Based in North West England, DanceSyndrome is a small local charity providing inclusive dance workshops, leadership training and live performance opportunities for people with and without disabilities. Before 2020, this was in person, but we have adapted to offer all of our existing services online. All of our activities are co-led by people with and without disabilities working together. Our dancers inspire people and demonstrate that people with disabilities can live a life of their choosing and follow their dreams.

DanceSyndrome has always strived to prevent social isolation, but this year in lockdown has provided a whole new challenge. Our team has worked hard to adapt our services to operate online and our dance sessions have become more of a lifeline than ever to the hundreds of adults with learning disabilities who join in every week.

People with learning disabilities have been disproportionately affected by lockdown and we face more challenges before we return to face-to-face dancing.

Please help us to keep everyone dancing. Your donation will ensure that the people we support can stay connected, stay involved and stay well.

Our history

DanceSyndrome was founded in 2009 by Jen Blackwell, with help from her parents. Jen has Down's syndrome and after attending a mainstream school she felt that her disability shouldn't stop her from having the career of her choice. She wanted to be a community dance leader but found it very difficult to find training that was appropriate for someone with a learning disability. After 10 years of searching unsuccessfully, she took matters into her own hands and started DanceSyndrome to allow her, and other people in the same situation, to follow their dreams of having a career in dance. That was 12 years ago and DanceSyndrome still stands apart from other dance sessions with all activities being co-led by people with disabilities, who are all trained through our unique Dance By Example leadership training course.

The pioneering, innovative approach of DanceSyndrome is that if you include people of all abilities and empower them to take part in a way that means something to them, then they will start to believe in themselves and achieve things that they never thought possible. We use dance to unlock potential but the skills that people learn can be transferred to other aspects of life beyond the arts. We are empowering people with learning disabilities to become visible, active members of society who are changing accepted beliefs about what people with learning disabilities are ABLE to do.

People are empowered for life after taking part in our sessions and there isn't any other provision like it in the North West, or further afield. We want to be able to continue this provision and even expand it, but to do that we need your help. In the current economic climate we are faced with increased pressure on our resources. Competition for funding is fierce and we are now relying on the generous support of individuals and businesses to carry out our vital work. If you appreciate the work that we do and want to see more of it, please support us in any way that you can.

We appreciate your support and are grateful for all donations!