FROM 2PM - KIDS FIRST 

2pm: Dan Zanes and Friends - kids rock n’ roll star direct from New York City
3.15pm: Acrobatics with The Leaping Loonies and capoeira
4 – 5pm: Breaking Battles plus Seapuuog popping crew


DAN ZANES & FRIENDS



Get ready to rock in the kiddie mosh-pit when modern day Pied Piper Dan Zanes comes to Sydney Festival. Zanes & Friends create new versions of traditional songs, playing rock ‘n’ roll, gospel, blues and folk inspired tunes with diverse instrumentation and original arrangement.

Dan Zanes & Friends are also performing as part of the Festival Kids at Parramatta series. For more events in the series, click here.

Dan Zanes & Friends also play at The Famous Spiegeltent in the Samsung Mobile Festival Garden. For details of this show, click here.

HIP HOP & URBAN DANCE

Got kids with ants in their pants and energy to burn?  Bring them to see the interactive  Hip Hop & Urban Dance, coordinated by Sydney’s Nick Power (AKA B*Boy Rely). These guys will have the kids busting moves all over the park!

Leaping Loonies



The Leaping Loonies perform a combination of contemporary and traditional, knock-about acrobatic routines. Drawing on traditional circus and vaudeville this highly energetic trio will be putting the best of their rough-and-tumble tricks on show. Even better, they’ll teach you some of their basic moves to practice!

Breaking Battles
We start off with a breaking workshop taught by our three breakdancing judges, Scott do Rock (All Consciousness Crew), B*Girl Demolition (Demi) and Danny Barcelona Addictos. Then we have a breaking battle with four of Sydney’s best crews – R.A.W., Hybrid Forms, SKB and Juse Crew with music by DJ Mathematics! We’ll award a 3rd and 4th prize and the top two will battle it out in the final to be held in Martin Place later in the evening.

PLUS a special performance by Sydney popping crew Seapuuog.

Capoeira Performance and Workshop
An energetic mix of body and soul, fighting and dancing, of music instruments and voice.

For all the Kids First activities in Hyde Park click here.


FROM 7PM

Hosted by Aphrodite of Love TV
Love TV – Aphrodite interviews guests, broadcast live from stage-side studio onto the big screen
7.15pm:  The Sydney Social - grab a partner to waltz, quickstep and foxtrot to The  Festoons Big Band
9pm: SoulShaker DJs
9.30pm: Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings

LOVE TV

Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, hosts Hyde Park Palm Stage. 

Love TV is an interactive show featuring Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love. Broadcast live from her studio right next to the stage, you can watch Aphrodite interview various guests about love and life on the huge screen.

THE SOULSHAKER DJS

The Soulshaker DJs bring soulful and funky tunes to theHyde Park Palm Stage as evening nears. Groove along as they bring out their dancefloor-fillers.

SWING YOUR PARTNER AT THE SYDNEY SOCIAL
WITH THE FESTOONS BIG BAND & SPECIAL GUESTS

Waltz back through time to an era of social dances with our very own big band, The Festoons to guide you through the quickstep, foxtrot, tango, waltz and the Pride of Erin. Grab a partner and join in, we’ll have professional dance instructors on hand to assist you.

SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS



Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings are the unrivalled frontrunners of old-school soul and funk. Spearheads of a revivalist movement, they conjure – and embody – the vintage vinyl, analogue essence of the Stax and Motown sound of the 60s.

Last gracing the Sydney Festival stage in 2007 backing Lou Reed, Sharon Jones returns front and centre stage, bringing her own classic soul and retro funk stylings to Festival First Night with 9-piece musical masters, The Dap-Kings.

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings are also performing as part of the Beck's Festival Bar series. For more events at the Beck’s Bar, click here.

TO VIEW THE FESTIVAL FIRST NIGHT ECARD, Click here.