A group hip hop and funk section for a small troupe of four to eleven dancers, performing a choreographed routine of grooves, hits and street-dance vocabulary within a four-minute limit that includes any tags.
Hip Hop/Funk Small Troupe is a rehearsed group number for a team of four to eleven dancers, normally a studio class or a performance squad. The section name pairs two flavours of street and club dance in one class: hip hop, with its grounded bounce, hits and freestyle-flavoured attitude, and funk, with its looser, groove-led feel and its debt to the locking, popping and club styles of the funk era. A troupe may lean towards either flavour or blend them, as long as the routine reads as street-style group dance rather than jazz, contemporary or lyrical work.
A routine is a single prepared piece set to the troupe's own music, with the choreography fixed in advance. Because the troupe is small, the panel can see every dancer. Two or three dancers who drift off the beat, or a formation change that bunches up, shows immediately, so small crews usually win by being sharper rather than bigger: precise hits, clean transitions, and a few well-placed moments where dancers split into layers or take turns at the front.
In the template that carries this section, each troupe is a team entry in one of six age divisions, from 6 and under up to 15 and over. The division is set by the oldest dancer in the troupe, not the average, and up to two dancers may be as much as twelve months older than the division they are entered in. Boys and girls may dance together, and the routine is marked out of 100 under the label Marks.
Organisers run a separate small-troupe class for the same reason they run a large-troupe class beside it: a crew of five should not be judged against a stage full of twenty. In this template a troupe of four to eleven is small and a troupe of twelve or more is large. Whether the two classes run on the day depends on the number of entries, so a coordinator should check the section list once entries close.
Where Hip Hop/Funk Small Troupe comes from
Hip hop dance grew out of street and club dance scenes in the United States in the 1970s, in step with hip hop music and with funk-era styles such as locking and popping. Group choreography in these styles became a standard class in studio dance competitions as the culture spread worldwide.
Where Hip Hop/Funk Small Troupe is run
In the eTalenter catalogue this exact section appears on one template, an amateur troupes-only studio dance competition held over a weekend in New South Wales, Australia, where it is one of several troupe styles and is run in small and large classes alongside jazz, lyrical and others. Street-style troupe or crew classes are a regular part of studio, school and eisteddfod dance programmes in many countries, usually split by age and by group size.
- Australia
Key facts
- Team entry of four to eleven dancers, boys and girls together, in hip hop and funk styles
- Six age divisions in this template: 6 and under, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14 and 15 and over, placed by the oldest dancer rather than the average
- Time limit of four minutes including any tags; an act that goes over can be cut off and disqualified
- A troupe needs at least four dancers; a section with more than twenty troupes can be split into A and B on the day, and a section with fewer than three may be combined with another
- Marked out of 100 (Marks); the syllabus prints no judging criteria, so the criteria on this page are general advice, not the organiser's
- Places are First, Second, Third and Highly Commended, with no points attached to them in the template
On eTalenter, Hip Hop/Funk Small Troupe is filed under Dance 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, Hip Hop/Funk Small Troupe 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 Hip Hop/Funk Small Troupe
What a Hip Hop/Funk Small Troupe panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Groove and musicality: the whole troupe sits in the pocket of the beat, hits accents together and shows an understanding of the track rather than just counting through it
- Unison and precision: hits land on the same count, arm lines and foot placement match, and any canon or offset moves are clearly intentional
- Street technique and style: bounce, grounding, isolations and funk textures look natural and controlled, and the routine reads as street dance rather than borrowed jazz shapes
- Choreography and formations: changes of level, direction and grouping use the whole stage, and with only a handful of dancers each formation must still look full
- Cleanliness of transitions: movement between sections is tidy, spacing stays even, and nobody collides, hides or trails behind during a change
- Energy and performance: confident attitude and shared focus held for the entire four minutes, with costume and music that suit the style and age of the troupe
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Hip Hop/Funk Small Troupe under Scoring Setup, or start from our group dance judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Hip Hop/Funk Small Troupe
How entrants and their teachers usually get Hip Hop/Funk Small Troupe right on the day:
- Count the troupe and check the section name before entering: four to eleven dancers is small, and twelve or more belongs in the large-troupe class
- Cut the music to the four-minute limit with a safety margin and include any tag or walk-on in that timing, because over-length acts can be disqualified
- Check every dancer's age against the cut-off date and remember that the oldest dancer sets the division, apart from the two-dancer allowance
- Teach the foundation grooves first, then the choreography, so younger and older dancers alike keep the bounce and attitude rather than just copying shapes
- Rehearse each formation change separately with floor marks, then film full run-throughs and review unison frame by frame because small timing gaps are hard to see from inside the group
- Plan a recovery for a slip, such as an agreed hold or a lead dancer to re-sync to, so one mistake does not unravel a small crew
- Ideas (not rules): build the routine around a call-and-response between two halves of the troupe; use a freeze or a drop in the music as a deliberate moment; or give one dancer a short featured groove while the rest hold a tight backing pattern
Frequently asked questions
Is Hip Hop/Funk Small Troupe 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.
How many dancers are in a small hip hop/funk troupe?
In this template a small troupe is four to eleven dancers and a large troupe is twelve or more. A troupe cannot have fewer than four. Other events draw the line elsewhere, so always read the organiser's own notice.
How long can the routine be?
Four minutes in this template, and the limit includes tags. The template prints that an act over the limit can be cut off and disqualified.
Is this the same as a plain hip hop troupe section?
The street-dance style is similar, but this section is named for hip hop and funk together and uses this template's own small and large size bands and four-minute limit. Other events run a hip hop troupe class with different group sizes and time limits, so the two should not be treated as interchangeable when entering.
How is the age division decided?
By the oldest dancer in the troupe, not the average age, as at 1 January of the competition year. Up to two dancers may be up to twelve months older than the division the troupe is entered in.
What happens if too few troupes enter?
A section with fewer than three troupes may be combined with another, and one with more than twenty can be split into A and B sections on the day. Check the final running order once entries close.
Want the full judging picture? Read our group dance judging criteria guide, or browse every dance competition item.
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