Kate Stanforth AcademyOfDance

🪩 March News 🪩 Unfortunately, it's been nearly a month of being stuck in bed for me after having a relapse. For many of our dance community, this is their daily life, so it's made me even more aware of the importance of having accessible activities, and most importantly, a supportive community in times like this. This dance academy has grown to be a space where people can attend from beds and dance studios all over the world - it's something I'm proud of and determined to keep growing. Here's what we've been up to, with the team being incredible carrying on in my absence for a lot of it! We're running classes in April as usual, with our booking for The Royal Ballet School classes opening April 1st for our early sign-ups. As always, a big thanks to our sponsors @alliedmobility - if you see them at @naidex_show go say hello! (I'm sure some of our dancers will be there too!) Photos include: - @worldofaness enjoying @royalballetschool Lets Dance - Photos by @shonalouise_photography from our sessions at The Royal Ballet School - @loopwheels PR wheels #DisabledDancer #Dance #InclusiveDance #WheelchairDance #ChronicIllness

MARCH NEWS Join us for dance both on and offline! @royalballetschool @moveitshow @naidex_show #DisabledDancer #InclusiveDance #Community #Disabled #ChronicIllness

🩰 Accessible Ballet 🩰 This World Ballet Day is all about access and we are beyond excited to celebrate our new partnership with The Royal Ballet School! The Royal Ballet School and Kate Stanforth Academy of Arts will be hosting termly in-person and livestreamed accessible ballet sessions for dancers of all abilities from Covent Garden. This partnership represents a shared commitment to broadening access to ballet and championing inclusivity within dance education. The sessions will offer dancers of all abilities the opportunity to experience world-class ballet training in a supportive and accessible environment. Our next session is 7th June 2026 and you can join our waiting list for priority booking now (booking isn’t live yet) via our website - link is in my bio () This is the announcement of dreams and we really couldn’t have done it without our dance community! A special shout out goes to: - @therachaelhunt for being a driving force behind this collaboration - @iainmackaycoach for all his support - @royalballetschool for giving our dancers the best opportunities - @izzyswheelieworld for being a partner and key part of this project - @shonalouise_photography for all the incredible photos - @kaasam_aziz for capturing all these beautiful moments on film - @alliedmobility for their constant support and sponsorship with our dance academy - @moving_art_management for helping us organise all of this - @lily_hawes_ for helping demonstrate And of course, all the dancers who attend! We couldn’t do this without you and can’t wait to see what the future brings! WE did this! This was because YOU want to dance and I’m so proud of you all 🥹 and an extra shout out to all the carers/support workers who help get us there! (Video description in comments) #WorldBalletDay #WorldBalletDay2025 #TheRoyalBalletSchool #InclusiveDance #AccessibleDance #AccessAllArts #WheelchairDancer #DisabledDancer #Ballet #London

🩰 Access Ballet Collective 🩰 Our first announcement for World Ballet Day! @stopgapdance have just launched ABC (Access Ballet Collective) and we are thrilled to have been asked to join both as a dance organisation and as a professional dancer 🩰 This newly formed group are collaborating to explore how we can make ballet more accessible and equitable. Our shared commitment to this network will allow us to delve into our experiences and challenges, supporting each other to implement change. Commencing in 2026, the Access Ballet Collective will aim to: - Forge connections, sharing our best practice in accessible engagement and performance work - Engage in dialogue, asking the important questions and supporting each other with how to progress further - Facilitate a safe and open space, to share our lived experiences, centring the voices and needs of Disabled people in ballet Now, you’ll probably know how much I absolutely adore @stopgapdance so I cannot WAIT to be involved in this one and to be alongside some organisations in this collective is a huge privilege! We’ve been working really hard with @royalballetschool on inclusive ballet recently (more to come later today 🤫) so I have to shout out to them, all the lovely organisations I’ve worked with recently (some are in this collective!) and of course my staff/dancers who are really the ones who are PUSHING change! We will involve you and your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed! Wow, what a world ballet day!!! Organisations: @stopgapdance @balletcymru @bbodance @bhamroyalballet @englishnationalballet jpmproductions @nationalyouthballet_ofgb @northernballet @northerncontemporary @rambertschool Image description in comments #Access #InclusiveDance #WheelchairBallerina #DisabledDancer #Ballet #Disabled #BabeWithAMobilityAid #WheelchairDancer #Arts #InclusiveArts #AccessBecomesArt #WorldBalletDay #WorldBalletDay2025

