Our Impact
Artistic Innovation
- Creating disability-led dance-theatre experiences that expand what performance can be.
- Developing new artistic practices that integrate accessibility into the creative process.
- Commissioning original interdisciplinary collaborations among dancers, musicians, designers, and disability experts.
Workforce Development
- Providing paid artistic, leadership, and mentorship opportunities for artists across career stages.
- Expanding access to professional training in audio description, ASL, tactile communication, and inclusive creative practice.
- Supporting emerging and established artists in developing new skills, networks, and pathways for leadership.
Community Connection
- Building long-term relationships with disability communities, schools, cultural institutions, and service organizations.
- Creating opportunities for audiences and participants to engage with disability culture, accessibility, and artistic innovation.
- Fostering spaces where people can gather across difference through shared creative experiences.
enVISION: Accessibility as Artistic Practice
Presented as part of the American Dance Festival’s 89th and 91st seasons, the enVISION body of work reflects ShaLeigh Dance Works’ ongoing commitment to disability-led performance and collaborative creation. Beginning with enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight (2022) and expanding through enVISION: The Next Chapter (2024), the work has been developed in partnership with Blind, Low Vision, Deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind collaborators. Through innovative access practices and multisensory performance experiences, enVISION explores accessibility as both artistic practice and creative catalyst.
enVISION is SDW’s flagship artistic research initiative exploring new ways of creating and experiencing performance.
Developed alongside blind, low-vision, Deaf, hard of hearing, DeafBlind, and disabled collaborators, enVISION challenges conventional assumptions about dance, perception, and audience engagement.
Rather than adapting existing performances, access is integrated into the creative process from the beginning.
Audio description becomes poetry.
Touch becomes storytelling.
American Sign Language becomes dance.
Sensory design becomes architecture.
Audience members may choose to experience performances blindfolded, through vibration, through sound, through touch, or through multiple sensory pathways at once.
By treating accessibility as a creative methodology, enVISION expands what performance can be and who it can serve.
By the Numbers
- 12 World Premieres
- 140+ Artists Employed
- 11 Original Music Commissions
- 8,000+ Participants Engaged
- 200+ Classes & Community Programs
- 25+ Cities Across 5 Countries
Recognition
SDW’s work has been presented by organizations, festivals, museums, universities, and performing arts venues throughout the United States and internationally, including the American Dance Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carolina Performing Arts, the North Carolina Museum of Art, Ackland Art Museum, and numerous cultural institutions across North Carolina.
The company has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, MAP Fund, New Music USA, South Arts, the North Carolina Arts Council, Triangle Community Foundation, Durham Arts Council, and other regional and national partners.
SDW’s contributions to Durham’s cultural landscape have also been recognized through honors including the 2024 Mayor’s Proclamation Award, presented by the Durham City Council and the Durham Mayor’s Committee for Persons with Disabilities in recognition of the company’s efforts to hire, develop, promote, and support people with disabilities.
Recent audience members have described SDW’s work as:
“It goes beyond inclusion. It presents a work that works for all and is created by all.”
“Few performances during my life have generated such a deep impact as this one.”
“This was the most transformative dance experience I’ve ever had in my life.”
enVISIONing the Future
We imagine a future where accessibility fuels creativity, disabled artists help shape the future of the arts, and performance becomes a place where more people can fully participate, contribute, and belong.
Measuring Our Impact
Meaningful change happens through sustained collaboration. Our 2024–2025 Annual Report reflects on a year of growth, highlighting the programs, partnerships, milestones, and community impact that continue to expand access, strengthen communities, and reimagine what is possible in performance. Discover the people, stories, and relationships that make this work possible.
Header ID: During an enVISION performance experience, enVISION expert and ShaLeigh Dance Works Board Member Chemae Mebane, wearing a white blindfold, shares a guided movement experience with an SDW company member. Chemae was part of the disability-led creative team that helped develop the work. Their hands meet as they move together beneath softly colored stage lights, creating a moment of trust, connection, and multisensory exploration.