Who are we?

Background

Susan Hewgill, a graduate of the Royal Ballet School, who ran a dance school in Darlington for many years,  embarked on an enormous project  in the mid-90's to put on a performance of Saint-Saën's Carnival of the Animals, involving 200+ children. In view of the high cost of this, it seemed an ideal opportunity to involve a wider audience, and Sue, and a committee of parents and supporters enlisted a number of commercial firms to sponsor seats for groups of local special needs schools. Stimulated by the performance, many of the children asked "Why can't we take part"? - and this sowed the seeds of an idea...

"We Can Dance" was established in 2000 to provide dance lessons for Children with special needs in North East England. We became a Registered Charity in 2010, focusing on young people with special educational needs, such as profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD), autism, physical disabilities, sensory impairments and behavioural difficulties.

We have developed our own programme with PMLD students for weekly lessons and specialist workshops, bringing music, movement and sensory stimulation into their lives. We aim to give children with special educational needs the opportunity to access music and dance through regular lessons at their school by professional dance teachers, funded by "We Can Dance", who at present are supporting the following schools:

• Darlington and County Durham

  • The Oaks Secondary School, Spennymoor

  • Marchbank Free School, Darlington

• North Yorkshire

  • Applefields School, York

  • The Forest School, Knaresborough

  • Springwater School, Harrogate

  • Mowbray School, Bedale

  • The Dales School, Northallerton

  • The Woodlands Academy , Scarborough

  • Springhead School, Scarborough

• Teesside

  • Priory Woods School & Arts College, Middlesbrough

  • Abbey Hill Academy, Stockton-on-Tees

  • North Shore Academy, Stockton-on-Tees

  • Ash Trees Academy, Stockton-on-Tees

  • Billingham South School, Billingham

  • Green Gates Academy, Stockton-on-Tees

  • Kirkleatham Hall School, Redcar

  • Mo Mowlam Academy, Redcar

  • St John The Baptist, Stockton-on-Tees

-"We Can Dance" wants to continue to fund more schools, thus giving the opportunity for more children to benefit from dance. We are continually fundraising to cover the cost of the weekly lessons in schools and the 1 & 2-day workshops, which are organised throughout the year. "We Can Dance" is solely financed by our fundraising events and donations which are gratefully received. Gift Aid is a huge boost to the value of donations.

Make a Donation →

The Trustees and Committee Members of the Charity

The Charity is run by a Committee of volunteers:

• Yvonne Nicholson      Chairman                                                                

• Emma Howells       Vice Chairman / School Liaison

• Barbara Colling          Treasurer                                                                  

• Joan Mitchie Secretary                                                                                                                                                                                    

• Shirley Booth         New School Liaison 

• Jonica Britton School Liaison