✨ We’re delighted to collaborate with Kate Stanforth Academy of Arts CIC, an award-winning inclusive arts organisation, to host termly in-person and livestreamed accessible ballet sessions for dancers of all abilities. ✨ Kate Stanforth has been working with Rachael Hunt, our Artistic Manager of International Intensive Courses and Auditions, to devise engaging, adaptive ballet classes that celebrate every dancer’s individuality and potential. ‘We’re creating a space where every dancer, regardless of ability or health, can experience the beauty of ballet. When our sessions filled within hours, it confirmed what we already knew: the demand for accessible, high-quality dance opportunities is immense.’ - Kate 🔗 Find out more via the link in our bio. 📸 @shonalouise_photography

🩰 Countdown 🩰 Soon we will be back in our studio of dreams! We filled (all 40) of our spaces for World Ballet Day at @royalballetschool in less than 24h! We knew the demand was there for these sessions, but *really* appreciate the support! We have had quite a few messages about opening this experience up to children too and we will keep you updated on this very soon! Now, we are busy preparing... If any brands/etc want to support do drop me a line, we are creating a *gorgeous* little dance community and will be having a social session in the middle of our workshops. See you all soon! Photos: @shonalouise_photography #WorldBalletDay #DisabledBalletDancer #DisabledBallerina #Ballet #InclusiveDance

Back in the dance studio… but this time on wheels! Little me would be so happy about this moment 🥹🩰 I teamed up with the incredible @katestanforth who is a professional dancer and also has an award-winning inclusive dance academy @katestanforthdance . Kate taught me some ballet (something I haven’t done since I was a child!). It might look a little different now, but the joy of dance is exactly the same. Huge thank you to Kate for being such a brilliant teacher and to @dance_city_newcastle for giving us their beautiful studio space in kind 💖 Kate even choreographed a special routine for us!! Want to see it? Comment below if you’d love to see our ballet dance together! Because wheels do belong on the dancefloor ✨🪩 #GetMeOnStrictly #StrictlyComeDancing #WheelchairDance #Strictly #DisabilityRepresentation @bbcstrictly 🩰 video description: Video of Amy, a manual wheelchair user inside a bright dance studio, learning ballet movements with professional dancer and teacher Kate Stanforth, who is also a manual wheelchair user. They laugh, practice arm and upper body positions at the barre and in the centre, and move gracefully across the floor. The atmosphere is warm, fun, and empowering, showing that dance can include everyone- with or without wheels.

🪩 Strictly Inclusion - Fay 🪩 So excited to share inclusive dance content through strictly season and here’s my first!! Every week, @dancingwithm.e goes above and beyond to adapt our @bbcstrictly sessions so everyone can take part. We have people taking part all around the world, with different abilities and all united by dance. Fay, not enough words can describe your commitment to dance and to the academy. Here’s a little something I wrote for her nomination recently… If you’re looking at the impact Fay has made; from her outreach in teaching worldwide weekly sessions, hosting social sessions to support disabled members to assisting with choreography for mainstream tv... We are talking an audience of well over 3 million. Millions of moves, all from one bed / living room. WE LOVE YOU FAY 🪩 #StrictlyWithFay #InclusiveDancing #DanceForAll #StrictlyComeDancing #DisabledDancer #ChronicIllness

🩰 More ballet joy 🩰 @izzyswheelieworld and I were kindly invited as representatives of @katestanforthdance invited to @royalballetschool summer performance at @operahollandpark 🩰 We were lucky enough to meet some of the team there, including the CEO Patrick Harrison. Thank you so much to the fabulous team for having us, especially @therachaelhunt , Bethany and Dorothy. Being included in spaces like this means so much to us 💓 As always, a reminder this is a highlights reel and this event actually happened a little while ago - I’m just recovering! I just want to save it on the ‘gram as it was so special! More moments like this to come in my life please, I’m loving the ballet progress 🩰 #TheRoyalBalletSchool #DisabledDancer #ChronicIllness #Dance #London #WheelchairDancer

