How the National Dance Institute’s DREAM Project Creates Inclusive Dance Programming for Students With and Without Disabilities

New York City’s National Dance Institute dates back to 1976, when Jacques d’Amboise founded it during his final years as a principal with New York City Ballet. d’Amboise recognized the transformational impact dance education had on his life and wanted every child to have the same opportunities. “When he said ‘every child,’ he meant every child,” says NDI artistic director Kay Gayner, noting how the Institute’s initial programming included dancers who were blind, were deaf or hard of hearing, or used wheelchairs. 

This season, NDI is celebrating 50 years and has reached over two million children in New York City and beyond through its in-school programming, workshops, and performances. The programs for students with disabilities grew in the late 1990s and early 2000s when its teachers led classes at a public school for children with a wide range of diagnoses. That’s where Gayner met former Rockette and current pediatric physical therapist Dr. Agnes McConlogue Ferro, beginning a decades-long partnership that led the duo, along with Aileen Barry, current senior director of Education and Outreach, to develop a teaching model in which age-matched dancers who have a wide range of abilities are partnered together for dance classes and performances. The program blossomed into NDI’s DREAM Project in 2014, shortly after the organization acquired its own building in 2010. 

DREAM, short for Dancers Realize Excellence through Arts and Movement, is the belief that everyone can dance and all should dance together. Rather than separating children with disabilities from those without disabilities, the NDI team prioritizes the children’s learning from each other and fostering collaboration between those different from themselves. With two annual weeklong workshops a year at the Jacques D’Amboise Center for Learning & the Arts in Harlem, 30 to 50 dancers between the ages of 8 and 16 participate in each session at no cost to families. Each workshop includes Gayner, NDI teaching artists, McConlogue Ferro, and a cohort of her physical therapy students from Stony Brook University.

The ways DREAM has impacted young dancers are endless, but one example stands out: A student who uses a motorized wheelchair and has limited voluntary movement was denied from joining a studio’s class for nondisabled students because the teacher didn’t know how to include someone with her abilities. But after participating in a couple of DREAM workshops, she returned to that studio with videos to demonstrate how she had developed a vocabulary using facial expressions and her eyebrows to communicate and perform. The studio teacher then became aware of ways to include the dancer and welcomed her back to join. “They become their own self-advocates and go out and create change in the world,” Gayner says.

Here, Gayner shares her advice for creating inclusive dance programming.

How does the DREAM program impact the nondisabled dancers participating? 

I think people overlook the impact and benefits for children without disabilities, but I think [the changes] are equally important and sometimes more profound in the age-matched peers. We give them skills for how to interact with someone who has a disability or diagnosis. If you don’t have any knowledge, skills, or information about how to connect, it’s easy to avoid or be reluctant. But it’s transformative—the children without disabilities are never the same afterwards. If they see somebody with a disability, they’re going to know how to connect with that person. They’re the people who might cross the street and go engage and have a conversation. 

How do you communicate to students and families that you offer a safe space for learning?

We have a meet-and-greet before every workshop. [Dr. McConlogue Ferro] also does a brief PT assessment to see what kind of mobility they have—we’re looking for the unique ways that they move. Focus on what the children can do and amplify and build skills around that. Collaborate with their caregivers. Don’t be afraid to speak directly to the child. They’re the most knowledgeable about what they need. Think of it as a collaboration with everyone in their orbit. 

What tools do you have for teachers looking to create inclusive classes?

Play games. Come up with a movement that goes with their name—that’s a valuable assessment tool. Turn choreography upside down. Think about the children who have the most involved diagnoses first and highlight their ways of participating. Then translate [the movement] for others. Make them the heart, foundation, and inspiration for the choreography.

We put [children with and without disabilities] in partnerships and we call it “learning each other.” We give them tools for how to create their own translations of a movement. [For example], a version for standing dancers and a version for seated dancers. We start slowly. By day 2 or 3 they’re better at creating translations than we are. They start doing it as a team and learn each other well enough to offer translations.

What resources would you recommend for teachers?

The DREAM teacher training is currently offered every other year. We do it during the workshop, so people who are participating get a chance to interact with the children. We also do customized trainings through the NDI Collaborative. We go all over the country and consult on how to build programs in their communities. 

In your community, find someone who is a PT specialist or someone who might be interested in collaborating. Look at the phenomenal dance companies who include people with disabilities. I really admire the work of Stopgap Dance Company in England. Seek out people in your own community who have disabilities, and if there’s any way possible, bring them into your process. Offer them work. If that’s not possible, share videos of the children artists with disabilities, so they can see what’s possible.