Inclusive Dance Schools/ Studios/ Communities

Accessible Environments

The venue where your dance classes are held can determine early on whether potential students are able to access your classes. As well as ensuring students can enter your building safely and easily, remember to consider access within the school itself. For example:

• Have a quiet space available for students to use when they need a rest or feel overwhelmed.
• Ensure spaces are uncluttered. This is especially important for students who are blind or have low vision.
• Ensure all facilities are physically accessible, including toilets and change rooms.

Whilst some infrastructural challenges may be out of your control, try to think creatively about ways you can improve the accessibility of your spaces.

Helping students find the right ‘fit’

“We were looking for somewhere where she could go and learn to dance and it’d be kind of you know, serious about dancing but relaxed and enjoyable and there just isn’t anything like that here.” – Parent of a child with disability

It is important for children to find a dance school that has the right level of flexibility, fun and challenge for their unique needs. Sometimes, people fall into the trap of having low expectations of children with disability and not providing enough challenge and focus on skill/technique development. Other times, there may be too much focus on competition and perfection. Both of these can prevent children with disability from joining a dance class and remaining enrolled.

Dance schools/teachers can be aware of this and ensure they are flexible but still focused on developing the skills of all children by providing tailored approaches.

Supporting Communication

Communicating with the Community

Be clear and honest about what your school can—and cannot—offer in terms of accessibility. For example, stating wheelchair access (or lack of it) on your website saves families time and effort.

Share specific strategies for supporting all students. Avoid vague phrases like “everyone welcome” without details. Including accessibility and inclusion in school policies shows your commitment at a systemic and cultural level.

Supporting Family Communication

Collaborate with students and families—they know best about needs, interests, and communication preferences. Encourage family involvement in building an inclusive school culture.

Remember that every student is unique. Avoid assumptions, listen to students, and trust the students about their own experiences.

AllPlay ‘About Me’ Form

The AllPlay About Me form is designed to support communication between you and your students about their individual access needs and personal preferences. Find out more about the form here.

Dance School Policies

Formal policies help ensure and monitor your school’s commitment to access and inclusion. When written, enacted, and regularly reviewed, they reassure families and students of your genuine dedication. Consider making your inclusion policy publicly available on your website or social media.

Your policy could include:

• Disability cultural competency/responsiveness training for staff.
• Equal access and representation in leadership, teaching and committee roles.
• Physical environment adjustments for accessibility.
• Flexible class structures, schedules, and content.
• Paid time for teachers to communicate with students and families about access needs.
• Clear behaviour and respect guidelines for staff and students.
• Flexible approaches to regulations, such as codes of dress, class structures and content.
• Processes for students with disability to have a say in what access and inclusion looks like at your school.
• Scaled fees and flexible cancellation/refund policies to support attendance (see more here).
• Scheduling options to suit energy levels and transition needs (for example, some students may need to attend later classes to allow transition time after school, some may prefer weekend classes, and some may benefit from attending only part of a class).
• Buddy programs (learn more here).

The Importance of Representation

Creating more opportunities for people with disability helps to encourage and empower young people with disability.

Caroline Bowditch, in her leadership role as former CEO of Arts Access Victoria, says:

Because I am a visibly and very proud disabled person. People can’t talk about the disability community or disabled artists as [an] anthropological group that needs to be served because I’m sitting in front of them.

Representation in Staff and Leadership

Having staff and leaders with lived experience of disability helps remove barriers and supports ongoing participation. Representation (including intersectional representation, where identities like disability, race, and gender intersect) drives meaningful, disability-led cultural and policy change.

Representation fosters trust and belonging, and challenges perceptions of “who can dance.” When students see themselves reflected, they see what’s possible.

Questions to consider:

• What access barriers exist for teachers and leaders? How can we remove them?
• What are disability-led organisations and teachers/artists with disability saying about improving access?
• What systems or structures need change?
• What biases do we hold about “who can teach dance”—and how can we challenge them?

For more information on how to recruit staff with disability, visit training at Arts Access Victoria, ‘Recruiting and retaining Deaf and Disabled Staff’.

Promoting Positive Representation Online

Showing diversity in your online presence can help students feel welcome by seeing that access and inclusion are celebrated.

Tips for authentic representation:

• Collaborate with those who are represented to ensure representation is thoughtful, respectful and accurate.
• Feature people with disability across all channels, not just in disability-specific content.
• Navigate representation thoughtfully to avoid tokenism. Ensure the story you tell accurately reflects the access and inclusion of your school.
• Share stories, work, and events from artists and teachers with lived experience.
• Celebrate Disability Pride Month and join community events.

Creating an inclusive school culture is the foundation for true access, and is supported by everyone in the community being involved! Here’s how you and your dance school can lead the way:

Model Respectful Language

Language shapes attitudes and actions. Use words that value all learners and dancers.

Guidelines for Referring to Students with Disability:

• Always use the student’s name first.
• If mentioning disability, use their preferred language (see About Me form).
• Some prefer person-first: “Laura has a disability.” Others prefer identity-first: “Laura is a disabled person.”
• Only use labels when shared by the student.
• Preferences can change over time—check in regularly.

Talking About Disability:

Language preferences are unique. The preferred terms of one person may differ from the preferred terms of another. While not everyone will feel the same way, some things to keep in mind are:

• Avoid framing disability as “wrong” or “to be fixed.” Use non-disabled instead of able-bodied.
• Use the person’s preferred terms—avoid vague phrases like special needs or differently abled.
• Some people with disability may be upset by being referred to as ‘inspiring’ for merely living their lives.

Respect autonomy, agency and self-determination

• Students should always be part of conversations that are about them.
• Make discussions accessible and age-appropriate.
• Speak to students first, not just support workers/families.

Build cultural responsiveness

Self-reflection and challenging internal biases

• Undertake ongoing, non-judgemental self-reflection:
  • Reflect on biases and challenge ableist assumptions.
  • Ask: What biases do I hold? How can I change them?
Encourage others to do the same, and have open discussions about reflections and learnings.

Shift expectations and question assumptions

• Question what a ‘successful’ class looks like.
• Offer rigorous pathways for students who wish to develop their skills. Dance with a primary goal of ‘fun’ is valuable, but often the only option given to children with disability.
• Recognise diverse ways students engage and question assumptions on what this ‘should’ look like.
• Discourage stigma and assumptions regarding student behaviour.
• Encourage an understanding of the complexity and diversity of disability and access and support needs.

Foster a culture of access and inclusion amongst students and peers

• Integrate engagement with disabled dance artists and their work into your curriculum.
• Set clear guidelines of respect in your classrooms.
• Avoid ‘othering’ language that creates an ‘us versus them’ attitude.
• Display material that promotes access and inclusion (e.g. Disability Pride flag, inclusion-positive posters, etc).
• Openly celebrate diversity and the exciting possibilities that each individual brings.

How do I use it?

• It can be given to all students, regardless of disability, or access and support needs.
• It can be used as a part of a dance school's enrollment process.
• Be led by students as to the best way to use it. Use it in whatever way is helpful, not an extra burden for them.
• All students have different communication styles. Some may prefer to use the form as a guide for in-person discussions, some may prefer written communication, and some may like a combination of both.
• Give students the opportunity to revisit the form periodically (should they wish to), to enable ongoing and open communication. Let them know that they can change their answers at any time. Remember that processing time will differ from student to student.