SHOWDANCE

Show Dance is a theatrical representation of a story that is performed to music by dancers based in the broadest sense, in Ballet, Jazz, and/or Modern/Contemporary technique.  Show Dance allows the use of lifts, acrobatics, props, lip-sync, and other theatrical effects.  Performances are expressed using an understandable story or visible concept to entertain, attract, touch, and/or send a message to the auditence by using creativity and movment.  Pieces are of 'show value'.  It is very important to present harmony of idea, music, dance, choreography, costume and props in the presentation, as the entire image will be used in evaluating the performance.  

See an example HERE and HERE and HERE

Jazz Dance styles range from the early 1920s to the present, and most Jazz Dance pieces are created using pure dance without consideration to theme or story. This is an ever-evolving Performing Art dance, and one could very readily argue the point that all of the Street dances contain some elements of Jazz. How do we draw the line between Jazz and Street Dance? The music dictates the style. Although Show Dance pieces may be based on a theme or story, there are many variables that exist. A Show Dance piece can be based on emotions, colour and design, or even one word, such as ‘devastation’ or ‘jubilation.’ Jazz Dance does not have to convey any of the above criteria, and may be done based on pure dance only. 

Lyric or Modern may be the base technique for either Show Dance or Jazz Dance. It all depends on how much of a ‘show’ the piece really is. A straight lyric piece, performed in a Show Dance division to Whitney Houston, without a theme or story line, would not do very well, because the show value of the 4-D system would receive a low mark. When judging an IDO competition where the 3-D system of separate evaluations is used for technique, composition and image, the show quality of the routine may enter into all three of these separate dimensions. The ability to use technique to enhance the theme or story being told is very important. The choreography and the way the dancer performs it must be of show quality, and the image that the dancer creates is also very important to the show value of a given piece.