Sydney Dance Company’s acclaimed New Breed program returns to Carriageworks to mark its twelfth and final season, presenting four world premiere works, celebrating a program that has expanded choreographic opportunity in Australia.
Born from a seed planted by Neil Balnaves AO and Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela, New Breed (co-presented with Carriageworks) has grown into a dynamic launchpad for Australia’s independent dance voices, spotlighting emerging choreographers and bold new ideas that shape the future of contemporary dance. Made possible through the extraordinary commitment of Principal Partner The Balnaves Foundation, the remarkable 12-year partnership is a testament to their inspired and visionary philanthropic support.
By the end of the 2025 season, New Breed will have commissioned 49 new Australian dance works by 47 choreographers. Their practice continues to define contemporary Australian dance in an extraordinary legacy that will resonate long into the future. Sydney Dance Company is committed to building on this achievement and its investment in the contemporary dance landscape.
From 3 – 13 December 2025, New Breed will feature new dance works by Emma Fishwick, Ngaere Jenkins, Harrison Ritchie-Jones and Ryan Pearson, performed by Sydney Dance Company dancers on the Carriageworks’ stage.
Choreographer Emma Fishwick presents a new dance work titled marathon, o marathon that gestures towards the endless loop of lessons not learnt, the collapse of scale and severity and the desire to continue performing personal convictions in a time of exhaustion. With marathon-like persistence the work plays with the facts and fictions that emerge when watching bodies in motion, to consider, if there is no cavalry coming over the hill to save us, can a descent into dancing generate a hopeful desire?
Current Sydney Dance Company dancer born in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Ngaere Jenkins will make her choreographic debut this season with From the horizon thereafter. Jenkin’s work is an evocative contemplation on the whenua (land) she comes from, its misted horizons, fern-fringed bays and lakes encircled by mountains that stand as her tupuna (ancestors). In her work Jenkins embodies the ephemeral beauty and memory of her homeland – its holding and yielding, its silences and calls, its quiet invitation to listen and be led.
Celebrated dancer, choreographer and filmmaker Harrison Ritchie-Jones returns to the Sydney Dance Company stage with Pigeon Humongous, following his award-winning work CUDDLE in INDance 2024. Ritchie-Jones investigates a dystopian vision in which a global virus collapses humanity and gives rise to a post-apocalyptic world of punk pigeon people. In this disintegrated society, where words, structures and rules no longer hold, movement emerges as the only language and the only salvation.
Ryan Pearson, Sydney Dance Company dancer and 2020 Australian Dance Awards nominee for Most Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer, presents Save Point. Inspired by video games from his childhood, the work moves between nostalgia and invention, using movement to reconnect with a time when games felt limitless. Pearson explores movement, combat choreography and nostalgic worlds, blending imagination with physicality and deeply personal reflection.
Sydney Dance Company Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela said: “New Breed has been an anchor of Sydney Dance Company’s vision to nurture and platform the voices of emerging choreographers. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of The Balnaves Foundation over 12 seasons, we’ve experienced thrilling, compelling, and deeply original works that have left a lasting impact on Australian dance. While 2025 marks the final season of New Breed, it is not an ending but an interval. It was early conversations with Neil Balnaves about what is possible that inspired the first iteration of New Breed and in continuing those conversations we remain committed to supporting independent practice.”
Victoria Balnaves of The Balnaves Foundation said: “Over the past 12 years The Balnaves Foundation has been proud to support such an important incubator for contemporary dance in Australia. When my father, Neil Balnaves and Rafael conceptualised New Breed all those years ago, we never imagined the powerful and lasting impact it would have on the choreographers and the dance sector as a whole. This year we celebrate an extraordinary partnership that has created phenomenal works of dance, brought new ideas to Sydney Dance Company’s mainstage both in Australia and overseas, as well as providing a launching pad for 47 remarkable choreographers. As the curtain closes on this chapter, we are excited to continue our partnership with Sydney Dance Company through The Balnaves Foundation Artist in Residence program where New Breed alumni can continue their creative journey.”
New Breed will be at Carriageworks 3 – 13 December 2025. Tickets on sale now
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