From Self, to Others, to Community — Dance as a Way of Cultivating Relationship
Interviewees: Juliet Diener (Founder and Chief Executive Officer), Ourania Sitra (Young People’s Site Team Lead | Head of Programmes)
Date: February 28, 2026
icandance works primarily with disabled children and young people, building its practice on principles drawn from Dance/Movement Psychotherapy. At its center lies not technical achievement, but emotional safety and relationship-building.
Participation here is not understood as something that happens all at once. Rather, children and young people are supported to first sense themselves, then encounter others, and gradually open outward toward groups and community. The practice is structured as a space where these layers of relationship are slowly cultivated through dance.
From Self, to Others, to Community
One of the key phrases icandance used to describe its work was a relationship-based model. This reflects an approach in which relationship-building is placed at the center of practice, shaping both the annual rhythm of activity and the design of individual sessions.
“We call it a relationship-based model.
Everything begins with relationship.
It always starts with self. Then comes the relationship with another—your dance partner—and beyond that, community.”
This also extends to the way staff understand their own presence. How am I arriving today? What is happening in my body? Beginning there becomes the foundation for being able to relate to others.
One particularly striking moment during observation was that adult dance partners did not lead the children forward through instruction. Instead, they first received the children’s movement and gently followed it, almost mirroring it. Here, dance partner refers to the staff or volunteers who work directly with participating children and young people. Rather than teaching movement first, they begin by reflecting the child’s embodied way of being. When asked about this, the team described it as a method rooted in Dance/Movement Psychotherapy.
“Relationship does not always begin through words.
We understand and sense the other person through the body.
In Dance/Movement Psychotherapy, there are techniques called mirroring and attunement. We use those in this space.”
In this context, the dance partner is not simply a support person assisting the child. They help create the foundation of relationship by moving alongside the child’s body and tracing their movement through their own body. This is why one-to-one relationships are never overlooked, even in group settings. The feeling that my movement, my way of being, is being received becomes the entry point into community.
Creating Safety Before Challenge
What icandance emphasized repeatedly was emotional safety. Disabled children may already carry anxiety, uncertainty, or heightened tension in everyday life. For this reason, safety is treated as a precondition for participation.
“Emotional safety is the very first starting point.
If a child does not feel emotionally safe, how can they begin to take risks?
We want to encourage challenge. But first, we receive where that child is, at their own pace, and from there we begin to expand together.”
Safety here is not used to limit movement. Rather, it becomes a support that allows children to move outward at their own pace.
A key concept used in this process was container and containment. The whole team works to hold the space. Children are free to explore, but not left without structure. Circular spatial arrangements, clearly defined areas for dancing, resting, and placing belongings all help children orient themselves and feel their own place within the environment.
“As a whole team, we hold the space.
We are the frame. We don’t know what picture will emerge today.
But we hold the space in which that picture can appear.”
This held space is not a framework of control. It is a structure that allows children to move, pause, leave, and return. Because freedom and order coexist, children can feel secure enough to remain within the group.
Building Community Through Dance
Juliet spoke clearly about the fact that icandance is neither a dance school nor a dance company. There are structured sessions, and there are performances. But the purpose extends beyond teaching technique or making artistic work.
“We are not a dance school. We are not a dance company.
We are building community through dance.
Children stay here, they grow here, and they begin to tell their own stories through dance.”
Some children remain involved with icandance for ten or even fifteen years. Over that time, they are not simply learning something; they are gradually coming to understand who they are. Children who joined at a young age may grow into adolescence or adulthood, and engage with the space differently at each stage. For this reason, while the core structure of sessions may remain familiar, the content shifts according to age and group.
Family relationships also form an important layer of this community. Dialogue spaces and feedback opportunities are created for parents, allowing families to witness and support a child’s development. Parents are not seen merely as transporters or caregivers, but as collaborators in sustaining safety and growth.
At the same time, the child remains central. Family support is essential, but the focus stays on the child’s own hopes, dreams, and desires. In some cases, parents may initially speak on behalf of the child, but the longer-term aim is to gradually access and strengthen the child’s own voice. This balance—remaining child-centered while continuing collaboration with families—forms a key foundation of icandance’s community.
Performance as a Space of Celebration and Visibility
For icandance, a show is more than an end-of-year performance. It becomes a visible point of arrival for what children have been working toward, and a space where they can share their stories with family and community.
“We often use the word celebration.
We celebrate the child’s existence and who they are.
We want to focus not on what they cannot do, but on what they can. That is why we are called I Can Dance.”
Celebration here is not simply praise. It is closer to creating a space where the child’s presence, expression, and possibility can be received by family and community.
At the same time, performance is also a site of challenge. Standing before others, receiving applause, entering unfamiliar theatre spaces, and being under lights can be deeply demanding experiences. For this reason, icandance does not assume everyone will participate in the same way.
“Not everyone stands on stage in the same way.
One child may begin simply by watching from the audience. Another may begin by standing in the wings.
Together with families, we look at where that child is right now, and we build stages from there.”
What matters is not drawing a line between able and unable. It is about finding the form of participation that is possible for that child at that moment. Sometimes this begins by creating show-like experiences in familiar spaces, and only gradually moving toward larger stages.
icandance does not seek to remove opportunity in order to avoid risk. Instead, it opens the possibility of challenge through support. Of course, this requires individual risk assessment, dialogue with families, and strong team structures. But the starting point is not It is too risky, so we stop. The question is: How can this child experience it? That orientation underpins the idea of performance as celebration.
■ Research Notes
What icandance demonstrated was an approach that begins even before designing the conditions of participation: it asks how encounter itself is formed.
Beginning relationship through the body. Creating safety before challenge. Understanding performance as a space where a child’s existence and expression are celebrated. Each of these reflects a practice of carefully shaping how relationships begin.
At the same time, this is not a model that can simply be replicated anywhere. icandance’s work is sustained by professionally trained Dance/Movement Psychotherapy practitioners, supported by wider teams of staff and volunteers. Any attempt to reference this practice in workshops or creative environments must therefore consider the expertise and support structures on which it depends.
Even so, the questions it raises—how we receive another person’s body, how we hold safe spaces, and how we build relationships with families and community—offer important insight for workshops and creative environments in Japan as well. Being inclusive is not only about widening the conditions of participation. It is also about shaping the environments in which relationship itself can emerge.
Organization link
https://icandance.org.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/icandanceuk/?hl=en
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeljqOmNtzBEGeDoJ0qL3jQ