The Aus Prix

The Coppen Award 2026

A special and heart felt mention goes to Nathan Coppen. As Co-Director, Nathan Coppen introduced The Coppen Award to The Aus Prix.

The Coppen Award is in honour and gratitude of his late parents who lovingly provided overwhelming support and guidance through his ballet journey which led to a successful ballet career both nationally and internationally.

Nathan now directs The Graduate College of Dance and shares his love and experience of ballet to the next generation of stars. The Aus Prix is another platform where he can share his passion to assist talented dancers with cash prizes to help fund tuition, travel and further training.

Nathan awarded The Coppen Award to the following recipients:
🌟 Jakob Kelly with a $1,500 cash prize
🌟 Milla Calyk with a $1,500 cash prize
🌟 India-Rose Mace with a $5,000 cash prize

The passion and generosity to assist these dancers further with their dance studies and travel to ballet schools abroad is just phenomenal. Thank you Nathan, we are so honoured to have you provide these special awards for The Aus Prix.

THE AUS PRIX MELBOURNE 2026!

Congratulations to our Gold Medallists and Runners Up on an outstanding success during their 4 days of classes, semi finals and finals competition.

Juniors
🥇GOLD MEDALLIST - Georgia Feledy
Cash Prize $2,500

🥈Runner Up - Milla Calyk
Cash Prize $1,250

Intermediates
🥇GOLD MEDALLIST - Lani Gehling
Cash Prize $5,000

🥈Runner Up - Jakob Kelly
Cash Prize $2,500

Seniors
🥇GOLD MEDALLIST - Anna Stephenson
Cash Prize $10,000

🥈Runner Up - India-Rose Mace
Cash Prize $5,000

Our Finalists were adjudicated by our esteemed panel - Megan Connelly, Artistic Director and Head of School of The Australian Ballet School, Lynette Wills, Head of Dance at the Victorian College of the Arts, Sandrine Delasalle-Scanella, former Principal Ballerina and Ballet Mistress West Australian Ballet Company and Lisa Bolte former Principal Artist of The Australian Ballet.

We’d also like to thank our wonderful sponsor for providing vouchers for all Runners Up and Gold Medalists.

We are extremely grateful for the support of our Australian, New Zealand and Singapore schools, students and parents. Without your support we couldn’t provide these prestigious opportunities to assist our dancers to progress in their careers through performance, scholarships and cash prizes.

What an experience for the Finalists! We are so humbled to have assisted them in progressing further in their dance careers. You were all such a joy to watch perform in the Finals Gala last night.

A big thank you to for our beautiful neoprene audition numbers for The Aus Prix Melbourne 2026 Semi Finalists.

Sleek, professional, and made to perform - the perfect addition to our event. 🩰

We are so grateful for your support.

✨ Thank You to Our Adjudicating Panel ✨

Over the past two days, we have been privileged to have an outstanding panel guiding and supporting our dancers through the Semi Finals and Finals of The Aus Prix Melbourne 2026.

Your expertise, professionalism, and commitment to the art form have been invaluable - not only in adjudicating, but in inspiring and nurturing the next generation of dancers.

A heartfelt thank you to Lisa Bolte, Sandy Delasalle-Scanella, Megan Connelly, Lynette Wills, and Lucas Jervis.

Your insight, care, and dedication have helped shape such a meaningful and memorable experience for all involved.

We are incredibly grateful to have highly respected professional industry representatives on The Aus Prix panel.

⭐Thank You⭐

Thank you for the most incredible 4 days of classes, coaching, semi finals and finals competition!

To the Semi Finalists that were selected by the panel to participate in classes and solo coaching with Lisa Bolte, Sandrine Delasalle-Scanella, Nathan Coppen and Lucas Jervis, to the parents who spent long days at the studio and driving back and forth and the teachers that came to support their students - we thank you so much for your support.

Without your support we couldn’t provide these prestigious opportunities to assist our dancers to progress in their careers through performance, scholarships and cash prizes.

We are passionate about providing dancers with opportunities and assisting dancers wanting to further their career as a professional dancer through potential scholarships and cash prizes to assist in funding travel and associated costs of enrolling in programs and workshops to further their dance education - and that we did!

It was such a joy to have met everyone, watched you learn, dance and grow from your experience that is The Aus Prix.

Bec, Jacinta and Nathan x
The Aus Prix Team

✨ Finals Night ✨

Good luck to all of our incredible Finalists taking the stage tonight.

You’ve worked so hard to get here now it’s your moment to shine.

We were so fortunate to have Belinda Hernandez, former professional ballet dancer and Co-Director of , leading our finals warm up this evening.

Thank you, Belinda, for sharing your experience and energy with our dancers the perfect preparation for such an important night.

✨ A moment for our Semi Finalists ✨

For those incredible jumps, jetés and leaps 🩰🔥

Power. Elevation. Freedom. Moments where technique meets artistry - and dancers truly take flight.

It’s been so inspiring to watch our Semi Finalists push themselves, take risks, and showcase not only their strength, but their courage and expression on stage.

These are the moments that stay with you.

Absolutely incredible images!

📷

Finals tickets are now on sale!

Come along and support our Junior, Intermediate and Senior Finalists compete for the Gold Medal and cash prizes!

Tonight 26th April | 7pm | VCASS

Link below - limited seats remaining.
https://www.trybooking.com/DJZIY

Dancers, this is your moment.
Sponsors, this is your stage.
Australia, this is The Aus Prix.

Good luck to all of our Junior, Intermediate and Senior Finalists performing tonight. We are so proud of your achievements.

✨ Congratulations Junior Semi Finalists ✨

What an incredible 4 days it has been.

To all of our Junior Semi Finalists -congratulations on completing and performing in The Aus Prix Melbourne 2026.

Being selected for a prestigious event like this is an achievement in itself, and you should all be so proud.
The dedication, focus, and artistry shown throughout the workshops and on stage has been truly exceptional. Every dancer brought something unique, and it has been inspiring to watch you all grow, learn, and perform.

You have all achieved something special.

A heartfelt thank you to the parents, families, and studios for your ongoing support. Without you, we couldn’t create and provide these incredible opportunities for our dancers.

And to the dancers - well done. You have represented yourselves and your training beautifully.

The Aus Prix Melbourne 2026

✨ Congratulations Junior Finalists ✨

A huge congratulations to our Junior Finalists who will take the stage tonight at our Finals Event.

They will be competing for Gold Medalist and Runner Up, performing both their classical and open genre solos - a true showcase of their versatility, technique, and artistry.

We are so proud of everything you have achieved to reach this point.

Good luck to each and every one of you - we can’t wait to see you shine.
Finals | Tonight | 7:00pm EST

✨ Congratulations Senior Semi Finalists ✨

What an incredible 4 days it has been.

To all of our Senior Semi Finalists - congratulations on completing and performing in The Aus Prix Melbourne 2026. Being selected for a prestigious event like this is an achievement in itself, and you should all be so proud.

The dedication, focus, and artistry shown throughout the workshops and on stage has been truly exceptional. Every dancer brought something unique, and it has been inspiring to watch you all grow, learn, and perform.

You have all achieved something special.

A heartfelt thank you to the parents, families, and studios for your ongoing support. Without you, we couldn’t create and provide these incredible opportunities for our dancers.

And to the dancers - well done! You have represented yourselves and your training beautifully. Thank you for coming we hope you had a fabulous time.

The Aus Prix Melbourne 2026