NYB All In! began in collaboration with Parable Dance and South East Dance. Combining Parable Dance’s wealth of knowledge in inclusion with NYBs extensive knowledge of ballet, it was initially designed to look at how ballet could be taught and choreographed in a more inclusive way for disabled dancers. 

What started as a teacher training and professional skills development opportunity, very quickly morphed into a performance project, as we realised through listening that many young disabled dancers were lacking challenging ballet opportunities. 

In the summer of 2023 we gathered a group of disabled and non-disabled dancers together at South East Dance to form the first NYB All In! Performance Company. We created a new work inspired by Romeo and Juliet, which we performed at The Dance Space. 

Since then our NYB All In! Performance Companies from Brighton and Birmingham have performed at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, have created a dance film in collaboration with English Heritage at Kenilworth Castle and have appeared as part of the Next Generation festival at Royal Ballet and Opera in a work choreographed by NYB ambassador Joe Powell-Main. In 2026 our NYB All In! Performance Company will once again be performing at Sadler’s Wells!

Photo (c) Lachlan Monaghan

In response to feedback, about a lack of clear progression routes in ballet for disabled young dancers, we created the NYB All In! young leaders programme which gives disabled dancers the opportunity to develop their skills as leaders and teachers of ballet in a safe and supportive environment. The young leaders now lead our beginners legacy classes in Brighton, enabling dancers who enjoyed ballet the opportunity to continue dancing together, and building everyone’s confidence and skills and one young leader has already progressed into our Beyond Ballet® programme for early career professionals.

To support the wider sector we have used our learnings to create in depth CPD opportunities for ballet teachers and ballet schools. We have worked with ISTD, and Elmhurst Ballet School and we will be sharing our CPD work more broadly this year . We are proud to be founding members of Access Ballet Collective, a sector wide group who are looking to join forces to shape the future of a more accessible ballet culture and we were delighted to be part of the Ballet for All! Day delivered in collaboration with Birmingham Royal Ballet and DLG, you can find out our findings from this day in this report: 

All our work is supported by our NYB All In! Steering Group, who is made up of disabled and non-disabled dance artists and industry professionals.

Our long term vision is that the NYB All In! ethos will be so embedded across our wider programmes that there will be no need for a separate NYB All In! Performance Company or classes and instead our NYB All In! programme will be focused on sharing our findings through our CPD offer and advocating for a more accessible and inclusive ballet culture.

Photo (c) Jules Renahan