Jeffrey ‘Jeff’ Dan Dunne is a break dancer (breaker) who was awarded a Tier 2 Scholarship within the 2023 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program. He’s the first breaker selected to be a part of the Program.
Born in the Philippines in 2007, Jeff’s was adopted by his Australian family in 2008 and moved to New South Wales. Six years later, at age 7, he joined break dancing classes after attending and watching his sister’s classes. It was at these classes that his passion for the sport developed and once he made the decision to join his own class, Jeff committed to his programs and trained for over two hours each day.
As a 15-year-old, Jeff not only competed in his own age bracket, he also stepped out against older, more experienced dancers and won competitions against adult breakers. He claimed his first Australian Youth Champion title in 2019 and has since gone on to win titles all over the world including competitions in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Slovenia, Slovakia, Holland, and the USA.
In 2022, Jeff was ranked 9th in the world and competed against breakers from 51 countries at the World U18 Championships where he finished inside the top 16.
While Jeff and his sisters share a love and incredible ability for dancing, that talent doesn’t run deep in the family; Jeff has said that, while the family likes to dance together, “my mum and dad are not so good. But they do make me laugh a lot.”
Jeff aims to represent Australia at the Olympic Games and remains on the right path for Olympic gold when Breaking debuts at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He also has his heart set on becoming a dancer on the Red Bull BC One breaking team.
“It’s so dope to be a recipient of this SAHOF Scholarship as it will help me and my family out so much to be able to compete around the world and Australia in many competitions. Also, it’s cool to be the first breaker that has received this and hopefully others in the next few years will also be able to part of this program.” – Jeff Dunne on being selected as a 2023 Tier 2 Scholarship Holder.
Honours & Achievements
- 2019: Australian Youth Championships – Champion
- 2022: World U18 Breaking Championships, Slovenia – top 16 (out of 51 Countries)
- 2022: Battle of the Gods – 1st (senior)
- 2022: Sydney Breaking Battle – 2nd (senior)
- 2022: Blacktown Block Party Battles – 1st (senior)
- 2022: Brunswick St Comp – 2nd (senior)
- 2023: Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship Holder
Bio picture credit: @jnykz (Instagram)
