Inclusion Statement
At ShaLeigh Dance Works, we believe creativity flourishes through difference. We are committed to fostering an environment where people of all identities, backgrounds, experiences, and abilities are welcomed, respected, and recognized as essential contributors—as artists, collaborators, audiences, students, volunteers, and leaders.
As a disability-led organization, accessibility is fundamental to who we are. Rather than viewing accessibility as an accommodation added after a work is created, we approach accessibility as an artistic practice—one that expands creative possibility and deepens collaboration across our artistic community.
We recognize that inclusion is an ongoing practice, not a finished achievement. We are committed to listening, learning, and building shared authorship, leadership, and decision-making with disabled artists and community members while continually working to reduce barriers to participation and improve our policies, programs, spaces, and artistic practices through collaboration with our communities.
We know that no single approach will meet every person’s needs. If there is a way we can better support your participation, we welcome the opportunity to learn from you.
Our Accessibility Journey
Accessibility has not always looked the way it does at ShaLeigh Dance Works.
Prior to beginning enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight in 2019, our work included community engagement programs and efforts to make our performances welcoming to diverse audiences, but accessibility was not yet central to our artistic practice or organizational philosophy.
That changed when we began asking different questions:
How do traditional ocular-centric models limit the potential for everyone to experience a multi-sensory approach to dance? What possibilities might emerge from a practice that embraces touch and hearing as equals to vision? Audio description is an established access tool for blind and partially sighted people, but how can words express that dance is visceral, not just visual?
As we explored these questions alongside disabled artists, disability culture bearers, and our community partners, our inquiry continued to grow.
Can we see what we hear?
Can we feel what is unseen and unheard?
Through this process, we began to understand that accessibility is not simply a way of experiencing performance differently—it is a source of artistic innovation that can transform how performance itself is experienced.
Working alongside disabled artists, disability culture bearers, access specialists, educators, and audiences, we have spent the past several years learning, experimenting, making mistakes, and reimagining how dance-theatre can be created.
Disability culture brings distinct histories, aesthetics, knowledge, and ways of relating to one another. At ShaLeigh Dance Works, we view disability not simply as an identity represented within our work, but as a source of artistic knowledge that continues to shape how we create, collaborate, and imagine performance. Today, accessibility informs not only our performances, but our organizational decision-making, artistic research, partnerships, workforce development, communications, and long-term planning. We continue to learn, and we know there is always more to discover.
Accessibility as Artistic Practice
Accessibility is not a service added after a work is finished.
It is a way of imagining, designing, choreographing, communicating, and experiencing performance.
Rather than being simply integrated into performance, accessibility informs how performance is conceived, composed, and experienced. Practices often understood as accommodations become artistic methodologies for choreography, storytelling, sound, design, and audience engagement.
When disabled artists and communities lead creative inquiry, different artistic questions emerge.
These questions reshape how performances are made—and expand what becomes possible.
Our Commitment
Accessibility is woven throughout our organization in five interconnected areas:
- Organizational Approach
- Space
- Access Services
- Communication
- Programming
Accessibility is not something we provide.
It is something we practice together.
Rather than striving for perfection, we strive for reciprocal relationships. We believe the most meaningful accessibility emerges through ongoing collaboration with disabled artists, access specialists, community partners, and audiences. Their expertise continues to challenge our assumptions, deepen our understanding, and expand what is artistically possible.
We know there will always be more to learn. As our relationships grow, so will our practices.
The following reflects where we are today and the commitments that continue to guide our work.
1. Organizational Approach
Accessibility requires continual curiosity. It is sustained through asking questions, building relationships, learning, unlearning, and sharing responsibility.
We are committed to:
- Embedding accessibility into organizational planning, budgeting, and artistic development
- Working in partnership with disabled artists, disability culture bearers, disability organizations, and access specialists
- Ensuring disabled people help shape our leadership, creative teams, workforce, and community collaborations
- Compensating disabled artists and consultants for their expertise
- Providing ongoing accessibility training and professional development for staff, artists, and volunteers
- Building shared authorship, leadership, and decision-making with disabled artists and community members across employment, artistic collaboration, and public programs
- Continually evaluating and improving our practices through community feedback
- Centering disabled knowledge, expertise, and lived experience in artistic research, planning, and decision-making
We recognize that accessibility is never finished. It grows through reciprocal relationships, accountability, and a willingness to keep learning.
2. Space
Accessibility begins long before someone arrives at a venue. It begins with who is invited into the creative process, whose expertise shapes the work, and how artistic choices are made. The physical environment is one part of accessibility. Relationships, communication, artistic process, and community are equally important.
