Sydney Eisteddfod

14/09/2026

What a way to finish Dance of Champions 2026. 🏆

A huge congratulations to this year’s winners:
🥇 Jury Winner – Dance North Academy
🥈 Second Place – Nova City Ballet
🥉 Third Place – Pymble Ladies' College
👏 Audience Choice – Mulan Dance and Art Studio

Congratulations also to every group that took to the stage. Dance of Champions is about giving these dancers another opportunity to perform, celebrating their excellence, and it was wonderful to see so many schools, studios, teachers, families and supporters there to share the night with them.

Our thanks to adjudicators Cameron Mitchell, Simone Sault and Sarah Boulter, our compere Lisa Callingham, and everyone who helped make the evening possible.
And finally, thank you to our audience. Your enthusiasm throughout the night, and your votes, made it a terrific celebration of the dance community.

Congratulations to all our 2026 Dance of Champions finalists and winners. ✨

11/09/2026

Tomorrow night we get to do one of the most enjoyable things in the Sydney Eisteddfod calendar: bring some of this year’s standout dance groups back for one more performance.

Dance of Champions is our chance to give these young dancers another moment on stage after all the rehearsals, competition days and work that got them here. Fifteen finalist groups will perform at The Concourse, with more than 300 dancers across the program, before this year’s Jury and People’s Choice winners are announced.

It should be a terrific night, and we’d love to see a big audience there for them.
If you’ve been following the dance events this year, supporting a school or studio, or simply want to see a really strong cross-section of young Australian dance, come along tomorrow night.

📅 Saturday 12 September, 5.00pm
📍 The Concourse Concert Hall, Chatswood
🎟️ Final tickets: https://sydneyeisteddfod.com.au/whats-on/dance-of-champions-final/

Dance of Champions Saturday 12 September 2026, 5.00PMConcert Hall, The Concourse Buy Tickets The Sydney Eisteddfod Dance of Champions is a major event on the dance calendar, a chance for groups and ensembles to highlight their talents across a range of dance styles. The event celebrates outstanding....

09/09/2026

Fifteen groups will take to the stage for one more big night of dance at the 2026 Sydney Eisteddfod!

This Saturday, Dance of Champions brings together some of the standout group performances from across the festival for a final showcase at The Concourse.

From classical ballet and lyrical to jazz, contemporary, musical theatre and national character, more than 300 young dancers will cross the stage across the evening, alongside a special guest performance from Alegria Dance Studios.

For the dancers, it’s another chance to perform, to be seen and to celebrate everything that has gone into getting them here. For the audience, it’s a terrific night of dance and the chance to be part of the atmosphere as this year’s champions are decided.

If you’ve been meaning to book, now is the time. Come and fill the theatre for them.

📅 Saturday 12 September, 5.00pm
📍 The Concourse Concert Hall, Chatswood
🎟️ Tickets available now: https://sydneyeisteddfod.com.au/artfuel/purchase/tickets/20025/sale

📸 2025 Audience Choice Vote Winners: Ravenswood

07/09/2026

What's at stake at Dance of Champions 2026? 🏆✨

Dance of Champions reflects Sydney Eisteddfod’s ongoing commitment to encouraging participation in the performing arts and creating meaningful opportunities for young people to develop, perform and excel. This event is also an opportunity to give something back to the dance community: another performance, another audience, and another chance for young dancers to have their work recognised and celebrated.

Prizes
🏆 Jury Vote Winner: $3,000
🥈 Second Place: $2,000
🥉 Third Place: $1,000

✨ Finalists: $500 each
❤️ People’s Choice Winner: $3,000

Get your tickets now to be eligible to vote for the People's Choice Winner and support your favorite group!

We look forward to celebrating the talent, creativity and dedication on 12 September at 5:00pm at The Concourse, Chatswood.

Join an audience of hundreds, experience one of the most exciting dance events of the year, buy your tickets now! 🎟

Dance of Champions Saturday 12 September 2026, 5.00PMConcert Hall, The Concourse Buy Tickets The Sydney Eisteddfod Dance of Champions is a major event on the dance calendar, a chance for groups and ensembles to highlight their talents across a range of dance styles. The event celebrates outstanding....

07/09/2026

✨ Meet the Dance of Champions 2026 adjudicators and compere! ✨

We’re thrilled to welcome an extraordinary panel of Australian dance and theatre artists to Dance of Champions on 12 September.

🏆 Sarah Boulter
One of Australia’s leading contemporary choreographers, with credits across So You Think You Can Dance, Dance Academy: The Comeback, The Voice, Dancing with the Stars and major international productions. As a performer, Sarah has worked with Celine Dion in A New Day in Las Vegas and appeared in the West End production of Notre Dame de Paris.

🏆 Cameron Mitchell
Award-winning director and choreographer whose career spans musical theatre, television, film and concert performance, including So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing With The Stars, Peter Rabbit 2, Titanique and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Cameron won Best Direction and Best Choreography of a Musical at the 2023 Sydney Theatre Awards for Nice Work If You Can Get It.

🏆 Simone Sault
Choreographer, director and movement director with an extraordinary career across Australia, the West End and Broadway. A former Sydney Dance Company dancer, Simone’s credits include Broadway’s The Roommate, Company, Love Never Dies, The Phantom of the Opera on Sydney Harbour, Beauty and the Beast, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

🎤 Compere Lisa Callingham
A triple-threat performer and creative whose extensive stage credits include The Rocky Horror Show, Hot Shoe Shuffle, A Chorus Line, The Boy from Oz, Sweet Charity and Tootsie, alongside a wide-ranging career as a director and choreographer.

