of experience, and a solos, duos and trios competition with a long list of genres. Studio and eisteddfod programmes elsewhere use the same name or run it as part of a general jazz section. This page describes the item only as these three editions run it and does not claim use outside Australia.
- Australia
Key facts
- Team in the troupe edition: five or more dancers, boys and girls together, placed by the average age of the group (6 and under, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and Open Age, plus Novice Junior, Intermediate and Senior). The other two editions run it as a solo item and as a duo or trio item.
- Routine length in the troupe edition: up to 5 minutes. Entrances and exits under 10 seconds are not judged, and an over-time routine gets a spoken critique but no score or placing.
- The troupe pack prints no criteria, marks or score bands, so the template carries a score out of 100 that the adjudicator fills in; trophies go to first, second and third, with Highly Commended certificates at the adjudicator’s discretion.
- In the solos-and-duos edition a dancer may enter several solos but not the same genre twice, and each age group is split into four levels from My First Year to Open.
- The solos, duos and trios edition prints 2 minutes 30 seconds for dancers aged 8 and under in solos and 3 minutes for older soloists and for duos and trios; the solos-and-duos edition prints no time for this item.
- Commercial Jazz is separate from Traditional Jazz, Broadway Jazz and the plain Jazz section: the title signals a pop-led, groove-based style rather than a technique-first classical-jazz routine.
On eTalenter, Commercial Jazz is filed under Dance and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 3 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Commercial Jazz is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to 2–5 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Commercial Jazz
What a Commercial Jazz panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Jazz technique under the groove: isolations that are clean and placed, kicks and leaps with a clear line, turns that finish balanced. The relaxed style is not a licence for sloppy feet; a panel can tell a free-looking dancer from an untrained one within a few counts.
- Musicality and hits: commercial tracks are full of accents, drops and breaks, and a routine that lands its sharpest movements on them looks professional. Dancers who run ahead of the beat or let accents pass without a response lose the sharpness the style depends on.
- Performance and attitude: eye focus, a confident face and energy that reaches the back row. This style is sold to an audience, so a technically tidy but flat troupe will score below one that looks like it is enjoying the song.
- Unison and spacing for a troupe: the whole group hitting the same shape on the same count, even spacing, clean transitions between formations and no dancer visibly lagging. Large Groups are judged on how well the many dancers work as one.
- Choreography and variety: contrasts of level, tempo and direction, a clear build through the routine and moments that make the panel look up. A good commercial routine avoids repeating one impressive move and has a start, development and finish.
- Fit for the age category and the five-minute limit: music, costume and movement suitable for the age of the dancers, and a routine that ends inside the time limit, because an over-time routine receives a critique only and no placing.
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Commercial Jazz under Scoring Setup, or start from the full group dance judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Commercial Jazz
How entrants and their teachers usually get Commercial Jazz right on the day:
- Choose the section on the average age, not the oldest dancer. Work out the troupe’s average age before the entry closes, round to the nearest whole year and check whether a few older dancers push the group into a higher category or into Open.
- Cut the music to the time limit with a safety margin. Aim for a routine of about four and a half minutes so that late starts, a slow entrance or a pause for a lighting cue cannot take the troupe over five minutes and cost it a score and placing.
- Teach the style before the steps. Spend the first sessions on isolations, grounded bounce, hits and the relaxed shoulder-and-ribcage movement that makes commercial jazz look different from traditional jazz, then lay the choreography on top.
- Build a six-week plan. Weeks one and two: music and choreography; weeks three and four: clean the formations and unison with a counted run-through and a mirror; week five: add costume and performance work; week six: two full run-throughs on a stage-sized floor with a stopwatch.
- Rehearse unison with a camera: film from the front, watch with the sound off and mark every place where a dancer is early, late or out of line. Fix those few seconds one at a time instead of rerunning the whole routine.
- Prepare for the day: spare copies of the music, a written running order of any costume changes, hair and make-up agreed in advance, and a short warm-up that gets the whole troupe moving without tiring them before the performance.
Frequently asked questions
Is Commercial Jazz judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter's templates it's most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
What is the difference between Commercial Jazz and Jazz?
Jazz sections usually reward classical-jazz technique, line and sharp attack. Commercial Jazz is the pop-music, music-video style: more groove and attitude, looser body movement and a performer who sells the routine to the audience. The events in eTalenter’s data list the two as separate genres.
How long can a Commercial Jazz troupe routine be?
Up to five minutes in the troupe edition covered here. Entrances and exits under ten seconds are not judged, and a routine that goes over time receives a spoken critique only, with no score or placing.
How is a troupe placed in an age category?
By the average age of the dancers, rounded to the nearest whole year. A troupe whose average is 18 or more, or which includes dancers aged 14 and over who want to compete at a higher level, enters Open Age; Novice troupes, where at least 80 per cent of dancers are not Open, have their own Junior, Intermediate and Senior sections.
What are the marking criteria for Commercial Jazz?
The troupe pack says marking follows the organiser’s own criteria but does not print them, so no marks per criterion can be quoted. The template carries a score out of 100 that the adjudicator fills in, and the advice on this page is general guidance on what jazz panels usually weigh.
Can a dancer enter the same genre twice in a solos competition?
In the solos-and-duos edition covered here a dancer may enter several solos but not the same genre twice. Each age group is also split into levels from My First Year to Open, so a dancer enters the level that matches their competition history.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full group dance judging criteria guide, or browse every dance competition item.
Try Commercial Jazz in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Commercial Jazz, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
