Barriers to Progression & Employment in Dance for Disabled People
Headline findings shared

• People Dancing with Candoco Dance Company, Corali, Stopgap Dance Company and TIN Arts have today shared the headline findings from their new research.
• The research - Barriers to Progression & Employment in Dance for Disabled People – aims to shed light on the lack of representation and leadership opportunities for disabled people in the dance sector.
• The headline findings are available here: http://www.beyondbarriersindance.info/

The headline findings for the Arts Council England funded research Barriers to Progression & Employment in Dance for Disabled People have today been shared via a FREE webinar.

The findings are as a result of leading dance organisations – Candoco Dance Company, Corali, People Dancing, Stopgap Dance Company and TIN Arts – forming a collaborative working group to address the lack of representation and leadership opportunities for D/deaf, disabled, neurodivergent, blind and visually impaired, learning-disabled, and chronically ill individuals within the dance sector.

The research was undertaken by a disabled led independent research team including Dr Imogen Aujla, Dr Louisa Petts and Dr Kate Marsh who presented the findings alongside contributions from Arts Council England’s Cate Canniffe (Director, Dance and London) and Abid Hussain (Director, Diversity) and members of The Working Group. 

Disabled dance artists, leaders, and students were invited to be interviewed about their experiences of training and working in dance. Disabled and non-disabled people who worked for National Portfolio Organisations and disabled-led companies were also invited to take part.

Following data analysis, participants’ experiences were synthesised into the 7Cs: competition, chance, cost, community, care, confidence and culture. Each C encompasses specific barriers to progression and employment, as well as mitigating factors.

• Competition

Funding and opportunities are so scarce in dance that small and large organisations, and disabled and non-disabled dancers, are in unfair competition with each other. Inaccessible auditions can create further barriers for emerging dance artists. There is a hierarchy of disability, whereby dance artists and leaders with learning disabilities often face more barriers.

• Chance

Disabled dance artists’ career development is affected by chance meetings with champions and mentors. Whilst these relationships are crucial, supportive and inspiring, dance artists and leaders without mentors and champions struggle to find clear pathways into the sector. Geographical location also dictates training and development; most opportunity is found in London and the South of England.  These factors are outside of the individual artists’ control but often dictate career pathways.

• Cost

Disabled dance professionals experience health, time, financial and emotional costs during their careers.  Disabled dance leaders  are at particular risk of burnout. The dance industry does not understand the ways in which some disabled people experience time, rarely factoring in rest and recovery time, processing time, travel time, and time for medical appointments into project timelines. There are emotional costs for disabled people when they must keep telling employers and colleagues about their access needs.

• Community

Communities are created by disabled dance artists and leaders for support and solidarity. There is true power in partnerships when organisations embed themselves in local communities and collaborate with local disabled artists. However, infrastructure that supports disabled dance artists to progress out of disability-specific and/or local organisations is lacking.

• Care

Care is demonstrated when organisations are creatively forward-thinking, honest, flexible, kind and willing to listen, learn and reflect. However, many organisations have a poor understanding of access which leaves disabled dance professionals feeling undervalued.

• Confidence

Disabled dance artists and leaders do not always feel confident in articulating their needs. Artists hide their disabilities to secure work or feel they are hired so an organisation can ‘tick a box’. Some organisations hesitate to provide accessible dance opportunities in fear of appearing tokenistic or making mistakes.

• Culture

Dance operates within ableist working practices and structures which do not support disabled dance artists’ needs. Representation is often poor, particularly for individuals with intersectional identities, and can be limited to community and engagement work.

Researchers Imogen Aujla, Louisa Petts and Kate Marsh summarised: “This research has uncovered multiple barriers to sustainable careers experienced by for disabled dance artists and leaders. By acting on the findings, the dance sector can collectively commit to action, building a dance culture that removes barriers and values disabled dance artists financially, culturally and artistically.”

Louise Wildish, Consultant and Project Manager for this research said: “This research shares the lived experiences of disabled people working in dance and the truths of those working within organisations. Sharing the findings and committing to shared actions going forward can only lead to better understanding of the needs of disabled people so that individually and collectively we can make impactful, sectoral, and embedded change in our dance ecology.”

Cate Canniffe, Director, Dance said: “We are pleased to have funded this research as it provides valuable information to support organisations with improving the representation of, and opportunities for, disabled people in dance. This report is not just relevant for those already involved in dance and disability, it’s for the whole dance sector, and today’s findings act as a call to action to change our practice so we can help to create an equitable sector for all.”

For more information, please visit: http://www.beyondbarriersindance.info/

A fully accessible version of the Webinar will be shared in the coming weeks. The full research findings and recommendations for change will be published in early June 2025.