In May, The Australian Ballet announced a new initiative, supported by Telstra, to nurture aspiring choreographers. More than 60 people across Australia, representing all genres of dance, submitted an application for the inaugural Telstra Emerging Choreographer (TEC) Award.

The Australian Ballet and Telstra have now named the four finalists: Mathilda Ballantyne, Aimee Schollum, Feras Shaheen and Geoffrey Watson.

Aimee Schollum is one of the four finalists in The Australian Ballet’s 2021 Telstra Emerging Choreographer Award

The theme for TEC 2021 is the Joy of Dance. The finalists will each receive $2,500 to create a work of four to six minutes in length. The winner will receive a $10,000 prize from Telstra to support the development of their work. There will also be the potential for TAB Artistic Director David Hallberg to invite them to work with the company’s artistic team and dancers to create a new work for TAB’s 2022 Bodytorque program.

“The finalists for our inaugural TEC Award have shown the range and diversity of the dance community here in Australia,” said Hallberg. “We received a substantial number of entries, giving a clear indication of so many burgeoning creatives....