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Plea for funding for popular disabled dance school

Evie LakeNorth East and Cumbria
Kate Stanforth Academy of Arts Kate Stanforth has ginger hair tied back in a ballerina bun. She is wearing a blue patterned leotard with pink trousers over the top. She is in a wheelchair stationed to the left of a black ballet bar which her hands in the air in fifth position. She is in profile. There is a person dressed in a black gilet and black trousers on the other side of the bar, but only the lower part of their body can be seen. They are in a large dance studio with a blue floor. There are red chairs in the left back corner and another wheelchair.Kate Stanforth Academy of Arts
Kate Stanforth (pictured) set up her inclusive dance academy in 2020

A disabled-led dance school is struggling to keep running because of hidden costs and a lack of funding.

Kate Stanforth set up the Kate Stanforth Academy of Arts, working with dancers with a wide variety of disabilities and access requirements, during the pandemic, streaming classes online for free.

The 32-year-old, from Northumberland, said the classes were so popular she carried on, with the academy becoming a Community Interest Company (CIC) in 2023.

Most classes have continued online in order to remain accessible for all dancers and maintain equal opportunities.: "I know how devastating it feels to lose something you love because the world isn't built to include you," said Stanforth.

Stanforth began ballet classes at the age of two, but was left disabled at14 and believed her dancing days were over.

Eventually, she found her way back into the dance studio and discovered "dance didn't have to look the way I'd always been taught".

Now an ambulatory wheelchair-user, she has spent more than 15 years developing and refining her own adaptive dance practice.

Kate Stanforth Academy of Arts About 10 dancers all in wheelchairs moving around the room. Most of them appear blurry and they are mostly dressed in black moving in a clockwise direction. Kate Stanforth is in the middle of the circle in a blue leotard. She is facing the right and is gesticulating with her right hand. There is a woman leaning against the wooden wall at the back of the room dressed in all black.Kate Stanforth Academy of Arts
Kate Stanforth said she wanted to deliver more in-person classes, but costs were prohibitive

"When I became disabled, I went from being a dancer with professional ambitions to feeling like there was no longer a place for me," Stanforth said.

"It wasn't because I'd lost my passion, creativity or ability to perform, but because the opportunities weren't accessible."

The dancer, who is also a resident dance artist at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, said her main goal was to make sure disabled people were taken seriously as dancers.

So far, she has supported more than 500 dancers and worked with organisations including the The Royal Ballet School, receiving national recognition for her work on accessibility and inclusivity.

Kate Stanforth Academy of Arts A selfie of Kate Stanforth, smiling into the camera. She is in the left bottom corner of the frame and has her hair tied back. Behind her is a laptop on a table, with a larger screen behind it showing an online class. There are grids with different people in the frames looking forward. There is a red curtain on the right and wires on the floor.Kate Stanforth Academy of Arts
Stanforth said her classes have helped people 'find joy in movement'

Stanforth said she had deliberately kept her dance classes discounted because she was mindful of the financial struggles faced by many disabled people, but, as a CIC, funding had become a significant struggle.

She said she wanted to expand in-person opportunities, but accessible venues and the subsequent fees for travel and equipment are "incredibly expensive".

Currently, she is trying to raise £20,000 to allow her to keep the academy running.

"We're not struggling because there isn't a need for what we do," Stanforth said.

"We're struggling because making dance genuinely accessible costs money, and those costs aren't always recognised."

While she is thrilled some of her dancers have moved onto professional opportunities, Stanforth said the classes were about more than that.

"We've also seen people find joy in movement again after believing that part of their life was over," she said.

"I don't want another generation of disabled dancers growing up believing their ambitions are unrealistic."

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