During the Easter holidays, the young cast who performed in Matthew Bourne’s Lord of the Flies in October 2014 participated in a skills workshop led by dance company ZooNation as part of the production’s legacy programme. The 22-strong cast, aged 11 to 22, were selected from 950 boys and young men from across the capital to perform alongside professional dancers from New Adventures in Matthew Bourne’s acclaimed show last year.

Thanks to legacy funding from New Adventures, Sadler’s Wells has been able to continue working with these young dancers. A year-long programme has been designed to extend the group’s knowledge and experience of dance through access to professional artists, skills workshops and performance visits.

Mentored by dance ambassadors Sam Cook and Shaun Dillon, the young dancers have so far learnt how to move like Edward Scissorhands in a workshop led by New Adventures in December; been gripped by BalletBoyz and their performance of Young Men at Sadler’s Wells in January and witnessed acrobatics in Cirkopolis at The Peacock in February.

Next up is a weekend focused on dance company Rambert. On Saturday 16 May, the group will attend a matinee performance of the company’s triple bill Dark Arteries/ Frames/ Four Elements. They will take part in a pre-show talk with Rambert’s Artistic Director Mark Baldwin, Music Director Paul Hoskins and composer Gavin Higgins, as well as a post-show Q&A session led by Liam Mower, company dancer and rehearsal director. On Sunday 17 May, the young dancers will visit Rambert’s studios in central London, where they will be given a tour of the building and take part in a three-hour workshop led by former company dancer Eryck Brahmania.

Photo: the young cast of Matthew Bourne’s Lord of the Flies in rehearsal in 2014.