Young People and Schools
Overview
New Adventures is committed to working with young people of all backgrounds, to share our passion for dance, theatre and creativity. From early years through to A-level studies, we journey with our young people through one-off workshops and residencies, on an adventure of discovery and expression through our unique story telling language and playful creative method.
'An incredible journey that is simply unforgettable, the benefits for the children is immeasurable and lasting.'
Parent from a partner School
We offer numerous ways to take part in our programme including a one-off schools workshops, intensives and even the chance to experience a day in the life of a New Adventures dancer and perform on a world class stage. Our aim is simple - to surprise, delight and encourage young people to be inspired by dance.
Explore our full Take Part programme
Schools
Schools
Matthew Bourne is a named choreographer in a number of UK national performing arts examinations, including at BTEC and A-level. New Adventures works closely with teachers to enliven the curriculum and get the best outcomes for young people studying dance and the performing arts.
I can't explain how much you've motivated our students. It was so engaging, challenging, the right amount of variety. I've never seen them buzzing so much... You were amazing teachers.
Becca Gatt (Teacher), Highworth School, Kent
We are currently reviewing our schools workshop offer. Apologies that we cannot offer you a workshop at this current time, but we look forward to sharing the joy of New Adventures storytelling in your school setting soon. We appreciate your patience.
Download our latest Resource Packs for schools
Curtain Raisers
Curtain Raisers
An incredible chance to work with dancers from New Adventures to create an original piece of choreography in response to our current touring show and perform it before our professional company take to the stage. This opportunity is usually delivered in partnership with our partners at theatres we tour to or with established groups that we have led other projects with before.
Our curtain raisers give young, aspiring dancers the opportunity to work with our world-renowned company through the exploration and development of their technical and creative skills. A short piece is created in response to the themes and movement discovered in one of our works, resulting in the performance before our professional show as part of our evening programme.
As part of our recent tour of The Red Shoes we delivered two curtain raisers involving over 70 young dancers on the main stage at Sadler's Wells (London) and Birmingham Hippodrome. In 2019 we celebrated 10 years of Curtain Raisers at Birmingham Hippodrome and we regularly work with Sadler's Wells’ Associate Schools to give this opportunity to young, aspiring dancers in Islington. For the last three years, our London curtain raiser was proudly supported by The Archie Lloyd Charitable Foundation.
During lockdown, we presented The Red Shoes curtain raiser project from home. Young, aspiring dancers from Mayflower Theatre and Hull New Theatre could not perform at their local theatre due to our tour being cut short, therefore we created a montage of them dancing in their homes and edited this with our Sadler's Wells curtain raiser performance earlier this year. Take a look at the film below.
In Our Shoes
In Our Shoes
We offer an immersive and accessible two-day opportunity to step 'In Our Shoes' and experience first-hand what it is like to be part of our company.
Day One: The Dancer in the Studio
Explore movement and themes from our current touring show in a workshop led by New Adventures dancers and create a piece of choreography inspired by the show.
Day Two: The Dancer on Stage
See the theatre through the dancers' eyes with a backstage tour and then perform the choreography created on Day One to the company on the very same stage they will dance on. The day then finishes with a Q&A with a company member and a farewell from our dancers.
This is a bespoke, accessible and inclusive experience with no previous dance experience needed.
During our tour of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake we have delivered In Our Shoes projects for participants in Bradford, Nottingham and LA. In Bradford we worked in collaboration with The Alhambra Theatre and Bradford College’s students from asylum seeker and refugee backgrounds who gave a wonderful performance to the Swan Lake company. We are also proud to have delivered In Our Shoes in Oak Field School, an SEN school in Nottingham, three times in a row.
DanceVenturers
Workshop Series for Children
We are excited to launch a new series of short, fun, educational videos for young people. Resident Artist Paul Smethurst will lead our plucky squad of DanceVenturers on a journey to learn their Physical Phonics, and through our repertoire of New Adventures shows.
In Physical Phonics, during each mission, they will discover a new sound, and hunt down special words that contain that sound. When they follow along with our show-inspired workshops, they will be able to learn some movement from the shows, adapted for all levels. Using movement and music, our DanceVenturers will learn something new, get active and creative, and most of all, have fun!
Perfect for Primary School children but great for all kids young and old, big and small.
And if you missed our Easter Adventures activities for Primary Schoolers, you can still find them over on our YouTube channel.
Physical Phonics
Join our Resident Dance Artist Paul Smethurst and go on a mission to discover a new sound and hunt down special words that contain this sound - check out the series below!
Episode 1 - 'OO'
Episode 2 - 'OO'
Episode 3 - 'OI'
Episode 3 - 'OY'
Episode 5 - 'AR'
Episode 6 - 'EE'
Episode 7 - 'EA'
Episode 8 - 'OA'
Episode 9 - 'ER'
Episode 10 - 'ER'
Episode 11 - 'UR'
Episode 12 - 'OW'
Show Workshops
Join our Resident Dance Artist Paul Smethurst and go on an adventure through the New Adventures repertoire - discover the magic of shows and learn some movement from each production! Check out the series below.
Nutcracker! - Make Your Own Sweetie Character
Nutcracker! - Bouncing Biker Gobstopper Phrase
Swan Lake - Make Your Own Swan
Swan Lake - Cheeky Cygnet Dance
Edward Scissorhands - Learn the BBQ Dance
Early Adventures - Country Garden Dance
Download our Resource Pack for KS1 and KS2
Residencies
Residencies
We have a passion for immersing ourselves in the communities we work with. One of the ways we do this is by working closely with schools and partner organisations to engage young people in our work.
Since 2016, we have delivered three whole-school performance projects where every child has been involved in creating their own dance piece using New Adventures' unique storytelling style with our Dancers in Residence programme.
In 2019, we proudly presented Civil Blood, a project for young people in partnership with Dance United Yorkshire (in Bradford) and Studio 3 Arts (in Barking and Dagenham) inspired by Matthew Bourne's Romeo and Juliet.
Find out more about these projects below.
