New Adventures

New Adventures is a London based dance company led by Sir Matthew Bourne OBE, genius choreographer; Simply one of the brightest lights in the dance firmament and a wonderfully thoughtful and supportive mentor. New Adventures has made a huge contribution to the popularity of dance in Britain, creating works that have altered the public perception of what is possible when it comes to telling stories without words. 

Together we are passionate about diversifying the dance landscape so that we reach all areas of the community. They will continue to seek out those with little or no dance experience and take them on an inspiring journey through their projects. teamArchie supports their working with emerging talent to springboard young dancer’s careers into their dance company and the wider industry.

New Adventures is a registered charity that has now partners with teamArchie in a number of ways. We have bold ambitions to consolidate and grow our talent development programmes and our engagement work with young people and communities.  This includes schemes to support excellence and increase diversity in the dance industry, develop dancers whilst with the company and as they transition from performing, particularly those who are marginalised and underserved.

In our first year’s association we supported two young associates, Hannah and Louis, who performed in the Sadlers Wells season of Sleeping Beauty and in our second year we supported Lewis and Alex, also just graduating from ballet school and aged just 18. Here is a little about Alex whose journey, with the help of teamArchie, is our inspiration for further work in this area of the arts.

Alex Fadayiro

In the summer of 2019 we supported a unique dance work led by New Adventures Resident Artist, Paul Smethurst. This was an opportunity for young people aged 12-21 and not in further education, employment or training to experience working with one of the UK’s prolific dance-theatre companies.

Civil Blood was inspired by the main themes in Romeo and Juliet; that of highly emotional young people being made to suppress their emotions and conflict against authority and those in power. These themes resonate very strongly with the youth of today, particularly with young people who are marginalised, hard to reach or living in challenging life circumstances. In Barking, we created a company of the least engaged and most vulnerable and created a high quality artistic work. The project commenced on 30 July and ran until 16 August with a performance at Sadler’s Wells, London.

Please do take a look at the video below to find out more about the project and the experience had by those involved:

This project championed the power of dance and its ability to leave a long-lasting impact on the lives of these young people; developing confidence, improving emotional resilience and contributing to social reintegration. It was an inspiration and an emotional journey for all concerned. The young people’s pride in what they produced was immense and we have subsequently been approached to support one of these young people as they decide to embark on a career in dance.