Our adjudicators will have the difficult task of awarding First, Second and Third Place from an outstanding Dance of Champions lineup.

And the audience gets a say too! 👏 The Audience Choice Award puts one of the night’s prizes in your hands.

📅 Saturday 12 September, 5.00pm
🎟️ Tickets: https://sydneyeisteddfod.com.au/artfuel/purchase/tickets/20025/sale

04/09/2026

Dance of Champions 2026 is almost here! 💃⭐

We are delighted to bring together talented young dancers to our stage for one last time in 2026, for an unforgettable showcase of performance and achievement. 🏆

Dance of Champions recognises the teamwork, discipline, passion and commitment behind every performance, and celebrates the technique and creativity that underpins everything Sydney Eisteddfod strives for.

We're to welcome back outstanding talent, big energy and show-stopping performances from groups across Sydney:

✨ Ablaze Dance Academy
✨ Dance North Academy
✨ Inner Sydney High School
✨ Janice Breen Performance Studio
✨ L’Académie
✨ Lindfield College Opal Dance Troupe
✨ Loreto Kirribilli
✨ The McDonald College
✨ National College Of Dance and Junior Academy
✨ Nova City Ballet
✨ Oxford Falls Grammar
✨ Pymble Ladies' College
✨ Ravenswood School for Girls - Official Site
✨ Whitney Schofield Dance Academy
✨Mulan Dance Team

📅 Join us on September 12th at 5:00pm at The Concourse, Chatswood, for an unforgettable night of performances from Australia’s next generation of dance!

🎟️ Buy your tickets now: https://sydneyeisteddfod.com.au/whats-on/dance-of-champions-final/

📸 Winkipop Media

02/09/2026

Soprano Louise Keast takes home the $43,000 prize, which will support her ambitions for an international singing career.

31/08/2026

There was a real sense of occasion in the room on Saturday night as five exceptional young singers took to the stage for the 2026 Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship Final.

Each brought something entirely their own to the program, and by the end of the evening our adjudicators had the difficult task of choosing this year’s recipients.

We are delighted to announce:

🥈 Second Place: Ella Orehek-Coddington
🏆 2026 Opera Scholarship Winner: Louise Keast

Louise receives the $43,000 John Lamble Foundation Scholarship, supporting further overseas study and the next stage of her operatic career, while Ella receives the $4,000 Second Place Award.

For Louise, it is an exciting new chapter in a career already taking shape on Australia’s operatic stages. For Ella, another significant achievement in what has already been a remarkable year of study and performance.

And for all five finalists, Saturday night was something to be proud of. The level of preparation, musicianship and individuality across the Final made for a beautiful evening of opera.

Congratulations Louise and Ella, and congratulations to Jack Bolton, Tomairangi Henare and Aidan Hodder on reaching this stage.

Thank you to our adjudicators, supporters, teachers, families and everyone who joined us in the audience. We loved seeing the room filled with people there to listen, encourage and celebrate these young artists.

What a way to close another chapter of this extraordinary Scholarship. 🎶✨

28/08/2026

🎟️ Book your tickets for tomorrow night’s Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship Final. 🎟️

One year ago, soprano Livia Brash won the 2025 Opera Scholarship. Since then, she has performed Abigaille in Nabucco, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Fricka in Das Rheingold, Marguerite in Faust and Musetta in two productions of La Bohème, covered Turandot with Opera Australia, and performed at Melbourne Recital Centre.
The Scholarship also enabled her to undertake further study in Italy.

“I am so thankful to the Sydney Eisteddfod for facilitating my study trip to Italy. It’s invaluable to be able to see my repertoire performed on the world’s most iconic stages, create professional connections and to coach this repertoire with the best of the best.”

Tomorrow night, five finalists will perform for the opportunity to take their own next step, with the winner receiving the $43,000 John Lamble Foundation Scholarship to support further overseas study.

Come and hear them live, support these remarkable emerging singers, and be there when the 2026 winner is announced.

📅 Saturday 29 August
⏰ 7.00pm
📍 Music Workshop, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
🎟️ Book now: https://sydneyeisteddfod.com.au/whats-on/opera-scholarship-final/

27/08/2026

🎟️ Book your seat NOW for the Opera Scholarship Final this Saturday night. 🎟️

📅 Saturday 29 August
⏰ 7.00pm
📍 Music Workshop, Sydney Conservatorium of Music

Five emerging opera singers will each perform two works before adjudicators Natalie Aroyan, Stuart Maunder AM and Vanessa Scammell, competing for the $43,000 John Lamble Foundation Scholarship.

The program moves from Handel, Mozart, Rossini and Verdi through to Berlioz, Humperdinck and contemporary composer Jake Heggie.

Five different voices, ten varied arias, and one very important decision at the end of the night.

Come and hear them live, support these young artists, and help us give them the audience this Final deserves.

Opera Scholarship | Final Saturday 29 August 2026, 7.00PMMusic Workshop, Sydney Conservatorium of Music Enter Now Buy Tickets Immerse yourself in a world of fantasy and passion with The Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship. Originally known as the Sun Aria, this event was established with the first S...