The 2019 Alana Haines Australasian Awards (AHA Awards) were held over the Easter weekend, Thursday 18 – Monday 22 April, at the Opera House Wellington, New Zealand.

The competition, which is held biennially, saw 600 Australasian contestants competing for prizes totaling $460,000 cash and scholarship awards, including recipient airfares paid by the AHA Awards. Scholarships are sponsored by international dance schools from UK, USA, Canada, Europe and Australasia, and the event is judged by an international jury.

Seven NZSD full-time classical ballet students recently participated in the prestigious Alana Haines Australasian Awards. In the 15-18 year age group, we were well represented too amongst our Associates & Scholars. It was an outstanding achievement to see Timothy Ching as a finalist, Sook Meng Lim placed 2nd and Rench Soriano receive 1st place and the Audience Choice Award.

Rench Soriano (1st place and Audience Choice Award)
Sook Meng Lim (2nd place)
Timothy Ching (finalist)


Images by Amber Griffin Photography.
Cover image, from L: Sook Meng Lim (2nd place), Rench Soriano (1st place) and Jemima Scott (3rd place and a student of Mount Eden Ballet Academy)