Seedbed

Tuesday 28 April 2026, 6-8pm

Laura will facilitate a discussion around Stopgap’s inclusive approach and ethos.  This will include what we can learn from the social model of disability when planning our dance sessions, and how we can be aware of and work towards removing the many different barriers people can face when learning to dance.

Wednesday 29 April 2026, 6-8pm

Community Engagement Artist Cherie Brennan and Resident Choreographer Christopher Pavia will co-lead this informative, practical and creative session with support from Access worker Annabell Duft. 

Guiding you through an example workshop they will draw on Chris’ lived experience of learning to dance with Down’s Syndrome, Cherie’s extensive teaching experience and Annabell’s insights from supporting youth companies.  They will also share top tips for teaching dancers with a learning disability.

Tuesday 5 May 2026, 6-8pm

Join Holly Thomas and Freya Spencer in a session about teaching practice that facilitates the inclusion of dancers with visual impairments. We will cover basic etiquette and guiding techniques before homing in on some useful practices and measures that are dance specific. This will include teaching with set material, improvised work, and the use of somatic approaches and props.

Tuesday 12 May 2026, 6-8pm

Laura will be joined by dancer, educator and choreographer, Suzie Birchwood and together they will talk through the variety of different movement aids and how best to support those using them. They will also share their own knowledge and experiences of working with crutches and other movement tools.

Tuesday 19 May 2026, 6-8pm

Laura Jones will share her lived experience as both a non-disabled dancer and as a wheelchair dancer. Laura will share how she learnt to translate traditional dance steps into relevant wheelchair dance movement. She will also give guidance to how teachers can best support and develop dancers who have a different physical language to them, through using the inclusive dance tool of ‘Translation’.

Tuesday 2 June 2026, 6-8pm

Nicky Norton shares her experiences of working with young people who have profound and multiple learning Disabilities. The session will explore the power and joy of sensory, responsive dance teaching and will involve working with sensory props.

Tuesday 9 June 2026, 6-8pm

Inclusive Dance expert Laura Jones introduces why and how we use open language when teaching a group of dancers with diverse bodies and minds.  Laura will also introduce you to Stopgap’s inclusive dance syllabus for young people, IRIS; what it is, how it began and how you can get involved. Find out more about IRIS here

Tuesday 16 June 2026, 6-8pm

Sara is a deaf dancer who grew up surrounded by traditional music and dance. Sara specialises in performing and delivering, Appalachian clogging, body percussion, morris, maypole and ceilidh dance. She is also a Dance Movement Psychotherapist.

The session will be an opportunity to explore deafness through Sara’s lived experience as a hearing device user and non-signer and to consider ways of teaching and developing dance activities and practices that open up greater opportunities for deaf people to access dance.

Wednesday 17 June 2026, 6-8pm

Anna Seymour shares her lived experience as a Deaf dance artist. Anna will introduce the concept of Deaf Gain and how that can be embraced by everyone (whether you are Deaf or not) in dancing, collaborating and performing. This session will include movement tasks and a facilitated conversation. Anna is a profoundly Deaf person who primarily communicates in sign language. This session will be delivered in BSL with a BSL/spoken English interpreter.  

Tuesday 23 June 2026, 6-8pm

In this session, Lily, an autistic artist and dancer, and Kajsa, a neurodivergent, dyspraxic dancer and teacher share their lived experience to offer an insightful introduction to neurodiversity. 

The session will highlight the unique strengths, creativity, and perspectives that neurodivergent people bring to the dance world, while also exploring the ways in which we can better support diverse learning styles and needs. This session encourages a shift towards greater awareness, acceptance, and celebration of neurodivergence, inviting participants to embrace the rich diversity of minds and bodies in dance.

Tuesday 30 June 2026, 6-8pm

In this penultimate Inclusive Approach session, Laura will share one of the hardest skills we as inclusive teachers face – balancing the needs of a group of diverse dancers. This will be a chance to reflect on all the sessions so far and learn from the 25 years teaching experience of the Stopgap team.

Tuesday 7 July 2026, 6-8pm

This session will focus on identifying what ‘hard to reach’ means and will explore a dialogue around what approaches can be used to help hard to reach young people feel safe in a learning environment.

Tuesday 14 July 2026, 6-8pm

In the final Seedbed session, specifically for those who have completed the full course, Laura will reflect on all that has been learnt from both Stopgap and external teachers. This will also be a session to network with others, sharing ideas and thoughts.