Participants
Children and young people aged 7-14 years with a physical disability / learning difficulty.
The project is led by Katy Hewison from Dance Limerick and a team of dance artists.
Aims
DL.BRIDGE aims to impact positively on people’s lives and wellbeing, and to celebrate and strengthen a sense of place and cultural belonging. The aims and values of DL.BRIDGE are supported by Dance Limerick’s Diversity and Inclusion Policy.
We dance to express, learn, increase confidence, be part of a team, have fun and be part of something transformative.
Inclusive Dance Club has the following objectives:
- Support both young people and their families, and dance artists with learning new skills, inspiring one another weekly.
- Enable participants to gain a sense of belonging to a group.
- Provide an opportunity for participants to carry out a dance activity in a non-school environment, making new friends and meeting new roles models that understand and support their needs.
- To increase young people’s self-esteem, confidence and teamwork skills, improving their physical and mental health.
- Enable parents and wider family members to be part of a new community and regular meet up group.
- Offer a supportive training programme for dance artists to deliver and learn together.
- Provide an opportunity for artist collaborators to gain a new set skill from the project, creating long-term benefits for their independent practice and the wider dance community.
- Develop opportunities for inclusive dance in Limerick.
Methods
Our approach is collaborative, using movement explorations, dance improvisation and creative tasks.
Inclusive Dance Club takes place in workshop blocks. Four dance artists, in collaboration with the young people, collaborate to facilitate and lead the class together. Two dancers lead, while two dancers offer further one-on-one support. We are inspired by one another’s ways of moving throughout the session and together we find our next moves and dance grooves and explore creative dance tasks together.
Over time we have created a loose structure which involves an exploratory warm up, a group connection dance (where hands, feet and other parts of the body connect to create lines, circles, and a group formation across the studio), leading into a final dance boogie and quiet gentle stretch. Every time we meet, we hold together a sensitive, supportive, calm yet energetic space to explore dance together.
The project is supported by an advisory group for family members. Their feedback informs and enable future opportunities for the development of Inclusive Dance Club.
Artistic Outputs
- At the end of the term, we invite family and friends to relaxed open sharings to see what we have been working on.
- Being at Bealtaine Festival 2024: An intergenerational partnership project with Age & Opportunity. Inclusive Dance Club collaborated with Dance Limerick’s High Kicks over 50s group on a community, relaxed performance which featured live music by musician Paddy Mulcahy and a community cast. The show was adapted to suit those who might benefit from a more relaxed environment when attending a performance, including people with an Autism Spectrum Condition, sensory and communication disorders, or a learning disability.
- Performance at Dance Limerick’s Christmas Community Showcase in December 2023.
Evaluation Methodology
The project is evaluated at the end of each term with feedback from participants, families, and the team delivering the sessions featured in project reports. We reflect on:
- Aims and next steps for development
- Creating consistent high-quality dance experiences for participants
- One-on-one and group support systems
- Participant reach and regular weekly attendance
- Professional development opportunities for dance artists
- New opportunities for young people taking part e.g. relaxed performance opportunities and sharings for families.
Evaluation Outcomes
We have seen the positive impact on children, wider families and dance artists regularly throughout this project.
Parent reflections
‘An extremely enjoyable experience. Very inclusive and friendly environment.’
‘Great to mix with other peers and social aspect is enjoyable.’
‘We particularly find it beneficial for the children to have something to look forward to.’
‘The social aspect is particularly important for the children. The teachers are fabulous, interacted really well.’
‘Social interaction is so important, thank you.’
Dance artist reflections
‘Ongoing development of professional artistic practice is very important to me and I am hugely grateful for the opportunity to learn from other artists, support them in their own efforts to improve/ develop and continue to sustain myself in the field. On a more personal level, this project has been an eye opener and it continues to give me tools to understand the level of creativity and skill it requires to achieve connections with others and to be able to support my autistic son in a more positive and meaningful way.’
‘It has been a beautiful experience to be a part of, to work with the children and see them grow throughout the sessions, see them develop their creativity and also their confidence. It’s been beautiful thing to watch and a joy to facilitate. If we had more time to work with these children we can really make long lasting positive impact for them. It’s great to have shorter sessions, but as with any person it takes a while to get used to being in a new space with new people and adjust to the classes. With more time I feel like we can help individuals even further, expand and engage, really engage through dancing.’
Documentation and Dissemination
Dance Limerick regularly document this project through feedback surveys, photo, and video footage, shared with project partners and parents/guardians.
Partners
Inclusive Dance Club is a DL.BRIDGE Dance Limerick Project. In 2023/2024 the start up project was funded by Creative Ireland and Limerick City and County Council through the Creative Ireland Made in Limerick Grant.
The Inclusive Dance Club Summer Camps in 2024 were funded by Limerick Sports Partnership and Active Cities Limerick and The Local Creative Youth Partnership (LCYP), Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board.
With thanks to the Inclusive Dance Club dance artist team: Aisling Arthur, Alice Gavigan, Anastasiia Lapko, Angie Smalis, Arianna Guasso, Claire Keating, Colette Condon, Katy Hewison, Lucy Dawson, Molly Kelly and Sophie Hutchinson.
