ShaLeigh Dance Works

We want to make dance accessible to a broader spectrum of abilities through untapped art forms coming together to promote cultural understanding and advancement. Access itself creates a new aesthetic that shapes how we experience art. By devising artistic projects with access in mind from the very beginning, the aesthetics of the work is changed in a unique and intrinsic way which elevates audience experience, and alters what stories can be told. We want to move towards how access informs artistic practice and the creative process.

By collaborating directly with individuals who live with different abilities, our goal is to provide paid opportunities, access, inclusion, and visibility. Community partners who serve these population will host informational meetings to connect us to dance-theatre lovers who will ultimately be invited to join the heart of our creative process as paid collaborators and will be critical in engaging these community to ensure that we are able to provide meaningful connections and paid work to artists who live with disabilities.

Our 2021 - 2022 Season received programmatic funding that gave us the ability to grow our fiscal and grants management capacity while also bringing an innovative and groundbreaking performance to our local community. As we enter the 2023 fiscal year, we are now developing the next phase of SDW, as an emerging leader in performance art within the Triangle. We are working to build a sustainable foundation to ensure that our programming provides vital arts access and opportunity for years to come. We see our work as an integral part of the Arts Ecosystem, as we work to hold space among our stakeholders to engage in shared dialogue to meet the need for inclusive practices. We are actively sharing tools and approaches that lead to connection and foster a sense of belonging for all. In this new phase, we are working to build our capacity through strategic planning that leverages our key partnerships.

SDW was founded to meet the need for professional development and opportunities for local dancers and artists of all abilities. Over the past six years, SDW has grown from a fiscally sponsored organization to an official 501(c)(3) and has been nationally recognized for innovation in the dance field. We work directly with artists to nurture the current and next generation, deepen and expand talent, create new works, and make the arts accessible to those with different abilities. From inspiration to world premiere, SDW annually commissions artists to create new work. Since 2015 we have commissioned 11 composers, and contracted over 140 artists and collaborators from dancers and artistic consultants to photographers, filmmakers, and costume, set, lighting and sound designers. In addition, our programming has provided access to art and education experiences to over 6400 differently abled individuals throughout the triangle through performances, master classes, community classes, and workshops. Our success with reaching this community was well demonstrated by audience attendance: 25% of our audience members identified as a person living with a disability which is up from a regional average of only 7% reported by the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts.