75th Anniversary
By Dolce Fisher
This year was the 75th Anniversary of the McDonald Performing Arts Challenge, highlighting the amazing contribution that the Challenge has made to Australian performing arts. The Challenge has provided a great place for young performers to share their skills, gain performance experience and win scholarships to help further their careers.
The evening of the McDonald’s Ballet Scholarships took place at the Sydney Opera House’s Concert Hall, and as usual it was a feast of dance. The audience was entertained by the Scholarship finalists performing both a classical and a free variation. There were also performances from the Dance Avenue, Alegria Dance Studios, D.L.D.C, Ev&Bow Fulltime Training Centre. The winner of the $7000 Robert & Elizabeth Albert Junior Scholarship, the talented Cristiano Martino, also performed.
The McDonald’s Ballet Scholarship is an amazing prize for the young dancers. The outright winner receives a prize package of $18,000, broken up into a $3000 cash prize and a $15,000 scholarship, as well as a short secondment with the Royal Danish Ballet. The Runner Up receives a $2000 cash prize and a $ 12,000 scholarship. Both winners are given the opportunity to observe and take class with the Australian Ballet Company, Queensland Ballet Company, the Northern Ballet Theatre Company in Leeds, the English National Ballet School and the Royal Ballet School in London. What an opportunity! The other finalists are awarded a $1000 cash prize and The Australian Ballet School can also choose to give a one-year scholarship to one of the finalists. For the young dancers it is their chance to have their talent and potential recognized, allowing them to leap into the world of professional dance.
This year’s finalists were Lucy Green (Caulfield North, Vic), Aaron Smyth (Benowa, Qld), Emma Hession (New Lambton, NSW), Jarrad Cramp (Lismore, NSW), Claudia Dean (Ascot, Qld), Jack Bertinshaw (Greenwich, NSW), Jenna Carroll (Newport, NSW) and Lachlan Monaghan ( Pitt Town, NSW). Both Aaron Smyth and Jarrad Cramp have been featured in past editions of Dance Informa, highlighting them as emerging stars of dance.
The dancers are put through a series of eliminations, beginning with hundreds of dancers, until the judges decide on just eight competitors. The finalists have already performed their solos, attended classes and been interviewed, before they step on the stage for the finals. As an audience member this is a little hard to remember, as one tends to make a decision based on how the dancers perform in front of you, forgetting that these young dancers have been exposed to much more than just the evening’s performance.
This year I felt that most of the finalists were much younger than last year’s event and there were a few performances that lacked maturity, which is understandable due to the dancers’ age. Nonetheless, all the finalist were very talented and have great potential. Some of the choreography for the free variations was a little disappointing, based on the level of competition, however, finalist Lucy Green choreographed her own variation, and for a young choreographer she did well, even being praised by the judges for her work.
The outright winner was the beautiful Claudia Dean of Queensland. Jack Bertinshaw of New South Wales took second place. After watching finalist Aaron Smyth perform last year, once again I was disappointed that the judges seemed to ignore his strong technique, stage presence and charisma. However, I am pleased to report that Aaron lost to the more classical Jack Bertinshaw by such a narrow margin that McDonald's Australia decided that he deserved some recognition. He left to commence his studies at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at the American
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