International Ethnic Dance Festival & Competition is a great opportunity to the youth of NEPAL to share the stage with the International Ethnic Folklorre Festival Artists where 200 professional International Artists will be performing from 5-7 Countries in the month of May and in the month of September.

Nepal is a multi-cultural, multi-racial, multi-linguistic and multi-ethnic country. Diversities in all spheres make the Nepalese culture quite unique. Diverse culture of Nepal has the treasure of variety of folk dances in regions across the country.

Our motive is to provide the live platform to the Folklore of NEPAL which was elapsed with the modernization of the Society.

We aims to showcase the richest cultural heritage of NEPAL before the World Folklore Artists of International Ethnic Folklore Festival and of course to the audience of Napalese Art Lovers.

To extend and to engage the youth in the field of our own forgotten Folk dances. To aware the youth of colleges, universities,dance academies, studios,Clubs,Training institutes the importance of Folklore of NEPAL.

This competition drags the attention of NEPAL's Youth as the participants and their families and friends as the audiences of IEFF NEPAL.

Groups can take part in the festival in two ways

• As a Festival Participant
• As a Competitior

Festival accepts folk, Classical, Semi Classical, Choir, Majorette etc.,

Festival accepts Sri Lankan Groups to the festival with a participation fee of 8,000 NPR / per day.

Competition accepts participants in two categories.

• Category 1: Group
• Category 2: Solo - Quartet

Participants interested to participate at the CompetitionL 2026 – NEPAL, contact the organizer for the same at ieffnepal@gmail.com

• Groups : 8,000 LKR/Group.
• Solo: 4,000 NPR, Duo: 5000 NPR , Trio: 6000 NRP, Quartet: 7000 NPR.
• Participation fee is non-refundable, if group fails to take the competition according to the schedules specified by the organizer.

• Groups: NPR.40,000, NPR.15,000 & NPR.7,500
• Solos to Quartet: 20,000 NPR, 10,000 NPR & 5,000 LKR

Entry is open to all the National and International Artits.

First 15 Entries in each category will be accepted into the Festival.

Competition accepts Folk, classical, Semi classical, Choir, Majorette etc.,

Solos to Groups can take part in the competition.

Minimum age of the Group members should be of 10+.

Dance groups members should be of minimum of 5 to max 20.

Local Nepal Participants should arrange travel, food or accommodation at their own expense..

Local Nepal participants should arrive to the Venues specified by the Festival organizer.

The participant agrees to sign these terms and conditions and confirms to agree to abide by the same as mentioned.

The reporting time for the groups to the venue is 2 hours before the start time. Groups arriving late cannot be considered into the festival.

Competition Venues will be informed one month prior to the festival.

Winners will be announced on the same day of the Competition.

On each day only 15 Groups will compete along with International Participants.

Groups will be allotted one day according to their category of dance form from the above-mentioned dates by the organizer.

Closing date: All entries must be received one month before the festival date. or Applications will be open till we receive 15 entries in each category (Whichever would be earlier) .

Groups are allowed to perform with live music or recorded music.

Festival provides 2.30-3:00min time slot for Solo to Quartet for 5:00-6:00 min time slot for groups. Below 2.30 min for solos and below 5:00 min audio clips with dance can be disqualified by the jury.

Groups should come up with new choreography to IEFF editions, repeated performances in previous editions are not accepted.

If performances will get into tie situations, then the prize money will be equally divided to the groups which is a generalized rule that every group should know.

All Group members at once should not leave the stage empty, if the choreography demands any moves out of the stage are only considered. Out of the stage moves/choreography in terms of fantasy of the whole group members are not considered into the Competition. Exceptions can be allowed for a specific move to use the ground space for a very little bit of time- it will completely depends on judges whether those moves are necessarily considered or not. NOTE: Out of stage musicians were considered.

If performances will get into tie situations, then the prize money will be equally divided to the groups which is a generalized rule that every group should know.

Stage size approximate 30feet width & 24feet length.

As per the registered groups sequence we will allot the slot in the program schedule. We can't rearrange or reschedule the slot once posted in schedule on any requests.

Groups should get makeup & costumes from theirs places to the venue.

Groups are hereby advised that on-stage costume changes during performances are expressly forbidden. Nevertheless, if a costume change is deemed indispensable to the choreographic narrative, groups must incorporate this transition into their program, ensuring adequate time allocation to execute the change from the rear of the stage, utilizing the dual access points available.

Groups should collect their Certificates and Trophy on stage or at venue only, if they are left unattended, won’t recover them later.

Marking will be on Synchronization, Formations, Co-ordination, space utillization, Expressions, Dancing moves, Costumes & Audience Response

The judges' decision is final and no discussions nor negotiations will be entertained in relation to their decision and their judgment will be considered as final verdict for all performers and to the Festival Board.

A panel of highly eminent personalities and professionals in the arts will judge all performances. All contestants, teachers and parents agree that the method of judging shall be solely within the discretion of the directors of IEFF SRI LANKA.

Participants or their corresponding members are not liable to challenge the decision of the Judges through any media under any circumstances, if so, they will face the legal charges from the organization.

Participants will get exposure & competing opportunity with 200+ International Artists.

Certificates to all group members and a festival trophy to the Group Leader.

Photos and Videos of everyday performances of the group will be provided.

Eligible Group will be displayed in the IEFF NEPAL website.

All the groups will equally be covered on Social media platforms too.

We will be giving away Special Mentions in the following categories :

BEST COSTUMES : Certificate

BEST PRESENTATION : Certificate

BEST GROUP SYNCRONIZATION : Certificate

The organizers reserve the rights to make any changes in the format of the dance competition, Venue, timings, which will be informed through the email.

All the participants should agree to sign these terms and conditions and confirms to agree to abide by the same as mentioned.