How it works

The Great Big Dance Off is a national dance competition and is open to schools all across England & Wales. There are two competitons, a virtual solo competition and also a live competition for group performances. There are 3 categories - primary, KS3 and KS4/5.

Entering the competitions
In order to enter, there are two very easy steps:

1. Each school must register a team by filling out the form on either the Virtual Solo Competition page or the Group Competition page. Video entries for the Solo Competition must be made by Friday 18th November 2022 and there is an entry fee of £10 per piece. Entries for the group competition (which is a live event) must be done by Friday 9th December 2022. There is an entry fee of £45 (per piece), which must be paid before the heat and is non-refundable.
2. For the solo competition, we will need your video by Friday 25th November. Instructions regarding this will be confirmed by email upon registration.
3. For the group competition we do not need a video this year but will request information about the group ahead of the heat itself. Instructions regarding this will be confirmed by email.

Group competition regional heats
There are 9 regional heats that you can enter. Details of each heat and links to the theatres that are hosting each heat will be posted in September 2022. See details here.

Dates of regional heats:
24th Jan - London (secondary only)
27th Feb - Bath
7th Mar - Birmingham
9th Mar - Warrington 
13th Mar - Nottingham
15th Mar- Stevenage
20th Mar - Swindon
23rd Mar - Halifax
27th Mar - Chatham
30th Mar - London (primary only)


Eight regional heat winners (for each age group) will be chosen by our panel of judges on the night and invited (with some runner-ups) to the national championships grand final. Here you will come face to face with schools from other heats for the much-coveted title of National Schools Dance Champion 2022.


Easy peasy
So all you have to do to enter your team is fill out the entry form and get practising your dance!

For details of our judging criteria, please go to our rules & judging page which will help you prepare.

"Thanks for such a great day, the kids are still beaming!!"


"The atmosphere was amazing"

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