Stage performance ideas to excite a cultural or school festival
When it comes to school festivals, one of the biggest highlights—beyond all the food stalls and games—is the live shows and performances on stage! Instrumental music, singing, dancing, theater, juggling, and more…
The festival stage is the perfect place to showcase activities you’ve been practicing regularly.
And since it’s a special occasion, you might be thinking, “I want to practice something new and show it off!” For those of you who feel that way, here are plenty of recommended show ideas for your school festival! Show a different side of yourself and help make the festival even more exciting!
- Ideas for stage events and attractions that will liven up a school festival
- Cultural Festival: Ranking of Popular Booth Ideas
- [For High School Students] A roundup of recommended attractions for the school festival
- Recommended plays for a high school cultural festival: popular, crowd-pleasing ideas
- [Middle School] Cultural Festival Attractions: A roundup of popular exhibits, games, and stage performances
- A roundup of recreational activities to liven up cultural and school festivals
- Magic that excites crowds at cultural and school festivals
- A show-stopping party trick that energizes the crowd at a school cultural festival
- [Non-food] Cultural festival attractions: from classroom exhibits to stage events
- Costume and cosplay ideas to heat up your school cultural festival
- [By Genre] Cultural Festival / School Festival Booth Catalog [2026]
- Ideas for exhibits recommended for school culture festivals. Film screenings, too.
- Recommended Plays and Musicals for Cultural Festivals, School Festivals, and School Performances
Stage performance ideas that excite cultural and school festivals (111–120)
Uniform Styling Fashion Show
Fashion shows are a common event at clothing and fashion schools.
This idea is to hold a fashion show using the uniforms you wear every day! We tend to think of school uniforms as ordinary and nothing special, since we’re so used to them—but try creating variety by focusing on details like makeup and accessories.
Just for this day, let’s set the school rules aside a little (haha).
I did this when I was in junior high: in my class, we lined up by height, paired boys and girls, swapped our uniforms, and held a fashion show.
Nankin Tamasudare
It’s a type of street performance where a sudare (bamboo screen) is transformed into various shapes while singing a distinctive song.
Some say it was already performed in the Edo period, making it a traditional Japanese art with a long history.
Many of you may have seen it at local events or on television.
Singing to a snappy rhythm while showing off a variety of tricks is sure to draw attention.
Keep practicing, and try delivering a wonderful performance yourself.
synchronized swimming
The idea that synchronized swimming is a women’s sport is quite outdated, isn’t it? Waterboys, based on a true story about the struggles and youth of high school boys who start a synchronized swimming club and succeed, became a hit as both a movie and a TV drama.
From there, men’s synchronized swimming really gained popularity.
While competitions as a sport are performed to classical music and the like, let’s try choosing music that everyone loves and give it a go!
Diavolo
Diabolo is a juggling prop: a top shaped like two bowls connected together, manipulated with a string on sticks.
Start by simply getting the diabolo spinning, and once you can do that, gradually learn different tricks.
Even if you can’t do anything fancy, just handling a diabolo will be enough to get your classmates talking.
It has similarities to yo-yos, so if you’re good with a yo-yo, give it a try.
Practicing by a riverbank or on a sports field is recommended.
Rap battle
It’s a rap battle that began attracting attention through TV shows like “Freestyle Dungeon.” There are many rap fans in Japan, so how about having the students put on a rap battle show? All you need is a mic and some background music, so it’s surprisingly easy to do.
Japanese taiko drumming
How about trying your hand at playing the wadaiko, one of Japan’s traditional instruments? These days, more clubs and circles are dedicated to wadaiko, so joining one could be a great idea.
With its unique tone and powerful presence unlike Western instruments, it’s sure to get everyone excited.
folk dance
Folk dances—what kinds of dances and which countries do you imagine? When you look into it, there are so many dances and folk traditions we don’t even know about.
Dance performances often use trendy songs, but to set yourself apart, why not go bold with niche, lesser-known folk dances? For both women and men, the traditional costumes—steeped in history—are often dazzling, enchanting, or cute, and just wearing them lifts your spirits.
Let’s put on a dance that will make everyone watching gasp in surprise!