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)
Group gymnastics
Some schools may have a traditional group gymnastics performance at their sports festival, but how about trying a different style? The crisp, well-coordinated movements are truly impressive.
And for schools that don’t usually include group gymnastics in their sports festival, giving it a try might turn out to be a more popular show than expected.
Stage performance ideas that will excite audiences at school culture festivals (121–130)
Guerrilla theater
A guerrilla-style performance held without fixing a location or time.
A short play of about 5–10 minutes is performed several times, completing the story over the course of a day.
You can prepare a script in advance, but it’s more fun to keep things flexible so you can adapt to the situation on the spot.
Announce the show as last-minute as possible, and we recommend dashing around the school, loudly calling out the time, place, and title!
The Greatest Show
The 2017 musical film The Greatest Showman generated a huge response.
Starring Hugh Jackman, its sophisticated production and high-caliber performances made it a worldwide hit.
From The Greatest Showman, the performance I recommend is The Greatest Show.
It features choreography reminiscent of the Māori traditional dance, the haka, with dynamic movements that leave a strong impression.
The powerful choreography makes it highly recommended as a performance piece for middle and high school students.
tap dance
Although it’s challenging, tap dancing is a staple of any show.
It’s exciting whether you perform solo on stage or with a group.
Combine it with other elements like pantomime or juggling, and it’s sure to be even more thrilling.
flash mob
It’s not the kind of show performed on a stage, but a flash mob is also one of the acts that can liven up a school festival.
A flash mob that suddenly starts in an unexpected place is sure to be a wonderful surprise for the audience! It’s also perfect for celebrating visitors who have something to celebrate.
Blue Man
Blue Man is a performance group born in New York.
As their name suggests, they’re a trio painted entirely blue, known for performances featuring percussion.
Let’s try one of their famous acts: creating rhythms by striking pipes! You can likely recreate it using PVC pipes like those used for plumbing.
Arrange PVC pipes of different lengths to form a scale, or combine pipes so they can extend and contract to change pitches—get creative.
If you have anyone with marching band experience or who can play drums, this is a great idea to try.
Multitrack performance by one person using a looper
There are times when you want to play an instrument but just can’t gather enough bandmates.
And maybe some of you are thinking about trying a performance with a unique twist.
That’s where a looper comes in.
A looper is an effects unit that records your playing or singing and repeats it in a loop.
You can build up the elements of a song—basslines, rhythms, backing parts—one by one, and then sing along with the final track for a guaranteed crowd-pleaser! If you not only perform but also explain how the looper works as you go, you’ll likely capture the audience’s interest even more.