ShaLeigh Dance Works performs, teaches, rehearses, and gathers in a variety of community spaces. Because every venue is different, accessibility features vary by location.
While we cannot control every aspect of every space, we work closely with our venue partners to understand existing accessibility features, identify potential barriers, and communicate that information clearly. Whenever possible, we also bring disability-led practices, access services, and artistic approaches that expand access beyond the physical environment.
For each event, we provide detailed accessibility information that may include:
- Arrival, parking, and drop-off information
- Entrances and pathways
- Accessible seating
- Restroom accessibility
- Lighting and sensory considerations
- Wayfinding and navigation
- Classroom or performance space layout
- Venue-specific accessibility features
- Access services provided by ShaLeigh Dance Works
Because every event is unique, accessibility information is included on each event page so participants can make informed decisions about their experience. If you have questions about a venue or your access needs, we encourage you to contact us before the event so we can explore options together.
3. Access Services
Accessibility takes different forms for every production, program, and participant. Event-specific accessibility information is included with each event listing. Depending on the event, access services may include:
Communication Access
- Audio Description
- Open Captions
- American Sign Language (ASL)
- Large Print Programs
- Braille Program
- Digital Program
- Audio Program
- Preview Guides
- Sonic Companion Guides
Mobility & Navigation
- ASL Greeters
- Sighted Guides
- Accessible seating
- Pre-show orientation
- Wayfinding assistance
Sensory Access
- Relaxed performance practices
- Sensory-informed experiences
- Flexible participation options
- Sensory seating design
Tactile Access
- Tactile storytelling
- Touch experiences
- Co-navigation
- Multi-sensory design
- Tactile Touch Tours
Additional Supports
- Service animals are welcome.
- We encourage advanced communication whenever possible so we can work together to identify the most appropriate supports.
4. Communication
Access begins with information. We strive to communicate clearly, early, and in multiple ways so people can make informed decisions about participation.
Whenever possible we provide:
- detailed accessibility information provided as early as possible before each event
- clear descriptions of available access services
- accessible registration information
- multiple ways to contact us
- accessible digital materials whenever possible
- plain language where appropriate
We also recognize that language evolves. We strive to use respectful, disability-informed language while honoring individual preferences.
Questions are always welcome.
You can reach us by:
- Phone
- Video Relay Service (VRS)
5. Programming
Accessibility shapes every aspect of our artistic practice.
Through enVISION, accessibility has become an ongoing artistic inquiry that informs every stage of our work—from research and choreography to education, workforce development, and community partnerships.
Disability culture continues to shape not only what we create, but how we create.
Our programming includes:
Artistic Creation
Rather than asking how to make an existing performance accessible, we ask how accessibility itself can become the artistic language of performance.
Workforce Development
Programs such as Movement Mentorship Training provide artists and community members with opportunities to develop skills in disability-informed performance, guiding practices, and collaborative leadership.
Community Learning
Workshops, artist residencies, university partnerships, Community Laboratories, and public conversations invite audiences, educators, artists, and organizations to explore accessibility as a source of artistic innovation.
We believe disability culture expands the artistic possibilities of dance, choreography, storytelling, education, and community life.
Questions or Access Requests
Everyone experiences the world differently, and access needs are never one-size-fits-all.
If you have questions before attending an event, are considering collaborating with us, or would like to discuss your access needs, we encourage you to contact us as early as possible. While we may not always be able to fulfill every request, we will do everything we reasonably can to support your participation.
Email
shaleigh@shaleighdanceworks.com
Phone & Video Relay Service (VRS)
+1 (919) 885-4021
Help Us Grow
Accessibility is something we continue to build together.
Every performance, workshop, rehearsal, partnership, and conversation teaches us something new.
If something worked well, we’d love to hear about it.
If something created a barrier, we’d like to know that too.
Your experiences help shape the future of ShaLeigh Dance Works.
Header ID: Members of the ShaLeigh Dance Works community participate in a disability-led panel discussion following an enVISION Community Laboratory. Seated from left to right are company member Sawyer Kadel, Rehearsal Director Hannah Marr, enVISION expert Janie Desmond, who uses a wheelchair and is holding a microphone, enVISION expert Yazmyne Jenkins speaking into a microphone, enVISION expert Ed Rizzutto seated beside his guide dog, and enVISION expert and ShaLeigh Dance Works Board Member Chemae Mebane. The panelists sit in a semicircle, listening and responding to one another during a conversation about accessibility, artistic practice, and lived experience.