On a black background, round-edged squares in varying sizes display icons and images in a collage. Arranged around the image in a neat grid, there are four photos of dance artists from the UK and from Italy. The photos sit alongside smaller graphic icons showing the maps of Italy and the UK, outlines of disabled people and dancers, and a megaphone, these graphics are coloured white, bright blue or black.

On a black background, round-edged squares in varying sizes display icons and images in a collage. Arranged around the image in a neat grid, there are four photos of dance artists from the UK and from Italy. The photos sit alongside smaller graphic icons showing the maps of Italy and the UK, outlines of disabled people and dancers, and a megaphone, these graphics are coloured white, bright blue or black.

Share and learn together about best practice in international dance and disability

Join us for a series of webinars and artist residencies to open up dialogue about dance and disability between artists, producers and venues based in England and Italy.

Curated by Stopgap Dance Company and commissioned by Arts Council England, the Italian Ministry of Culture (The Performing Arts department), the Italian Cultural Institute of London and the British Council, the ‘Open Dialogo’ series promotes a bilateral cultural exchange through sharing of knowledge and experiences between disabled and non-disabled artists and influencers working in England and Italy.

The webinars will introduce dance and disability in the English and Italian scenes, and deepen understanding of accessibility issues whilst exploring how dance as a sector can become more inclusive of disabled people as artists, leaders, and audiences. 

Accessed via Zoom, the webinars will be delivered with English and Italian simultaneous interpretation, English and Italian captioning, and BSL and Italian Sign Language. 

The webinars will be followed by a series of in-person residencies taking place in England and Italy in the Autumn. More information about these residencies can be found at the bottom of this page.

The themes for the residencies will centre around the points of conversation in the webinar, so individuals and organisations interested in being a part of the residencies will need to have participated in the webinar series.

Join the discussion...

To learn more about accessing these sessions via Zoom and information about accessibility for these events, please follow the links below.

Open Dialogo: Artist Residencies

These in-person residencies follow on from the webinar series to enable Italian and English dance practitioners, producers and venues to explore disability and inclusion further and deepen their understanding through cross-cultural collaboration.

We are hereby inviting applications for the artist residencies from individuals, companies and organisations. There are a total of four commissions to be assigned with two awards going to each country.

White text on black, the title reads 'Open Dialogo', and the two 'o' letters of the second word form speech bubbles. Below a subtitle reads 'A bilateral cultural exchange project for dance and disability in Italy and England. Below that are five logos: Stopgap Dance Company, Arts Council England, Italian Ministry of Culture, Italian Cultural Institute of London and the British Council.

White text on black, a title reads 'Open Dialogo', and the two 'o' letters of the second word form speech bubbles. Below a subtitle reads 'A bilateral cultural exchange project for dance and disability in Italy and England'. Below that are five logos: Stopgap Dance Company, Arts Council England, Italian Ministry of Culture, Italian Cultural Institute of London and the British Council.