In 2001, William Trevitt and Michael Nunn turned their backs on tradition to create the modern dance company BalletBoyz.

William had begun dancing ballet ten years prior to meeting Michael, at only six-years-old. He says: “A friend of my mother’s had a son who was doing ballet dancing, they were doing a production with a lot of firemen so I was roped in as a fireman. After that my parents said ‘did you enjoy it and would you like to do more?’ I did, I liked performing and being on stage.”

He then joined the Royal Ballet School at the age of 11 and “went through that system”, joining the Royal Ballet as a dancer at 18 and going on to become a principal; with Michael’s career following a similar path with the prestigious ballet company. Both enjoying great success as dancers.

William tells me: “We were able to stand on the sidelines watching our heroes and slowly learning our trade. We toured all over the world and really made the most of the privileged position to develop our other interests in photography and film.”

The pair went on to set up a contemporary dance company, more than a ballet school specifically with variation and fresh ideas built into the curriculum.

I wondered what advice he would give to aspiring dancers in and outside of traditional ballet and William says, without hesitation: “I think it is really important to go and see as much dance as you can. By taking a risk through what you see and trying new styles out, it makes you know more about what appeals to you and how you like to move.”

William and Michael continued dancing for the first ten years of BalletBoyz before deciding to change their path again.

“It got to a point where we wanted to spend more time creating choreography. We took a step back five or six years ago. We were turning 40 about that time.

“Although we both have a lot of experience in our lives on stage, we wanted to see what it was like to have young dancers with fresh ideas and tonnes of energy.”

I wondered what it takes to be a Ballet Boy and he tells me: “Great technique and ability, and thoughtful enough to give us ideas," says William. "They have to have the right look, I don’t know what that looks like but I know it when I see it, maybe it’s charisma.

“What I always like about the company is if you saw these dancers on paper you would never put them together. They are different shapes, sizes, with different experience. There’s something about the group as a whole, it’s extraordinary.”

Their new production, coming to the artsdepot in north Finchley next week, certainly does fit the bill.

The two part piece sees two new commissions by internationally acclaimed choreographers Pontus Lidberg and Javier de Frutos come together to create Life, a powerful and provocative look at life and death.

“Variety has always been important to us and in the past we have wanted the two acts of a double bill to be in complete contrast to one another, but for Life we were looking for more of a connection between the works.

“Javier has had a fascinating career ranging from small scale dance works to huge National Theatre productions and it is a great thrill to get to work with him, whereas Pontus was much less known to us. We had seen his work in some really beautiful dance films and thought that we would have at least have a connection with him on that level.

“Our dancers have proved themselves creative artists in their own right, collaborating on two unexpected and wholly original works, which in a strange way, are mirror images.”

artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, Tally Ho Corner, North Finchley, N12 0GA, Wednesday, May 11, 7.30pm. Details: 020 8369 5454