A 1957 Maclean's magazine article describes their home as a makeshift studio-workshop where Lawrence and his brother did carpentry, experimented with film and video equipment and discussed the beginnings of a Canadian dance archive.

His television appearances with the National Ballet of Canada included Offenbach in the Underworld, Swan Lake (Erik Bruhn), Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Pineapple Poll, Winter Night (Antony Tudor), and Giselle.

[8] At around the same time Adams returned to the National Ballet of Canada in 1963, he opened an antique shop in Toronto's Mirvish Village with fellow dancer Yves Cousineau.

[5] By the time Adams left his second stint at the National Ballet of Canada in 1969, he had met and married fellow dancer Miriam Weinstein, his life-long partner in many creative projects.

The gallery space connected the Adamses to Toronto's nascent visual arts scene, and that networking impacted their next major projects together: 15 Dancers and 15 Dance Lab.

Their shows at Toronto's Poor Alex Theatre, and on tour to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, pushed the boundaries of contemporary dance in Canada.

Among them were David Earle, Jean-Pierre Perreault, Jennifer Mascall, Marie Chouinard, Anna Blewchamp, Christopher House, Judith Marcuse, Margie Gillis, Peggy Baker, Peter Boneham and Judy Jarvis.

Choreographic works from pioneers such as Gweneth Lloyd (co-founder of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet) and Françoise Sullivan were in danger of being forgotten completely, they believed.

Over a six-week period in 1986, a handful of early dance works, including Shadow on the Prairie by Gweneth Lloyd, Red Ear of Corn by Boris Volkoff, Maria Chapdelaine by Nesta Toumine and Déformité, Moi je suis... by Françoise Sullivan and Jeanne Renaud, were reconstructed, videotaped and notated by a team that included many of the original choreographers and performers.

An ever-expanding archive of photographs, costumes, scrapbooks, souvenir programs, letters, poster and company records, DCD is also Canada's only dedicated publisher focused on dance.

Housed in Miriam and Lawrence Adams’ own home until 2013, DCD commissioned, edited and published both print and electronic newsletters and books, including the Dictionary of Dance: Words, Terms and Phrases (edited by Susan Macpherson 1996), the Dictionary of Classical Ballet Terms - Cecchetti (Rhonda Ryman 1998) and Theatrical Dance in Vancouver, 1880s - 1920s (Kaija Pepper 2000).

By contrast, Lawrence also bound several books by hand for limited editions that include early copies of Maud Allan and Her Art by Felix Cherniavsky.

Instrumental in opening DCD's new research centre and exhibition space in 2013 to showcase highlights from a growing collection, Bowring now continues as Executive and Curatorial Director.