Music Mashup is about throwing different genres, speeds and moods of music at competitors to see who can best adapt their style and dancing to match the music.
We play about two and a half minutes of music comprised of 4 - 5 different song clips, each clip lasting between 30 and 50 seconds.
This is a popular category that originated here in Christchurch back in 2013 and has since been included by other competitions both here in New Zealand and abroad.
🏘 Split Levels
We have two levels based on the sum of the levels of the competitors,
- Intermediate: sum range is 2 - 4
- Advanced: sum range is 5 - 8
For example, in the lower group a Level 3 competitor can dance with a Level 1. Level 4 dancers have to dance in the upper group.
📋 Judging Criteria
Genre, tempo, mood will vary considerably between each clip, we're looking for the dancers who reflect the change in the music with a change in their dancing - show us what the music looks like.
Responding to the song clips
- We want to see dancers capturing the tempo / genre / mood / melody of each clip
- Dancers who represent the music with beginner moves are ranked higher than those who use complex moves but do not vary their style
Consistency
- We're looking for couples who cope with the widest variety of music and adapt to all the clips
- We are not looking for the strongest dancers in one particular clip
🎵 Music
The song clips will come from a wide range of music.
Aspects of Musicality
You'll dance to a wider variety of music in this category than in any other: R&B, Pop, Acoustic, Latin, Rock, Tango, Blues, Jazz, Electro-swing, Disco and so on.
Song Endings
Songs for other categories are usually cut short of their full length, so in Music Mashup we occasionally have a round where we focus on song endings otherwise there will be a controlled fade and small cross-over between clips, this is to test how quickly dancers can respond to a change in the music.
Time Signature
Modern Jive music is usually danced to songs with a time signature of 4/4, but you can also dance to other time signatures such as 6/8. So for one round, we may throw in the odd 6/8 song.
The bridge (a part of a song about three-quarters of the way through where there is a change from the standard verse and chorus) of some 4/4 songs can also change time signature, dancers are advised to listen out for such changes.
