Other Dance Styles, Free Style - Group of 4 to 9 (பிறவகை நடனம் (free style) – குழு) Competition: What It Is, Where It's Run and How It's Judged

A Tamil Nadu team dance item for four to nine dancers in any free style outside the classical and folk group items, performed for up to five minutes and marked out of 100 on five criteria.

Free style group dance is the open team entry of a school arts festival: a group of four to nine dancers performs one routine in a style that does not belong to the festival's separate classical (Bharatanatyam) or folk group items. A contemporary piece, a fusion of a traditional step with a modern beat, a themed story told through movement or a semi-classical routine all fit, as long as the dancers perform together as one team.

In the Tamil Nadu government and government-aided school arts festival, the item is an on-stage team entry for boys and girls together, in two bands: classes 9 to 10 and classes 11 to 12. Each team has up to five minutes and is marked out of 100. No warning bell is rung and no language applies, so the music can be in any language or purely instrumental.

Unlike the solo catch-all dance item, this one has a printed scoring table: the festival's rules give five equal criteria of 20 marks each. They are the synchronisation of the dancers, costume and make-up, expression of the dance, steps suited to the dance type, and accompaniment with traditional instruments. The criteria come from the shared group dance table, so the panel marks the whole team, not each dancer separately.

A winning team looks rehearsed rather than assembled: dancers who move on the same beat, formations that change on purpose, costumes that match the theme and an ending that lands before the five minutes are up. Organisers run the item so that pupils trained in styles outside the traditional list still have a team place on the stage.

Where Other Dance Styles, Free Style - Group of 4 to 9 (பிறவகை நடனம் (free style) – குழு) is run

In eTalenter's data this item appears on one template: the Tamil Nadu government and government-aided school arts festival, where it is an on-stage team item for classes 9 to 12. This page only asserts what the template data records about the competition.

• India - Tamil Nadu (government and government-aided school arts festival, classes 9-12)

Key facts

• Team entry of 4 to 9 dancers, boys and girls together, in two bands: classes 9-10 and classes 11-12.
• Open to any dance style outside the festival's separate classical and folk group items.
• Five minutes per team with no warning bell; no language applies.
• Marked out of 100 on five criteria of 20 marks each: synchronisation, costume and make-up, expression, steps suited to the dance type and traditional accompaniment.
• A separate solo item, Other Dance Styles - Solo, covers a single dancer; this one is for a team.
• Idea starters, not rules: a village-to-city story told in three changes of music, a fusion of a traditional step with a modern beat, or a theme such as the seasons or a harvest told through formations.

On eTalenter, Other Dance Styles, Free Style - Group of 4 to 9 (பிறவகை நடனம் (free style) – குழு) is filed under On Stage 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, Other Dance Styles, Free Style - Group of 4 to 9 (பிறவகை நடனம் (free style) – குழு) is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 5 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Other Dance Styles, Free Style - Group of 4 to 9 (பிறவகை நடனம் (free style) – குழு)

What a Other Dance Styles, Free Style - Group of 4 to 9 (பிறவகை நடனம் (free style) – குழு) panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Synchronisation of the dancers (20): every dancer on the same beat, with matching arm lines and turns; one late dancer is visible to the whole panel and costs marks.
• Costume and make-up (20): outfits and make-up that match the theme and look uniform across the team, rather than a mix of everyday clothes with one prop.
• Expression of the dance (20): faces and body language that carry the idea of the piece for the whole routine, not only in the first minute.
• Steps suited to the dance type (20): steps that really belong to the chosen style and are performed cleanly, instead of a loose mix with no base.
• Accompaniment with traditional instruments (20): the printed criterion rewards music with traditional instruments, so a track that uses them well earns marks that a plain electronic track may not; confirm with your panel how a recorded track is treated.
• Time discipline: five minutes with no warning bell, so an over-long track or a slow exit is a risk even though time is not a printed criterion.

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Other Dance Styles, Free Style - Group of 4 to 9 (பிறவகை நடனம் (free style) – குழு) under Scoring Setup, or start from our guide to judge scoring and tabulation software.

How to prepare for Other Dance Styles, Free Style - Group of 4 to 9 (பிறவகை நடனம் (free style) – குழு)

How entrants and their teachers usually get Other Dance Styles, Free Style - Group of 4 to 9 (பிறவகை நடனம் (free style) – குழு) right on the day:

• Choose a theme and a style the whole team can perform together; a simple routine done in unison beats an ambitious one where two dancers fall behind.
• Cut the music to well under five minutes and time the routine with a stopwatch, finishing near four and a half minutes because no bell warns the team.
• Give the piece a shape: an opening formation, two or three changes of pattern and a definite final pose, so the panel sees a plan.
• Rehearse unison with a counted rhythm and a mirror or phone video; watch only the dancers' feet and arms together, not the best dancer.
• Plan the costume and make-up as part of the theme early, and test it for movement; a costume that restricts steps hurts the dance more than a plain one.
• Work out the accompaniment with your teacher: if live or traditional instruments are allowed on your stage, rehearse with them at least twice.
• Rehearse on a floor the size of the stage, marking entry and exit points for all dancers, so groups of nine do not crowd or run out of space on the day.
• After a district-level loss, ask which of the five criteria scored lowest, whether unison, expression or steps, and rebuild that part first.

Frequently asked questions

Is Other Dance Styles, Free Style - Group of 4 to 9 (பிறவகை நடனம் (free style) – குழு) 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 can be in the team?

Four to nine dancers in the Tamil Nadu festival, as the item title states. Other festivals set their own team sizes.

How long is the item?

Five minutes per team in both class bands, with no warning bell. Other festivals set their own limits.

How is it judged?

The festival's rules print five criteria of 20 marks each: synchronisation of the dancers, costume and make-up, expression of the dance, steps suited to the dance type and accompaniment with traditional instruments, for a total of 100.

Is this the same as the solo other dance styles item?

No. The solo item is for a single dancer and has no printed scoring table; this item is a team entry of 4 to 9 dancers with a five-criteria table.

Can we use a recorded track?

The template does not say. Ask your festival whether a recorded track is accepted and how the traditional accompaniment criterion is applied to it.

Want the full judging picture? Read our guide to judge scoring and tabulation software, or browse every on stage competition item.

Try Other Dance Styles, Free Style - Group of 4 to 9 (பிறவகை நடனம் (free style) – குழு) in eTalenter

See every ready-made template that runs Other Dance Styles, Free Style - Group of 4 to 9 (பிறவகை நடனம் (free style) – குழு), and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.

See where Other Dance Styles, Free Style - Group of 4 to 9 (பிறவகை நடனம் (free style) – குழு) is used