Just over two years ago, the dance world gathered at Sadler's Wells to watch the showcase of the first New Adventures Choreographer Award (NACA) winner, James Cousins: a showcase which quickly led to commissions in Chile and Singapore and which saw his duet 'There We Have Been' staged by dance companies around the world.

 This week sees the showcase of the second NACA winner, John Ross, which will be held on 17 & 18 September at Hackney Empire. Tickets are on sale directly from the theatre: www.hackneyempire.co.uk/3788/shows/new-adventures-choreographer-award-showcase.html

Like Cousins, John Ross trained at London Contemporary Dance School - and the similarities end there. Since graduation, Ross has worked predominantly as a choreographer and movement director, working with Old Vic New Voices, Dance United and Shoreditch Youth Dance Company, as well as creating several of his own works - notably Man Down and Wolfpack, which will be presented at the showcase. As a dancer, Ross has worked with Opera North as well as Tom Dale, whose influence can be seen in Ross's movement language.

John Ross seeks to address challenging topics through his choreography, looking for ways to draw out the maximum impact of his work, not only through movement but also drawing on his original training as an actor to expand on his storytelling abilities. Even when working with young people, Ross seeks topics to engage and stimulate his dancers, shying away from the easy option of creating dance for the sake of it.

A keen photographer, imagery is one of Ross's sources of inspirations, and is reflected in his visually-strong choreography, which has managed to reach and touch people of all backgrounds: his earlier solo Man Down, "based on a true story of a soldier sent to Afghanistan who never came back", was praised by former soldiers and military families for its accuracy and sensitivity, and, well, it's hard not to identify with Wolfpack, whether male or female.

In the three years since graduating, John Ross has faced the challenge of so many promising graduates: how to raise his profile and gain more recognition for his work without being supported by one of the dance agencies or another organisation. While still a student at LCDS, he was a finalist in the 2010 Global Dance Contest (which was won by fellow LCDS alumnus James Wilton), and he was shortlisted for a What's On Stage Award for Best Choreographer for his work with Old Vic New Voices.

Collaboration is an important part of Ross's creative process, and so one benefit of the New Adventures Choreographer Award has been the opportunity for Ross to learn how to establish and run his own company, in addition to the professional mentoring and support offered.

And so the year-long package of support has come to an end, and we get to see what Ross has been working on and how he has grown as a choreographer, as a result of having the resources to create the work he wants with the dancers of his choice.

Wolfpack is back: the work which was originally presented as a sneak preview in last July's Cloud Dance Festival, after only a few rehearsals, following a group of lads on a Saturday night out.

Ross has a long-standing relationship with the Shoreditch Youth Dance Company, directed by his producer Lee Smikle, and Eclipse is a new work created for them, inspired by the Chinese myth that a solar eclipse was in fact caused by a creature eating the sun.

The "big" piece, however - the piece John Ross has been impatiently waiting to create for several years - is his first full-length work, Little Sheep. True to Ross's attraction to challenging and gritty stories, Little Sheep explores the London riots... and he really doesn't want us to know much more than that.

Will John Ross follow in James Cousins's footsteps and spend the next two years flying around the world working on commissions and staging Little Sheep globally? Well, whatever the future holds for him - and it's hopefully very bright and rewarding things - it's important to support him at this showcase which marks "the end of the beginning" for him, and to see these pieces which he has worked so hard to bring to life.

In Matthew Bourne's words, “John Ross is a choreographer with something to say….and he says it with devilish humour, style and emotional punch" - so make sure you get a ticket to see his showcase before it sells out.