Dance Like No One’s Watching

From the 12^th – 14^th September, the Australian Dance Festival takes place at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre.  If you’re heading to Sydney next weekend or a local, your timing is perfect, a bit like the two step.

There will be a multitude of dance workshops, performance dance competitions and showcasing the best of Australia’s dancers.  You don’t need to be a professional dancer or a dance student, you can simply swing on by and get your groove on with the crowd.

Last year’s event was such a success that the Festival organisers are hosting the auditions for 10 of the country’s most prestigious full time dance schools. So if you’re maybe thinking you can jive talk your way through this, alongside a hint of talent, here’s the link with all the details. 

Now back to the festival, the doors open for registration at 12pm on Friday and by 7pm, the doors are bursting for the country’s Best Dance Crew Competition heat. Within 3 hours, the venue closes but wait… there’s more!  On Saturday, at an excruciatingly early weekend start of 7am, the open stage performers rehearse for their showcase. Around 7pm, it’s a great time to show up with your two left feet as the Saturday Performances take place, followed by the Open Stage and Solo Competitions. Twenty four hours later, the Sunday activities including Q&A with Industry Greats, Workshops and Sunday Performances are reaching a crescendo. The finale is set to be outstanding – the Finals Best Dance Crew, Finals Dance Around the World Solo and the Open Stage kicks off at 730pm.

Reverting back to the workshops, the schedule has been acclaimed as a ‘who’s who’ of the country’s dance industry. This is where you get to put your Fred & Ginger into action and see if you have pure talent, or a talent for stepping on toes. Either way, the ticket prices for the workshops include seats for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening Competitions. If you’re also traveling to Sydney with kids, there’s a special under 12’s workshop session based on prior years popularity. That’ll ensure the kids are exercised and you’ll be pretty much guaranteed they’ll sleep well that night.

The tickets range from $30 AUD for evening shows to a full weekend pass (adults) up to $260. This latter price may seem hefty yet it includes all events. And there’s no price on exercise or fun, right?

After a long day of trotting around on your feet and cheering on the dancers, what better way to relax than 30 minutes drive away at Sydney’s affordable boutique hotel, Cremorne Point Manor. Winning a certificate of Excellence Award by Tripadvisor, fourth year in a row, it’s enough to make a song and dance about.