🦢 @royalballetschool 🦢 A few selected pictures from when we transformed 40 disabled dancers into a corps de ballet for the day with the help of @royalballetschool 🩰 Just to share one of the many quotes from our dancers: "Words can't describe how healing this session was. It awakened the dancer in me that got lost when I became disabled. I never thought I'd have the opportunity to do this again and I'm eternally grateful" We have worked so incredibly hard as a team to get to this place and I cannot thank *all* staff members, and dancers, of @katestanforthdance for their constant advocacy in the dance sector which gets us opportunities like this. A special thank you of course goes to @royalballetschool for providing us with this unbelievable opportunity with the biggest love to @therachaelhunt who has already given so much to support us. To @shonalouise_photography for capturing the emotion of the day through her camera beautifully, to @m.k.moves for their streaming support and a big thank you to @izzyswheelieworld for helping me so much for everything from demonstrating to getting through the door! Finally, a special thank you to @alliedmobility who are our 2025 sponsors, who enable us to continue our work and grow our community of dancers whilst providing opportunities/classes like this - all of which are majorly discounted or free. We cannot wait to see what the future holds and would love to share it with more people/organisations/companies ❤️ Well done team! #DisabledDancer #ChronicIllness #Ballet #RoyalBalletSchool #BabeWithaMobilityAid #DisabilityPrideMonth

🩰 The Royal Ballet School 🩰 On the 8th June, we had 40 disabled students (yes, 40…) dance at @royalballetschool . As you probably know, ballet is my passion and to be given the opportunity to have this collaboration was something I never even dreamed of happening. Half of our students took part in person at The Royal Ballet School in London and the other half we streamed live online to reach students all over the world. We made sure the classes were accessible, inclusive and free for all our participants. For some, it was the first time they were back in a studio after becoming a wheelchair user so it was important to all of us that we made it an experience they want’d to (and could do) again. It was the most magical day and I can’t tell you how good it feels to be back at the barre. Watching the dancers shine (and I really can’t stress how many talented people we have) was an absolute privilege and I’m excited to continue our mission of bringing more professional opportunities to up-skill, and include, our disabled dance community. Here’s some footage from the day; Give us a studio, and we’ll give you a performance. The *biggest* thank you to Rachael Hunt from The Royal Ballet School. Without her support we wouldn’t have these sessions and she lead all three sessions that day! To The Royal Ballet School - staff and volunteers, for believing in us and helping us. To @izzyswheelieworld , who helped us get this opportunity and stepped in to help demonstrate to help manage my health needs. To @m.k.moves team, for support with our streaming. To @alliedmobility , who we used some funding from last years pot to support the live streaming and expenses of this session. And finally, to our dancers who have been incredible and have made me so proud. *Music for personal use only* #DisabledDancer #WheelchairDancer #SwanLake #Ballet #BalletDanceGroup #TheRoyalBalletSchool

🔔 The Midnight Bell 🔔 We were *incredibly lucky* to collaborate with our friends at @mbnewadventures for a The Midnight Bell workshop in York this week! We had New Adventures Artists @glenngrahamdance and @kempdaisymay lead a hybrid session (both in-person and online!) so dancers could join in from all around the world. We had dancers join in locally from York and as far away as the Netherlands and Canada! We had 25 people join in, with sessions full online - so it was a huge hit! We were lucky enough to learn some repertoire from the show as well as be guided through a series of creative tasks to create our own 'The Midnight Bell' inspired movement section. A huge thanks to York and North Yorkshire Micro Funding for giving us the funding to be able to facilitate this (I believe this is our first academy funding ever which isn't a company sponsor so big wins!). To @yorkdancespace for kindly allowing us to use their space and to Hannah (and Drew) for sorting this for us. To Matthew Bournes New Adventures for being so accessible and squeezing us in to their touring schedule. To Glenn and Daisy for the most magnificent workshop. To Leah and Kerry for always facilitating my dreams of getting more of our dancers to have amazing experiences. And of course, our dancers ❤️ #InclusiveDance #TheMidnightBell #MatthewBourne #NewAdventures #York #DisabledDancer #WheelchairDancer