Coppélia, the first ballet in the series, was performed in Spring 2014 by second year students of English National Ballet School. It was produced by the English National Ballet and tours nationally. Coppélia tells the comic family tale of an eccentric toymaker and his mechanical doll in a beautifully adapted version for young audiences. Dr Coppélius, the toymaker, has created the lifelike Coppélia doll, and wishes for nothing more than to bring her to life. He thinks that his dream has finally come true, but he has merely been caught up in a lovers' tiff. Love triumphs over all in this comedy of mistaken identity and the finale is a breathtaking celebration of the lovers' marriage.
For the adapted version of the ballet, a signing teacher worked with the choreographer and dramaturg to add British Sign Language to the range of gestures and movement presented in the performance. The project helped to make this production more accessible to children with learning difficulties and disabilities. A series of activities took place during the early stages of the project to discuss what suitable interventions could be used in the performance. The project involved contribution from symbol developers, teachers, and carers of children with learning difficulties and disabilities.
A wide range of graphic symbol resources were developed and made freely available for teachers and carers to use (see 'Resources' for links).
Swan Lake was the second ballet in the series and was performed in a year after Coppélia in Spring 2015
Following on the success of Coppélia, My First Ballet: Swan Lake was created by English National Ballet’s Associate Artist George Williamson and was again performed by second year students from English National Ballet School.
The story of Swan Lake begins with a hunting journey by Prince Siegfriend, when he comes across a swan. Before he is able to shoot, the swan turns into a beautiful woman named Odette. Siegfriend falls rapidly in love, inviting her that night to a ball at his castle where he will marry her and reverse her spell. Tragically, an evil sorcerer disguises his daughter as Odette at the ball, causing Siegfriend to propose to the wrong woman. He races back to the lake to confess his mistake, but Odette has chosen to die in the lake to reverse the spell forever. He chooses to join her in eternity, and they live on in the afterlife as lovers forever.
During the project several workshops on Swan Lake were held at the Peacock Theatre for children aged 3-6 where they learnt extracts from the production with English National Ballet dance artists, as well as got up-close to the tutus and set scenery and experienced dancing on stage.
A wide range of graphic symbol resources have also been made freely available for this performance for teachers and carers to use (see 'Resources' for links).
The project was led by Dr Chris Abbott, Department of Education and Professional Studies at King’s College London in collaboration with Anu Giri, Co-Director of English National Ballet School. It was supported by the university's Culture team.
Dr Chris Abbott
Dr Chris Abbott taught in special schools for many years before joining King’s College London, where he is Emeritus Reader in Assistive Technologies. His research interests include cognitive accessibility especially in relation to popular performance, assistive technology and digital literacy. He has a particular interest in the use of graphical symbols and this has led to their use in the My First Inclusive Ballet project. He was the Founding Editor of the Journal of Assistive Technologies, and is currently Co-convenor of the Popular Performance group of the Theatre and Performance Research Association and is a Trustee of Action for Children's Arts.
Anu Giri
Anu Giri worked part-time as Co-Director of the English National Ballet School until December 2015 where she had lead responsibility for finance, fund-raising and marketing. She is now Executive Director of Dance Umbrella – a contemporary dance festival in London. Prior to her current work she spent 10 years at Arts Council England where she was Head of Dance from 2003 – 2010. Anu has served on the boards of several dance organisations, co-presented Network East for BBC2, trained in Indian Classical Dance and has a BA in Drama and a Diploma in Management. She is currently on the Boards of Rambert and Scottish Ballet.
Project Resources
Resources for the project were developed with the assistance of Katja O’Neill from Sign2Learn and Tom Jelley and Cate Rae from symbol developers Widgit both in collaboration with choreographer George Williamson and dramaturg Adam Peck.
Resources to accompany both performances are available to freely download using the below links. They can be used before, during and after the performance, and include synopses and other activities about the performances, as well as other symbol materials to explain ballet and the process of going to the theatre in general.
Coppélia
Detailed explanation ( Widgit)
Swan Lake
Symbol resources ( ENB)
Detailed explanation ( Widgit).
The film below describes the process and outcomes of the project in more detail: