Course details
Lecturers: Juliet Diener, Denecia Allen, Emma Nasskau, Eva Blanco
Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, which offers professional-level training for dancers, and icandance, a charity that empowers disabled young people through dance, collaborated to explore dance as a tool for enabling societal change.
The project created a space for dancers from diverse backgrounds to connect, build relationships, and work together beyond perceived differences. Supported by the teams at Tring and icandance, the mixed-ability group was nurtured within an inclusive dance environment that encouraged the exploration and expression of complex societal themes. Through embodied practice, the project sought to evoke change and challenge perspectives both within and beyond the dance space.
The collaboration culminated in the creation of an original dance work that has been performed in various theatres, alongside a short film featured in the UDANCE film showcase 2025 and was highlighted on the recent BBC Stage Stars series. A short clip can be viewed here.
This free CPD course hosted by the ISTD will bring together dancers, Emma and Denecia and facilitators, Eva and Juliet to share the learning from the project and offer strategies that dance teachers can apply within their dance community to foster inclusive creative projects.
Attendees will have the opportunity for a Q & A session at the end of the presentation and receive a resource list to support inclusive practice.
The session will be recorded and uploaded to the ISTD member area.
About the lecturers
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Juliet Diener (MA, HDE, AISTD)Juliet Diener is Founder and CEO of icandance, a Dance Movement Psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, Inclusive dance specialist, trained Cecchetti ballet teacher and a qualified specialist educator. Juliet has worked in education for over 30 years in both mainstream, special and higher education teaching, and lecturing, including leadership and consultancy roles as well as in varying community and mental health settings. Bringing together her expertise in education, dance, and psychotherapeutic approaches, Juliet founded the charity icandance in 2006. www.icandance.org.uk @icandanceuk. Juliet integrates her expertise to create, lead and research inclusive communities and is currently pursuing a Doctorate study researching the specialised approach developed at icandance. She supervises, lectures, and publishes research focusing on areas of creativity, embodied practice, dance, disability, and inclusion. Juliet is a Trustee for the ISTD and a member of their EDI advisory Board. She is a registered member of the ISTD, UKCP and ADMPUK.
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Denecia AllenDenecia has been dancing with icandance for over 10 years and is a dedicated Young Ambassador helping shape the charity’s future. She has performed at Sadler’s Wells alongside English National Ballet artist, Alice Bellini, and collaborated with designer Victoria Jenkins to create an inclusive costume for the piece. Denecia also leads workshops, speaks publicly, and performs with iam Dance Company, icandance’s youth dance company. Denecia was recognised with the Positive Impact Award at the Camden Youth Awards in 2024.
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Emma NasskauEmma has been training at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts since 2018 and is currently completing her Level 6 Diploma in Dance. In 2023, she was selected to perform for the Commonwealth, presenting work to the Ambassador of St. Kitts and Nevis. In 2024, Emma was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Fonteyn International Ballet Competition. More recently, in 2025, she collaborated with the icandance team to co-create and perform an original dance work. Emma aspires to join a contemporary or ballet company and, in the future, choreograph her own work.
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Eva Blanco (LISTD)Eva is a graduate of The Arts Educational School and a Licentiate member of the ISTD in Modern theatre and Tap dance. She started her training at The Dupont’s Stage School of dancing in Leicester and graduated from AES, Tring in 1993. Eva worked as a professional dancer, specialising in musical theatre and commercial dance in the UK and internationally. Throughout her career, Eva has performed in Tommy Steele’s ‘What a Show!’ Prince of Wales theatre, London 1996. Gaudi das Musical, Köln, Germany 1998. Boogie Nights the musical, UK tour as Tracey, 1st cover and dance captain 2001-2003. The Millennium Dome ‘OVO’ Greenwich, London 2000. Spirit of the dance, USA, UK and Asia 1998-2000. The closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics are a few of her career highlights. Eva has been teaching dance for nearly 20 years, freelancing before joining Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in September 2013 as a Modern, Jazz and Tap teacher, Choreographer, Dance GCSE & Trinity diploma (L5) and Mentor.
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Further Information
Times and dates
Please note that all course dates and times are stated in UK Time - (GMT - Greenwich Mean Time)
Closing dates
Bookings for this course will close 3 days before it is due to take place. Therefore tickets may not always be available to register via the website However, if you contact us via email coursebookings@istd.org we may be able to manually book you onto a course.
Course Prices
This course is free.
Course cancellations
Courses are subject to cancellation (up to 3 weeks in advance) if the minimum attendee numbers have not been reached. Therefore we strongly advise that all attendees book well in advance to avoid disappointment.
Lecturers
In the instance of a change to availability, we may need to find an alternative lecturer (than the one originally scheduled) to lead a course. This will not affect the content covered in the course.
Attendance
All online courses must be attended live. We do not record our sessions for future viewing or purchasing, unless otherwise stated.
CPD hours
All hours stated next to each course refer to the earned CPD hours. This will be reflected on each certificate of attendance that you will receive.
Waiting list
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Terms and conditions
Please refer to our website for the full terms and conditions of your booking, including details about refunds.
Further questions
If you have any further questions, please contact coursebookings@istd.org and a member of the CPD team will get back to you.
Booking terms and conditions
Booking conditions
Certificates of attendance will be sent to each delegate via email as a PDF document after the CPD event has taken place. The CPD hours on the certificate will reflect the time attended by the participant with time deducted for late arrival or early departure from the session.
The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing has the right to refuse bookings on the grounds of health and safety or if acceptance would contravene its Regulatory Authority Approval.
Course delegates are responsible for their own personal property and safety. Delegates must ensure that they follow the appropriate health and safety warnings, including:
- Ensuring the space is environmentally equipped and safe (i.e. proper lighting and adequate temperature).
- Having enough room to participate in the activity without there being any obvious risk of injury to the participant, to others, or risk of any damage to the surrounding property.
- Ensuring that the flooring in the room is appropriate for the activity to be undertaken.
- That no other adult is observing during the course without the prior knowledge and permission of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.
- The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing reserves the right to record any online CPD for the purpose of further training.
Filming/photography/recording of any content displayed or discussed during the online class is not permitted by any delegate.
All work displayed is the intellectual property of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing and appointed lecturers. Recording the lectures would be a breach of copyright and anyone found doing so may be removed from the session and future bookings.
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By acknowledging and agreeing to these terms, I consent to ISTD photographing or videoing me at this event. I can confirm that I have been made aware that these images or videos could be used in dance-related publications, the ISTD website, at future events, and broadcast on social media or video streaming services. I give the ISTD permission without a time limit to use this photography or video (including facial images) worldwide on any medium.
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