RADiate summer sharing

At the Royal Academy of Dance, we recently hosted a summer sharing at our headquarters in Wandsworth, London.

The sharing took place in our Aud Jebsen Studio Theatre, with school students showcasing the skills they have learnt on the RADiate programme during the academic year, which enables children with additional learning needs and disabilities to access dance.

Participating schools included:

• TreeHouse School and Pears National Centre for Autism where all pupils have a diagnosis of autism
• Sherwood Park (Wallington) which provides for pupils with profound and multiple learning disabilities and severe learning disabilities
• Sherwood Hill (Carshalton) which provides for pupils with autism and severe learning disabilities and significant social and emotional difficulties that affect their capacity to cope across daily activities.

Commenting on what it felt like to perform at the RAD, a representative from TreeHouse School said: “Thank you all at RAD. My colleagues and pupils have had an awesome time and had only wonderful things to say about the day. Thank you for a wonderful experience for all. This is how we remove barriers to social participation. Well done and have a great weekend!” 

Inspiring

A representative from Sherwood Park School said: “It was inspiring and a little humbling to come visit and see you all on your home turf, as it were. We really felt part of something very, very worthwhile, and it was such a well organised day, so thank you again.” 

Young people performed the following pieces:

• A performance based on the book My Many Coloured Days about colours associated with animals and feelings.
• A performance based on the book Where is the Sun? which is all about the sun’s movement and its function.
• Shake, Swing and Slide which looked at key movements and a chance to celebrate and move all together.

RADiate dance artist Kirsty Purnell led the creation of the works with all three schools. Kirsty was assisted by Zollien Dove at TreeHouse School and Annabell Duft at Sherwood Park and Sherwood Hill, and also joined by lead artist, Laura Heywood and supporting artists, Katie Tongue and Nicole Neolove. RADiate officers Vicki Busfield, Tarika Ingram and Emma Jones also helped facilitate the sharing.

About RADiate

Last year, RADiate worked with over 5,700 students across 13 schools, including primary, specialist and children’s hospital schools in and around London. Teaching sessions are also held at the RAD’s state of the art dance school in Wandsworth. In addition to the students a total of 3,568 staff took part in the programme, helping them learn new skills they apply back in the school setting.

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