75th Birthday and Champion Dance Event!

In 2008, Australia's richest dance competition, the Sydney Eisteddfod/McDonald’s Performing Arts Challenge, will celebrate its seventy-fifth birthday.  This will be a landmark event in the cultural history of the city, and to commemorate the occasion the presenters of the Challenge have organised a bigger and better dance program than ever before.  The program includes all the usual sections, plus a spectacular new Dance Champion of Champions event for groups, sponsored by The James Kirby Foundation.

In this contest, placegetters from various dance group sections will be invited to compete for an Audience Vote, with a prize of $10,000. Groups that qualify more than once for this championship will be requested to put their best troupe forward.

The contest has been scheduled for Sunday, 21st September in the Science Theatre at the University of New South Wales and promises to be the most exciting dance event in the history of the competition, and a great event for dancers Australia wide. Tickets are

Adults $45; Concession $38. Call (02) 9261 8366 for bookings.

The Diamond Anniversary program includes the big McDonald’s Ballet Scholarships, the Robert & Elizabeth Albert Junior Classical Ballet Scholarship, along with solo and group events for dancers of all genres.  Last year, a Hip-Hop contest was included in the Syllabus. This proved so popular that the 2008 program has been expanded with group and solo sections for hip-hoppers of all ages.

Hosted by the Sydney Eisteddfod, the seventy-five year history of the competition is studded with famous names. Marilyn Jones, Christine Walsh, Marilyn Rowe, Lisa Pavane, Roland Price, Rachel Rawlins, Lucinda Dunn, Adam Bull, the Royal Ballet’s Steven McRae, the Birmingham Royal  Ballet’s Elisha Wills and the American Ballet Theatre’s Stella Abrera are but a few who have risen from the competition.  

Although ballet scholarships have featured in the Challenge program for several decades, McDonald’s Australia began sponsoring the event in 1998.  The outright winner of the McDonald’s Ballet Scholarship section of the Challenge receives a $15,000 scholarship, plus a $3,000 cash prize. A second scholarship of $12,000, plus $2,000 cash is awarded to the best contestant of the opposite sex to the winner, while the Australian Ballet School, may at its discretion, offer one or two scholarships covering tuition and  academic fees to a finalist (or finalists) who nominate to study at the school.

Last year the top honours of the McDonald's Ballet Scholarship went to Jemima Dean of Wembley Downs, Western Australia. Benjamin Stone of Wodonga, Victoria, won the second scholarship and an Australian Ballet School Scholarship.

Entries for the 2008 competition close on March 26th, so get in quick!
The Syllabus in now up on the website www.sydneyeisteddfod.com.au
Check it out and get involved!

Phone: (02) 9261 8366
E-mail: info@sydneyeisteddfod.com.au