Accessible ballet course for disabled dancers

• My Ballet Coach was founded during lockdown by our director, Kate Byrne, a professional ballet dancer and teacher with over 10 years experience working in companies such as The English National Ballet and Ballet Zurich, among others.

• The company was launched with the express aim of making ballet more accessible and affordable to non-professional dancers of all physical abilities. It is Kate's belief that all bodies, no matter how mobile, young/old or experienced can learn ballet from the comfort of their homes, providing the desire and commitment is there.

• The company launched late last year and is off to a great start having already won The Centre of Excellence's 2021 Business Award.

• My Ballet Coach offers on-demand training in ballet to anyone; from beginners with no prior experience, to professional dancers wanting to train privately, all for the price of one coffee per week. There are pre-recorded classes for three different levels, with warm-ups, workouts, stretches, pre-pointe, pointe, repertoire and even a ballet glossary where a variety of ballet terms are explained, written and demonstrated, to help de-mystify the language of ballet.

• But, we need your help in order to make ballet truly inclusive... Currently, if you have a physical disability that prevents you from taking regular ballet classes, there are no courses in ballet available to you. We believe ballet should be an art form and discipline available to all bodies and so to rectify this, we will soon be developing the first ballet course designed specifically for dancers with physical disabilities.

• We are delighted to be teaming up with an NHS London hospital for our research and development period and hope to eventually distribute our course completely free to hospitals, community centres and schools, offering the chance to study ballet to those who currently do not have the option available to them.

• However, in order to construct our Reduced Mobility courses with care and thorough research and to then offer these courses free of charge, we anticipate the following costs:

1. Studio space hired for research and development

2. Creative research with professional dancers and choreographers who have experience working with physical limitations
3. Professional filming and editing of the finished coursework
4. Packaging and distribution costs of DVDs to send to hospitals, schools and community centres

Anything you can donate will make a huge difference to a vast number of aspiring dancers wanting to learn and enjoy ballet, but who currently don't have options available to their needs. We really hope our Reduced Mobility courses will help to eliminate any negative or pre-conceived ideas surrounding disability and to celebrate diversity within dance!