Sydney Dance Company’s landmark program New Breed returns to Carriageworks for its twelfth and final season — a closing chapter that honours one of Australia’s most influential platforms for emerging choreographers. Since its inception, New Breed has reshaped the nation’s contemporary dance landscape, commissioning bold new works, championing fresh perspectives, and nurturing the choreographic leaders of tomorrow. Supported by Principal Partner The Balnaves Foundation and co-presented with Carriageworks, this visionary initiative has fostered forty-nine original works over twelve years, leaving a legacy that continues to ripple across the industry.
From 3–13 December 2025, the final season brings together four world-premiere works from Emma Fishwick, Ngaere Jenkins, Harrison Ritchie-Jones and Ryan Pearson — each offering powerful new visions for contemporary dance.
Blossoming from an early conversation between Neil Balnaves AO and Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela, New Breed emerged as a visionary commitment to the future of Australian choreography. What began as a kernel of an idea soon evolved into a vibrant platform for innovation, storytelling, and artistic risk.
With twelve years of sustained support from The Balnaves Foundation, New Breed has become a cornerstone of Australian contemporary dance. As the program reaches its final iteration, the legacy stands tall: 49 commissioned works, 47 remarkable choreographers, and an unshakeable imprint on the cultural fabric of the nation.
Sydney Dance Company remains dedicated to expanding this legacy, continuing its investment in independent practice and offering pathways for the next generation of movement-makers.
rom 3–13 December 2025, Sydney Dance Company returns to Carriageworks with four world premieres that encapsulate the spirit of experimentation that has defined New Breed.
Emma Fishwick — marathon, o marathon
Emma Fishwick’s new work navigates cycles of persistence, collapse and renewal. Through an almost mythic lens, the choreography considers the resilience required to keep moving when there is no cavalry on the horizon. Blurring fact and fiction, Fishwick asks: can the act of dancing itself ignite hope?
Ngaere Jenkins — From the horizon thereafter
In her choreographic debut, Aotearoa-born Sydney Dance Company dancer Ngaere Jenkins offers an evocative ode to whenua — the land of her ancestors. Her work reflects on mist-covered horizons, fern-lined coastlines, and the deep quiet of memory, inviting audiences into a world shaped by listening, holding and yielding.
Harrison Ritchie-Jones — Pigeon Humongous
Following the success of his award-winning CUDDLE (INDance 2024), Harrison Ritchie-Jones returns with a dystopian vision where humanity collapses and punk pigeon people rise in its place. In this post-apocalyptic world devoid of language, movement becomes the only means of survival.
Ryan Pearson — Save Point
Dancer and 2020 Australian Dance Awards nominee Ryan Pearson revisits the video-game worlds of his childhood. Save Point moves between nostalgia and invention, weaving combat choreography, character embodiment and imaginative landscapes into a deeply personal exploration of play and memory.
Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela reflects on the powerful legacy of New Breed:
“New Breed has been an anchor of Sydney Dance Company’s vision to nurture and platform the voices of emerging choreographers… While 2025 marks the final season, it is not an ending but an interval.”
Carriageworks CEO Fergus Linehan acknowledges its national impact:
“Its legacy will continue to ripple across the Australian dance landscape for decades to come.”
Victoria Balnaves of The Balnaves Foundation celebrates an extraordinary partnership:
“We never imagined the powerful and lasting impact it would have… As the curtain closes on this chapter, we are excited to continue our partnership through the Artist in Residence program.”
As this final season closes an important chapter, New Breed’s impact will continue to shape dancers, choreographers and audiences for years to come. Its influence is embedded in the works on stage, the artists it has uplifted, and the futures it has helped to forge.
New Breed
3 – 13 December 2025
Carriageworks, 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh, Sydney
Bookings: https://www.sydneydancecompany.com/performance/new-breed-2025
