A contemporary dance section judged on classic contemporary technique, where control, line and the use of weight matter more than a glossy, music-video finish.
Traditional contemporary is the technique-led end of contemporary dance. It keeps the vocabulary that grew out of modern dance and ballet training: contract and release, fall and recover, spirals, suspended balances, floor work and long extended lines, all driven by breath and the dancer's relationship with gravity. Where a commercial piece is staged to be instantly eye-catching, a traditional contemporary piece asks the audience to watch how the body moves and what the movement is saying.
A round is one performance on a stage floor. The dancer or team is announced, the music starts and the adjudicator watches the whole piece, writing comments and a mark as it unfolds. There is no set list of steps, so the panel looks at how well the choreography is built, how cleanly it is executed and how honestly the dancer carries the idea of the piece from the first count to the last.
In the eTalenter catalogue Traditional Contemporary appears on 5 dance templates. On the Rise Up Dance Creative template it follows Commercial Contemporary and is entered as a solo in three levels (Specially Restricted, Restricted and Open) across seven age divisions from 6 and under to 17 and over, as duo/trio entries by age and a parent and child section, and as troupe entries by age plus school sections from Preschool to High School Grade 12 and Small Schools. Solos, duo/trio and parent and child run to three minutes, troupe and school sections to four. Boys and girls compete together, there is no language requirement and entries are marked out of 100 under the label Marks. The template prints no marking criteria, so none are installed here and the adjudicator's own sheet applies.
Organisers list it apart from Commercial Contemporary and Lyrical because the emphasis differs: traditional contemporary rewards technical control and choreographic craft, commercial contemporary rewards performance polish and a music-driven look, and lyrical follows the feeling of a song. In eTalenter it is entered like any other item: register each dancer or team in the right age division and level, record the adjudicator's mark out of 100, and placings follow within each division.
Where Traditional Contemporary is run
In eTalenter's data Traditional Contemporary appears on 5 dance templates (Apex Dance Challenge, BYZE Dance Competition, EBSDN Dance Competition, Lakeside Dance Challenge and Rise Up Dance Creative), all dance competitions and challenges. A section with this name is typical of competitive dance programmes and eisteddfod-style festivals, where it is usually listed beside Lyrical, Jazz and Hip Hop.
- Australia
- United States
- Canada
Key facts
- Solo (Specially Restricted, Restricted, Open) in seven age divisions from 6 and under to 17 and over on the Rise Up template; also duo/trio, parent and child, troupe and school entries.
- Boys and girls compete together; no language requirement.
- Time limit in the Rise Up template: 3 minutes for solos, duo/trio and parent and child; 4 minutes for troupe and school sections.
- Marks out of 100 under the label Marks; the template prints no criteria, so the adjudicator's sheet decides.
- Used on 5 dance templates in the catalogue.
- Idea starters, not rules: a piece built on one image such as water or a changing season, a duet about balance and support, a floor-work opening that rises into travelling phrases, a team piece where a single motif is passed along a line.
On eTalenter, Traditional Contemporary is filed under Dance and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 5 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Traditional Contemporary 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 Traditional Contemporary
What a Traditional Contemporary panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Technique and control: balances, turns, extensions and floor transitions should be controlled and clean, with feet and lines finished rather than thrown away.
- Use of weight and breath: contract, release, fall and recovery should look driven by the body, not by arms alone; a collapsed landing or stiff upper body loses marks quickly.
- Choreographic craft: a clear opening, development and ending, with levels, direction changes and dynamics used to keep a short piece interesting.
- Musicality: movement should respond to the phrasing of the music, including its silences and slower passages, not only its beat.
- Expression and intent: the dancer should commit to the idea of the piece with a focused, honest performance rather than a fixed smile.
- Unison and spacing for teams: lines, canons and formations must stay tidy; one late or wrongly spaced dancer is visible immediately.
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Traditional Contemporary under Scoring Setup, or start from the full group dance judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Traditional Contemporary
How entrants and their teachers usually get Traditional Contemporary right on the day:
- Start from one clear idea or image and let it shape the choreography, then choose music that supports it and cut it to the three- or four-minute limit so the ending feels deliberate.
- Match the choreography to the dancer's level. A controlled, well-finished piece beats an overloaded one with falls and turns the dancer cannot yet land cleanly.
- Drill the technical moments on their own: slow balances, turn preparations and floor-to-standing transitions, before adding music.
- Rehearse the breath and weight changes as seriously as the steps; film a run-through and check whether the movement looks released or tense.
- For teams, count through each spacing change without music, then add the track so canons and formations land together.
- Do two full run-throughs back to back close to the date to build stamina, and rehearse in the real costume on a floor like the stage surface.
- Plan a clean entrance and a held final pose so the first and last seconds look as prepared as the middle.
Frequently asked questions
Is Traditional Contemporary 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 traditional contemporary dance?
It is contemporary dance presented with an emphasis on classic technique and choreographic craft: controlled falls, releases, balances, floor work and long lines, rather than a show-style finish.
How is traditional contemporary different from commercial contemporary?
Traditional contemporary is judged mainly on technique, control and the craft of the choreography. Commercial contemporary borrows a more polished, beat-driven, music-video look and rewards projection and staging.
How is it different from lyrical?
Lyrical follows the emotion and words of a song with a soft, ballet-influenced line. Traditional contemporary is not tied to song lyrics and leans on weight, breath and floor work.
How long is a Traditional Contemporary entry?
On the Rise Up Dance Creative template solos, duo/trio and parent and child entries run to three minutes, and troupe and school sections to four.
Is it judged individually or as a team?
Solos are judged individually. Duo/trio, parent and child, troupe and school entries are judged as one performance and ranked within their own division.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full group dance judging criteria guide, or browse every dance competition item.
Try Traditional Contemporary in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Traditional Contemporary, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
