WellingtonEvents
Two dancers perform on stage.

The largest biennial dance award event in Australasia springs into Wellington.

For five days in April, hundreds of dancers will compete for awards and prize money at St James Theatre. Over $100,000 in scholarships to prestigious dance schools are up for grabs along with $60,000 in prize money. The biennial dance competition is for 11 to 18-year-olds. 

A panel of international judges deliberates over the weekend. They then preside over a grand finale on Monday 21 April. Guest performers from Royal New Zealand Ballet, New Zealand School of Dance, and Ballet Collective Aotearoa will entertain across the evening. 

Wellingtonian dancer Alana Haines was 11 years old when she tragically died in a car accident on Christmas Eve 1989. The awards were established in 1991 in her honour. Since then, the biennial Alana Haines Australasian Awards have grown to be the largest of their kind in Australasia.

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