We’re thrilled to share some big news this month – Stopgap is launching Kaleidoscope, a brand-new course dedicated to creative access in dance and performance!
A standing dancer dives onto the shoulder of a wheelchair dancer, they balance and grip onto the front bars of their partners wheelchair. A caption behind reads: 'Taking off in a lift, it's her feet I notice, knowing exactly where to land before taking off again, diving onto his shoulder, body long like an arrow on a bow.'
Taking place online in January 2026, Kaleidoscope brings together leading Deaf, Disabled, neurodivergent, and non-disabled artists to explore how we can put access at the heart of artistic practice.
This course is for artists, producers, and organisations who want to build access into the fabric of their work, not as an afterthought, but from the very beginning. Across seven online workshops, participants will discover practical tools and examples of how access can drive creative decisions, shape aesthetics, and open new ways of making and sharing performance.
Growing from Lived Fiction
Kaleidoscope emerges directly from the learning and innovation behind our recent touring work, Lived Fiction, which continues to make waves. The production has been nominated for three major awards: a Sky Arts Award, a UK Theatre Award, and a OneDanceUK Award for Artistic Innovation (which it proudly won earlier this year).
Through Lived Fiction, we’ve seen first-hand how access tools like audio description and captioning can evolve into creative languages of their own; transforming how stories are told, seen, and felt. Kaleidoscope is our way of sharing that journey more widely, inviting others to experiment, question, and play with these ideas in their own practice.
Collaboration at the Core
Co-Artistic Director Lucy Bennett and Access Artist Lily Norton lead Kaleidoscope, delivering four sessions that draw on their experiences creating Lived Fiction and exploring how access can drive artistic innovation. They’re thrilled to be joined by a line-up of brilliant guest artists and access innovators for this first edition of the course.
Reuniting with Lived Fiction collaborator Ben Glover, a Deaf video designer and creative captioning wizard, his session explores how captions can transcend translation and become a core part of a performance’s design.
Amelia Lander-Cavallo, a Blind artist, researcher, and co-founder of Quiplash, will guide participants through the art of queer integrated audio description, introducing participants to the fundamentals of audio description and sharing examples of integrated practices.
Then, for a session on Sensory Sensibilities, we’re joined by Tourettehero’s incredible Co-Artistic Director Jess Thom and Dr Will Renel, Head of Research. Together they’ll introduce relaxed performance practice, explore sensory barriers across different performance environments, and share creative accessibility tools such as Visual Stories, Sonic Stories, and Light Maps.
Looking Ahead
Having created work for nearly 30 years, we’re feeling a shift, a growing hunger across the sector for work that doesn’t just include access, but creates through it. Access isn’t only for Disabled people; when it’s embedded creatively, it transforms the experience of dance and performance for everyone.
We made Lived Fiction because we recognised how vital it is for Disabled audiences to witness Disabled artists on stage, to see their experiences reflected, celebrated, and reimagined. But the impact reaches further: creative access invites all audiences to engage differently, to listen, watch, and feel in new ways.
With Kaleidoscope, we’re continuing that journey. The course builds on the foundations of initiatives like Seedbed, our inclusive teacher training programme that has already supported hundreds of dance artists and educators worldwide.
We hope Kaleidoscope will do the same: spark curiosity, grow confidence, and create ripples of change.
