Sydney Dance Company uses crowd funding to keep young Aussie dancer Holly Doyle on her toes – part of existing campaign via The Works

Sydney Dance Company and advertising agency The Works have turned to crowd funding to help keep talented young Australian dancer Holly Doyle doing what she loves – both in real life, and online – with sections of a specially choreographed dance only ‘unlocked’ once set donation targets are met.

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It is the latest phase of the ‘Keep Holly Dancing’ campaign that is trying to raise $100,000 to ensure the 19-year-old from Miranda in Sydney’s south can secure a 12-month scholarship with the Company.

Sections of Doyle’s online video performance, which was created for her by Sydney Dance Company artistic director Rafael Bonachela, will only be ‘unlocked’ once certain fundraising targets are achieved.

A preview of Doyle’s exclusive dance is available to anyone who visits the website at www.ayearonthewharf.com. Every donation, from as a little as one dollar, will go towards helping reveal more of her dance.

The crowd-funding element of the campaign comes after the former principal of the Royal Ballet and current judge of the hit BBC program Strictly Come Dancing, Darcey Bussell, got behind the campaign by recording a video appeal in London and sent letters to corporate sponsors and former Company benefactors seeking financial support for Doyle.

A graduate of Newtown High School of Performing Arts, Doyle started taking baby ballet and jazz classes at Joanne Williamson Dance Academy at the age of two.

She has been identified by Bonachela as a prodigious talent and is currently interning with the Company and appearing in its latest production De Novo. But her long-term dancing future remains uncertain as there are few options available in Australia for dancers and the Company is unable to fund her scholarship if fundraising targets are not met.

Says Douglas Nicol, creative partner and director at The Works: “Holly is a great talent whose future is in jeopardy unless she gets financial support. We hit on the idea of using crowd funding to enable Australians to help her achieve her goal no matter how big or small their donation. And by doing so they also help to unlock more of Holly’s brilliant online dance.”

The Keep Holly Dancing campaign is part of new initiative by the Sydney Dance Company to provide promising young Australian dancers with the opportunity to join the Company for a year.

Called A Year on the Wharf after the Company’s home at Wharf 4 in the Walsh Bay arts precinct, the scholarship will provide for medical support, health and nutritional advice, travel and accommodation costs, in addition to a modest first year dancer salary.

Says Anne Dunn, Sydney Dance Company executive director: “As Australia’s leading contemporary dance company, Sydney Dance Company is uniquely positioned to provide Holly with the depth of experience that will be a springboard for her career. As far as I know A Year on the Wharf is the only opportunity of its kind in Australia, for a young contemporary dancer to launch their career in a professional environment.”