A hip hop routine for two or three dancers performing as one act, marked out of 100 and carried on an Australian dance competition and an international dance awards template.
Duo/Trio Hip Hop is a short street-dance routine for two or three dancers who perform together as a single act. The movement vocabulary is the one seen in hip hop classes everywhere: grounded bounces and rocks, grooves that sit low in the knees, hits and pops timed to the beat, footwork patterns, freezes and an attitude that belongs to the music rather than being added on top. With only two or three dancers on the floor, the personality of each is visible, so the best acts feel like a conversation between performers rather than a copy of one dancer.
A round is one routine, announced, danced to recorded music and judged as it happens. Panels typically watch how securely the dancers hold the groove, whether their hits land together, how they trade moments such as a freestyle-style break or a call-and-response, and whether the act finishes as one on the last beat. A small cast makes every difference obvious: a dancer who drops the bounce, rushes a count or breaks character is noticed at once, while a well-set formation change or a staggered canon makes the most of the numbers.
In eTalenter's data the section appears on two templates. A Central Coast style dance competition in Australia runs it in six age bands, from 6 and under through 8, 10, 12 and 15 and under to Open, with boys and girls together. An international dance awards template, which sets its next edition in Singapore, runs it as a Team item in four bands: 10 and under, 11 to 12, 13 to 15 and Open 16 and over. On both, the routine is limited to three minutes and marked out of 100 under the label Marks, with no language requirement. Neither template prints marking criteria for the item, so none are installed here and the adjudicator's own sheet decides.
Organisers keep hip hop duos and trios apart from solos and large crews so that small acts are placed against comparable acts. For a coordinator using eTalenter it is a team item: register the act under the age band the event's own rule sets (a mixed-age pair may be placed by the older dancer, so check), record the mark out of 100 and let the ranking produce the placings within each band.
Where Duo/Trio Hip Hop is run
In eTalenter's data Duo/Trio Hip Hop appears on two dance templates: an Australian dance competition run on the Central Coast and an international dance awards event whose next edition is set in Singapore. Hip hop duo and trio classes are common in dance-school competitions and festival programmes elsewhere, but this page describes only what those two templates record.
- Australia
- Singapore
Key facts
- Team entry of two or three dancers; boys and girls may enter together; no language requirement.
- Central Coast template: six age bands, 6 and under, 8, 10, 12 and 15 and under, plus Open.
- International awards template: four Team bands, 10 and under, 11 to 12, 13 to 15 and Open 16 and over.
- Three-minute limit and a maximum of 100 marks on both templates, shown under the label Marks.
- No judging criteria are printed for the item on either template, so none are installed; the adjudicator's own sheet decides.
- Idea starters, not rules: a two-person routine built on a question-and-answer exchange of moves, a trio that starts as a single stacked line and splits on a beat drop, a groove-led act that never leaves the floor level, or a freeze-based routine where each hit is a held picture.
On eTalenter, Duo/Trio Hip Hop is filed under Dance and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 2 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Duo/Trio Hip Hop is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 3 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Duo/Trio Hip Hop
What a Duo/Trio Hip Hop panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Groove and foundation: a secure bounce or rock held through the whole routine, with moves that sit in the body rather than being rushed on top of the beat.
- Musicality: hits, pops and freezes landing on the accents and breaks of the track, with each dancer reading the music the same way.
- Unison and contrast: matched moves that match exactly, and deliberate differences such as canon, trade-offs and call-and-response that look planned rather than accidental.
- Technique and control: clean footwork, sharp pops and stable freezes, with no wobble or stumble when moving between levels.
- Character and performance: confident attitude and eye contact from the first count, with all dancers committed to the same energy so no one fades.
- Choreography and presentation: use of space and formations, age-appropriate music and moves, tidy costume and a clear opening and final pose within three minutes.
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Duo/Trio Hip Hop under Scoring Setup, or start from the full group dance judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Duo/Trio Hip Hop
How entrants and their teachers usually get Duo/Trio Hip Hop right on the day:
- Choose a track with clear accents and a pulse the dancers can all feel, and cut it to fit inside three minutes with a margin.
- Practise the groove first, without choreography, until the bounce is identical from each dancer; the steps come after the feel.
- Mark a count sheet with every hit, break and freeze, and agree who leads each one so there is no guessing on stage.
- Build the routine around what both dancers do well, adding harder moves only where the partner can match them.
- Use the small cast: plan at least two formation changes and one moment where each dancer is clearly featured.
- Rehearse the freezes and transitions slowly and for stamina, since a three-minute act on the floor is tiring and form fades late.
- Film a run-through from the front and check that hits land together and that no dancer drifts out of the pattern.
- Agree what happens after a slip: keep the groove, rejoin on the next count and never stop to look at each other.
Frequently asked questions
Is Duo/Trio Hip Hop 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 Duo/Trio Hip Hop?
It is a hip hop routine performed by two or three dancers as one act, judged on groove, musicality, technique and performance and marked out of 100.
How long is a Duo/Trio Hip Hop routine?
Both templates carrying it set a three-minute limit. Check the event's own rules for the running time and how the music must be supplied.
Is it judged individually or as a team?
It is a team item: the act is scored as one performance, although the panel will notice each dancer's control and groove within it.
Is Duo/Trio Hip Hop the same as Duo/Trio Any Style?
No. Duo/Trio Hip Hop must be in the hip hop style and is placed against other hip hop acts, whereas Any Style lets entrants choose any genre and compares them across styles.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full group dance judging criteria guide, or browse every dance competition item.
Try Duo/Trio Hip Hop in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Duo/Trio Hip Hop, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
