BASIC INFO: DANCE DIVISION
Eligible Entries
Acceptable Dance Division entries consist of any dance video of you or your group that has been filmed within one year before the competition entry period (May 7, 2024 or later).
Dance Style Families
Contemporary/Jazz
Contemporary, modern, lyrical, experimental styles not strictly ballet-based, and all forms of jazz (e.g. contemporary jazz, , lyrical, street jazz, musical theater). Also includes neoclassical/contemporary ballet, pointe or flat, and ballet-based character pieces.
Tap
Covers all tap styles (Rhythm, Broadway, experimental), with or without music. Taps must be clearly audible for judging.
Ballet
Classical variations, pas de deux, and group pieces from the traditional ballet repertoire. Modern/contemporary ballet works will be reclassified under Contemporary/Jazz.
Hip-Hop/Urban (Street Culture)
Covers all urban dance forms including Hip-Hop, Popping, Locking, House, Krump, Animation, Robotics, Body Percussion, Stepping, Breaking, Jookin’, Waacking, Jazz Funk, Dancehall, and related styles. Pantsula is also accepted.
Bollywood
Includes any styles used in Bollywood, including Bhangra or other similar dances.
Acrobatic Dance
Combines dance (any style) and acrobatics. A significant presence of both is required for eligibility. Purely acrobatic routines without dance will be disqualified.
Folk/Traditional Dance
Ethnic, ritual, or region-specific traditional dances. Ballroom and dancesport styles are excluded.
Confined Spaces
Created and performed in very small spaces (e.g. a bedroom, small room, or shipping container). Judged on creative use of space and choreography.
Urban Spaces
Performed in outdoor city environments (e.g. plazas, monuments, parks). Like Confined Spaces, judged on creative use of space and choreography.
Note on Acrobatics and Props
Acrobatic elements are permitted in all categories but only judged in Acrobatic Dance. Props are allowed but do not affect scoring.
BASIC INFO: CHOREOGRAPHY DIVISION
Eligible Entries
Acceptable Choreography Division entries are any video of choreography that has been created within the last 10 years (May 7th, 2015 or later).
JUDGING CRITERIA
Choreography will be judged on Originality, Structure, Development, Pacing, Musicality, and Coherence, regardless of dance style or cast size.
additional RULES AND pertinent information
All entries must be paid for and entrants must accept the Terms and Conditions in order to be officially entered into the competition.
Please note that any violation of any of these rules, or violation of any of the clauses in the Terms and Conditions of this competition, will be grounds for disqualification. In the event of disqualification, the entrant(s) will be notified as soon as the disqualification has been determined. No refunds will be given to disqualified entrants.
Dancers (and their parents/legal guardians, if applicable) and organizations must agree that, if they make it past the First Round, their videos, names, and website URLs will be published in the Gallery of Finalists of the IODC website. Note that it may happen that some excerpts of some videos may be used to promote the dancers, choreographers, dance studio/school/company, or the IODC competition itself through e-mail, social media, on websites, or through other electronic means.
Finalists or Winners may be asked to do video interviews for public broadcast through e-mail, social media, on websites, or through other electronic means. This will most likely take the form of self-taping with a smartphone video camera.
There is no limit to how many times you may enter nor is there a limit on the number of styles and categories you may enter. However, you may not submit the same piece with the same dancers in it more than once. You may enter the same dance piece more than once if the dancers in each entry are different, or if the piece is entered by the choreographer in the Choreography Division while the same piece is entered by the dancer in the Dancer Division. In this latter case, two completely different aspects and people are being adjudicated, so it will be allowed.
Any entry in any style or category displaying suggestive and/or inappropriate content will be disqualified.
Judges decisions are final and cannot be contested. In the event of a tie for any Division, Style & Category, our panel of judges together and/or the Director of the Competition will choose a winning entry at their own discretion. In the case of a tie, the number of public votes on each entry may be taken into consideration by the judges in order to make a final decision.
Judges scores will not be made public, nor will they be sent to entrants. However, if specific feedback is desired, please write to us at info@iodc.online, and we will ask the pertinent judge to write a brief feedback paragraph. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that the judge will agree to write a feedback paragraph, as it may occur that the volume of requests be too great for this to be possible. We apologize in advance for the inconvenience, and sincerely hope that you understand. If you wish to have a face-to-face video conference with a judge, that may be a possibility, but there is no guarantee that the judge will agree. If the judge does agree to give feedback in a video conference, an extra fee will be charged for this service. Please e-mail info@iodc.online if you wish to have a live video conference with a judge.
Money Prizes: All money prizes will be sent out electronically, through online systems such as PayPal, Interac (within Canada), wire transfer, or some other similar service. Please note that ChoreOnline Inc. is located in Canada, so transfers using Venmo are not possible, as Venmo is only available in the USA. Winners of money prizes will be notified within two weeks of the final determination of winners. If you do not respond to the notification of winning with a satisfactory manner of receiving the prize money electronically within ninety (90) days of the notification, your right to receive the prize money will be null and void.