Inclusive SEND Dance Workshops (8-25)

Our dance workshops are taught with an emphasis on the ability of each individual. Participants are encouraged to share their creative ideas working together as a supportive group encouraging; self-awareness, cooperation, confidence and communication skills.

We have a team of trained dance teachers with an inclusive dance specialism, who deliver our workshops and we also have several dance artists with learning disabilities who work for us to team teach/support classes where possible. Three of our dance teachers will be leading these workshops with a dance artist supporting.

In terms of content, we deliver sessions which are participant led, guided by our team. All ideas come from the young people we work with so that they feel ownership in the session. It’s very much a person centred approach. We sometimes use a theme as a way of accessing dance and sometimes we just dance for fun!

We will work on dance ideas from 10am-12pm and 1pm-3pm each day with a sociable lunch break between. If the length of the day is a barrier, please feel free to book and just attend half days (but please let us know so that we have an awareness of numbers). If you look at our photo gallery, you will see an example of a schedule. We will have a sharing of our dance for friends and family at 2.40pm on the final day.

When you book, you will receive a social story to support your young person.

You are welcome to drop participants for the duration of the workshop/day if you feel they will cope with this. We also welcome you to stay in the room with us, or to stay and then gradually remove yourself...whatever your young person needs. We can work together to make it the right fit.

We ask that if your young person requires individual support, that you/their support staff attend and join in too, as we do not have the capacity to provide one to one support. We also cannot provide any personal care or administer any medication. We ask that you carefully consider whether your young person will cope with the length of the session/ day day and whether they need someone to stay with them. Please note that if your young person is attending without support, but we feel they need it, we will tell you, and this will need to be put in place. Please also note that if the behaviour of your young person escalates to a level where we feel they may cause harm to themselves or others, we will ask you to take them home and try to attend again the next day/ another time. We hope that you appreciate these measures need to be in place to ensure the best possible experience for everyone attending.

When applying, please provide us with as much information about your young person's needs as possible so that we can do our best to support them.

"She has come home everyday looking taller and more grown up. Excited to get up in the morning and come. I have been blown away by seeing the performance. I'm just so proud seeing all the dancers and to see my daughter lead and dance a long routine so well. Just amazing." - Parent of Participant

Our trained associate artists are specialists in their field and have decades of experience between them. They are used to meeting a range of needs including neurodiversity, learning disabilities and physical disabilities. We have been running weekly youth and adult dance classes for several years and have been recognised for these across many local and national awards, newspapers, organisations and funding bodies.

You may be worried about whether your young person will join in. Don’t worry! We’re used to finding ways of engaging the young people we work with that suit them and ensuring they feel welcome and valued in the space. All the dance ideas we use come from them and are celebrated!

Still not sure? Want it try it out? Join us for our weekly classes for free on Thursday evenings in Brighton. Send us an email to book.

We are here to help and support our participants to get the most out of the sessions, so if you have any questions or queries, please don't hesitate to ask! Just email us at info@parabledance.co.uk

The Dance Space is a secure building, always staffed with a very friendly reception team. We have exclusive use of the workshop space on the first floor which is accessible by lift or stairs. The first floor will only be used by Parable Dance and limited members of the dance community. There are multiple barriers that prevent participants from leaving the studio, the first floor and the building as a whole without assistance. There are accessible toilets next to the workshop space. Risk assessments are carried out by Parable Dance and Personal Evacuation Plans are carried out by South East Dance if applicable.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding safety and accessibility, email us at info@parabledance.co.uk or visit the link below:

https://southeastdance.org.uk/the-dance-space/your-visit/access/