Gala set to raise support for Tom Elphick

A special gala performance evening will be held to raise much-needed funds for injured 21-year-old dancer Tom Elphick this Sunday, August 9 at 5 p.m. The event will be held at the Shore School’s Smith Auditorium, located on Blue Street in North Sydney. It will help Elphick move out of the hospital and into home care.

An elite athlete, Elphick was in his final year as a contemporary dance student at the respected Codarts Rotterdam when he sustained a severe injury to his spine that rendered him paralysed from the neck down.

The goal of this Sunday’s gala performance fundraiser is to financially help Elphick move out of the Spinal Care Unit at Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital and into his family home in Sydney’s inner-west.

Elphick was on a holiday in Portugal when an innocuous dive into the waves off a beach in Lisbon saw him hit his head on a hidden sand bank.

In the intervening months, Elphick has begun to write his own remarkable recovery story with the support of professionals and friends.

As a classical ballet graduate of Tanya Pearson’s Classical Coaching Academy in St Leonards, Elphick is a valued member of the Sydney City Youth Ballet, having performed the role of the Prince in the 2011 production of Cinderella. He was a student of St Andrews Cathedral School and the Newtown School of Performing Arts.

The special gala will feature performances from talented dancers, including So You Think You Can Dance’s Lauren Seymour and her sister Emily, who has recently joined Houston Ballet. It will also present Stephanie Lee Goldhahn and Daniil Kolmin from the National Theatre in Belgrade, Kealy Fouracre from the Melbourne City Ballet and Shayarne and Aaron Matheson, Audrey Freeman, Harrison Lee, Analeise Malachowski, as well as Sirens Dance Group.

There will also be a silent auction fundraiser held on the night of the performance.

Tickets are now on sale. To book your tickets, visit www.tomsgala.com. 

Photo (top): Tom Elphick dancing with Laila Gozzi. Photo (left): Elphick with his friends Tom and Vincenzo. Photos courtesy of Catherine Lavelle Public Relations.