Goals surpassed for Come and Try 2025 free dance classes campaign
DanceSport Australia celebrates campaign milestone with 2584 participants across 108 studios
DanceSport Australia is proud to announce the outstanding success of its Come and Try 2025 campaign. This was a national initiative funded by the Australian Sports Commission through the Play Well grant, designed to get Australians participating in beginner dance classes.
Hosted by 108 member studios across the country, the campaign welcomed 2,584 participants, surpassing its goals of 100 studios and 2,550 participants. Of these, 2,077 participants joined via 101 studios during the nationwide campaign, while 507 participants took part across 26 studios in the earlier Victorian pilot campaign.
Exceeding both studio and participation targets highlights the strong appetite among Australians to give dance a go and discover the joy of learning to dance.
How the program came about
Martyn Kibel, Chairman of the DSA PlayWell Committee, which oversaw the program's development and execution, has actively pursued government support over several years to fund initiatives that promote dancing. In 2024, his efforts were rewarded with a major success when he secured a significant grant from the Australian Sports Commission’s Play Well initiative. A large portion of this grant was allocated to the Come and Try program.
The project commenced in June 2024, with the DSA Play Well Committee engaging regularly to shape the rollout of the Come and Try program. A small group of studios was consulted to provide invaluable industry input. It was agreed that studios joining the program would offer four free beginner dance classes to interested adults over an eight-week period. Participants would obtain four coupons via the custom-built, easy-to-use online registration and coupon system and redeem them when they attended the classes. DSA would support the studios with significant advertising to the public in areas around the studios.
Victorian pilot and national rollout
In order to ensure success of a nationwide campaign, a pilot of the program was run in Victoria to allow the development and testing of:
· Marketing material and business forms
· Recruiting and studio sign-up processes
· Online advertising and promotion
· Registration and coupon website
Running from March to May 2025, the pilot attracted 508 participants, with a median age of 48. Feedback revealed areas for improvement in the user experience, prompting the team to add a postcode search function and enhance the overall usability of the Come and Try website.
Building on the success of the pilot, the national campaign launched in July 2025, running through till August, with coupons valid until 28 September 2025. The expanded rollout saw a significant increase in participation.
Across both the Victorian pilot and national rollout, the median age group was adults in their late forties and older, many attending as couples or with friends. Studios often reported a theme of reconnection:
“We’ve seen husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, in-laws and community members make beautiful connections while learning something new together.”
