This is a two year initiative supported by CSDI/ESF. It is aimed at training young aspiring artists by providing hands-on experience in professional touring, mentoring and enterprising skills.

This year saw two success stories in Johnstone Tita and Kristin Kelly who completed the programme and were prominent on the touring campaign.

During this project we worked with 13 schools from North Tyneside totalling 168 workshop sessions and 228 participants. The project was concluded with a finale performance at the Whitley Bay Playhouse in which each school performed a short piece that had been choreographed by respective company artists and reflected Post Modern African Dance Technique (PMADT). The company also performed in front of a sold out audience.

This was an intensive week of choreographic and music residencies with 5 schools featuring 150 pupils from ACS Cobham International, Cleves School, Ashely Primary School, Hurst Primary School and Oatland Primary School. Company artists were assigned to choreograph short pieces that echoed themes of the current production. These were performed to a full audince followed by the company's performance at Cleves School's Performance Theatre.

One such group consists only of female ex dance professionals and practitioners. Based in Weybridge they are led by Elizabeth Earl of Cleves School.

This year the group was officially named Sakoba Weybridge Sisters and performed with the company at three of our London dates, including our London premiere at the Cochrane Theatre in the West End. There are plans to expand this program to a semi-professional troupe featuring full-length productions.

At the end of our Research & Development program, we organised a showcase event at the ARC in Stockton with the support of Kevin Parker. This featured all of the North East summer residencies' participants and was a resounding success.

This provided another opportunity for the summer residency participants to showcase their work. Students from Gateshead College and Eaglescliffe School performed specially choreographed pieces.

These have become an integral part of our touring program. In the course of the tour we worked with numers schools and colleges in varous regions of the country including Sheffield, Hull, Oxford, Plymouth, Guildofrd, Musselburgh, Kingston and barnet in addition to Stockton, Durham and Newcastle in the North East. We spent an average of two hours per session and the participants were ready to perform a short curtain raiser piece in front of a live theatre audience.

Our World London premiere provided a unique opportunity for some of the residency participants to perform their curtain raiser piece in the West End. This included the Pegasus Theatre Youth Group from Oxford, led by Euton Daley, The Yvonne Arnaud Performing Arts Group led by Tina Williams, Sakoba Weybridge Sisters led by Elizabeth Earl and the Year One Pupils from Rainbow Forge Primary School in Sheffield led by Phil Tingle. It was a truly memorable experience for all involved.

Following the successful launch and reception of PMADT, we developed an accompanying training and teaching guideline which was implemented in a number of projects. This has effectively resulted in consistency in standard and method, as well as providing a common experience for all participants. We intend to expand this policy into a full syllabus for a future school program and are in discussion with Kingston University regarding a syllabus for schools based on PMADT. Some schools have already expressed their interest in adapting our technique for their curriculum.