Dance News

Sydney-siders and critics have embraced the return to theatres with Sydney’s unforgettable summer hit musical, the high-flying, death-defying hit Broadway musical PIPPIN receiving huge acclaim by critics and audiences alike. The first large scale musical theatre production to open in Australia since COVID-19 led to theatres closing down in March, PIPPIN plays exclusively at the Sydney Lyric at The Star for a limited season. Sadly, out of caution, the show has had some performances canceled due to Sydney’s second COVID-19 wave.

Producers Michael Jackowitz of Witzend Productions, David Bryant and Michael Alden, in partnership with Streaming Musicals, are pleased to herald the arrival of a new holiday musical tradition with the World Premiere of Estella Scrooge: A Christmas Carol with a Twist. Estella Scrooge premiered on 27 November 2020 at EstellaScrooge.com, and distribution in Australia is assisted by John Frost and the Gordon Frost Organisation.

In February 2021, Australia’s leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performing arts company, Bangarra Dance Theatre, will tour Spirit: a retrospective 2021 to regional locations across New South Wales. The Company, on the back of their recent Australian Dance Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Company and Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer, will perform in Griffith, Orange, Tamworth and Wyong, following a run at Sydney Festival.

Christmas has come early at West Australian Ballet, with four dancers earning promotions after the Company’s dual end of year seasons of The Nutcracker and GALA, including one dancer to the esteemed rank of Soloist. Nikki Blain, Jesse Homes and Mayume Noguromi have each been promoted to the rank of Demi-Soloist while Julio Blanes has been promoted to Soloist.

Take a walk in Parramatta Park, the heartland of the Barramatta people, and discover a collection of hidden dances inspired by the landscape with In Situ; a new work by Dance Makers Collective and Future Makers for the Sydney Festival, 21 – 24 January 2021.

Due to the sanitary situation and related restrictions, the Fondation en faveur de l'Art Chorégraphique has had to rethink the usual form of its main event, the Prix de Lausanne. Therefore, the Fondation announces the new format for this year’s competition: The Prix de Lausanne will exceptionally be a Video Edition with a 9-member Jury present in Switzerland.

Featuring an exclusive cast of just 33 dancers aged between 10 and 16, RB Corp. Instruction’s second original work, “Majors & Minors”, will serenade all into a captivating realm composed of melodic magic. Combining elegance with innovation, be touched by the timbre of this 50-minute creation these school holidays on Sunday, December 13 at QUT Gardens Theatre.

Producers Rodney Rigby and Junkyard Dog Productions are thrilled to announce that the worldwide smash hit, Tony and Olivier award-winning musical COME FROM AWAY, will open at QPAC’s Lyric Theatre from 28 March 2021 for a strictly limited season. It will be the first major musical to open in Queensland since the COVID-enforced shutdown.

Sydney Dance Company is pleased to announce its 2021 Annual Program, comprising of the world premiere of the eagerly anticipated collaboration between Rafael Bonachela and Bryce  Dessner, Impermanence,; the return of the award-winning contemporary classic ab [intra]; and New Breed, presenting the very best in emerging Australian choreography.

Murder, melodrama and Wes Anderson combine in world premiere BANG! BANG! A theatrical dance double-header by two of WA’s leading choreographers, Scott Elstermann and Shona Erskine, at The Blue Room Theatre, 26 November to 14 December in Perth WA. 

Audition for the Royal Ballet School in 2021! Classical Ballet 121 hosts The Royal Ballet School preliminary auditions in Sydney on the 16th January – for 13-15 years and the 17th January – for 16-18 years. To be held at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts, 4/85 O’Riordan St, Alexandria.

NAISDA Dance College, Australia’s national arts training organisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, will present its annual End of Year performance Wunda Yulagi: Spirit of the Dance, from 30 November to 5 December at its NSW Central Coast campus on Darkinjung Land.