A Brighton dance group for disabled and neurodiverse dancers, Parable Dance, is due to work alongside the National Youth Ballet (NYB) as part of an inclusive project.
The project, All In, will bring together choreographers Hannah George and Ross Black with young dancers from Parable over four days to create an inclusive performance of Romeo and Juliet.
The project is scheduled to culminate on Friday (1 September) at 3pm with a sharing of the work created during the project at South East Dance, in Circus Street.
The National Youth Ballet hopes to share insights and best practice for inclusive practice with local ballet teachers through continuing professional development (CPD) sessions.
Parable Dance co-founder Natasha Britton said: “We aim to challenge misconceptions about who ballet is for and what the essence of it is, focusing on storytelling and the quality of movement.
“We’re thrilled to share our passion for inclusive ballet with our dancers and the wider ballet community in this exciting collaboration.
“Jo Meredith, the creative director at NYB, shares my passion for inclusion and together we have been developing and leading training sessions for ballet teachers from NYB and the wider community.
“Hannah George and Ross Black took part in three days of training with us to really explore how ballet can be taught in an inclusive way.
“I’m excited to see how they will bring these skills to the studio for our intensive project which brings together young dancers from NYB and Parable Dance.
“Jo and I will be in the space offering further mentoring support to them and to the team of assistant teachers and volunteers.
“This is just the beginning of this exciting collaboration and we have many more strands to this project in the pipeline including performances and professional development sessions for ballet teachers around the UK.”
The National Youth Ballet said: “Disabled and neurodivergent dancers are currently under-served by ballet.
“All In shows our shared commitment to make ballet a more inclusive and accessible dance form, to build a more inclusive talent pipeline and to push the boundaries around the perception of ballet.”
The CPD sessions for local teachers will explore how to adapt ballet vocabulary for different bodies – as well as offering creative tools, tips and techniques for working in an inclusive way.
To buy “pay what you can” tickets for the performance, click here.
To find more information on CPD sessions for local dance teachers, click here.
