Our Vision
The vision for the Special Olympics Dance Performance Group is to produce passionate performers who through their commitment and enthusiasm reach a level of excellence in their dance.
Special Olympics Dance Performance Group at ANZ Stadium
August 23rd 2013. The Special Olympics Cup match was held at ANZ stadium. Congratulations to the South Sydney Rabbitohs for defeating the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. Special thanks for supporting our athletes, families and friends to celebrate the game. A great night was had by all. In the photo you will see our athletes meeting with Russell Crow - wow was everyone excited!
The Special Olympics Upper North Shore Dance Performance Group were honoured to be the 2012 Australia Day Ambassadors to Snowey River Shire (see the video to the right), the 2011 Ambassadors to Bingara, norther NSW, 2010 Australia Day Ambassadors for Newcastle City Council, and 2009 Australia Day Ambassadors for Hyde Park’s Australia Day celebrations.
Previously the dancers were Australia Day Ambassadors for Hornsby Council in 2007, and Warringah Council in 2008. The Special Olympics Dance Group was formed in April 2006 with only 6 dancers. We now have over ten groups including the Dance Performance Group with a total of 124 dancers. Highlights for the group have been preforming with stars such as Damian Leith, Iva Davies, Tim Campbell, Jackie Love, Brielle Davis, John Foreman, Vince Sorenti, Amber Lawrence, Todd McKenney and David Koch. They have preformed for the Governor of NSW, the arrival for the “Flame of Hope” Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics and many important community and worthwhile charity events. These young dancers bring joy to their audiences. They highlight the achievement that can be reached through hard work. Audiences are impacted in a positive and an emotional sense. They conduct their own annual fundraising event which has become a highlight Sydney event and raises many thousands of dollars each year. The 2011 event will be themed ‘Australiana’ and will be held at the Sydney Convention Centre on Friday 26 August. Some of Australia’s most outstanding performers will join with the dancers. Since 2006, the Special Olympics Dance Performance Group have raised over $1,700,000 for Special Olympics. Through their success, these young dancers strengthened their self-esteem, add to their identity, build confidence in their ability to achieve, enjoy teamwork and enhance the quality of their lives. |
Through their dedication they have become outstanding communicators with their audiences, giving a message of achievement, warmth and hope.
The performers acknowledge the outstanding voluntary commitment by their choreographer Cathy Williams. Cathy is a primary school teacher who has studied dance (jazz, ballet, tap and hip hop) for more than 20 years. Our long term goal is to create a dance group in all 47 Special Olympics Regions throughout Australia. Young people with an Intellectual Disability, who love sport and dance can then benefit through competing in similar competitions to the Rock Eisteddfods. Once we have achieved this goal, we would love to have Dance Performance Groups in all the 175 countries that participate in Special Olympics throughout the world. We believe in dance and performance as an important component of life that should be available to all people with an intellectual disability. By way of background, Special Olympics is an international organization which was established in the mid 1950s by the Kennedy Family in the USA. It is dedicated to improving the health and self esteem of people with an intellectual disability through the provision of sports skills training and competition. There are almost 1500 Special Olympics Athletes in NSW, a number which is still growing rapidly. In the global context, there are almost 2 million Special Olympic athletes in 175 countries. Our dancers are also committed sports people, participating in many of the sports available through Special Olympics Australia. They love supporting Australian sports teams. The Special Olympics Dance Performance Group is honoured and delighted to be Australia Day Ambassadors. They are proud of their achievements and very proud to be Australian. They love performing on Australia Day. |
TRY - Amber Lawrence's New Single
Amber Lawrence Features the Special Olympics Performance Group
So here it is...the new video for Amber's third single from '3' - it's called 'TRY'. We are extremely proud that this song has been chosen as the theme song for the Special Olympics Junior Games, and she have featured the fantastic Special Olympics Performance group to perform in her video.
We hope you love it as much as we do - and please forward this video on to your friends and family! We want everyone to see it!
So here it is...the new video for Amber's third single from '3' - it's called 'TRY'. We are extremely proud that this song has been chosen as the theme song for the Special Olympics Junior Games, and she have featured the fantastic Special Olympics Performance group to perform in her video.
We hope you love it as much as we do - and please forward this video on to your friends and family! We want everyone to see it!