Royal Ballet to Include Wheelchair Dancer

Here at Allied Mobility, we were delighted to read that The Royal Ballet is encouraging inclusivity by putting on a show with a differently abled dancer. This helps recognise that being inclusive is “not just about diversity of race, but also about diversity of physical ability.’ Royal Ballet’s Draft Works, choreographed by Kristen McNally and Joe Powell, will be shown at the Greenwich and Docklands International Festival next month.

“I’m a differently abled dancer who uses a wheelchair and crutches,” says Joe Powell-Main, who will appear next month with Royal Ballet dancer Isabel Lubach in a lyrical piece created for the forthcoming International Festival.

Powell- Main Pursues his Dream

Powell-Main wants to “challenge perceptions, start conversations, and open up opportunities for other differently-abled dancers” by pursuing a dream he has had most of his life. At age four, he began taking dance classes and was admitted to the prestigious Royal Ballet School (RBS). He even played a role in a Royal Ballet production of The Nutcracker, among other works – only to find out that a condition that impaired his mobility would prevent him from becoming a professional dancer.

During his fourth year of training, he suffered injuries after a period of growth, requiring surgery on his left knee. However, complications developed, and a serious car accident further damaged his body, resulting in an end to his RBS training. At the age of 15, he thought he would never dance again because he was using a wheelchair.

Powell-Main was inspired to take up wheelchair dancing after his mother noticed a leaflet about the subject. He was previously reluctant to accept his disability. He has also danced with Ballet Cymru and won top prizes in Latin and ballroom dancing competitions. He explained ” “When I acquired my disability, I thought dance wasn’t an option for me. I thought that was completely over. Then I thought why not ballet? In terms of partnering, it’s a new way of doing things. We bend the rules quite a lot but, I feel we’re at the cutting edge of progressing ballet further to a brighter, inclusive future.”

Royal Ballet Collaborations

During the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic homecoming celebration at Wembley Arena, the Royal Ballet collaborated with him for the first time. They created a piece with Royal Ballet dancer Kristen McNally to the song Nobody Knows Me Like You Do by Birdy. Additionally, he joined the company’s platform, Draft Works, to create a new work with McNally and Alexander Campbell, the Royal Ballet principal.

He now plans to stage Sleepwalker as a 10-minute duet with Lubach at the Greenwich and Docklands International Festival, taking place on the 10th and 11th of September in Columbus Courtyard. In addition to being “really special”, Lubach said dancing with Powell-Main is “opening up refreshing possibilities, new ways of partnering, sharing weight between each other, using speed and dynamics in different ways, with his wheelchair. You get a lot of rich motion from his chair, gliding motion … It’s like an extension of his body.”

She said “He just seemed to be a very natural dancer from when he was very young … he still has it. He’s so expressive.”

Emma Southworth, the Royal Ballet’s creative producer, spoke with the Guardian about the importance of inclusivity. She emphasised that inclusion is not limited to racial diversity, but also includes a diversity of physical ability.

“We’ve accomplished a lot in terms of race and gender equality, but I want to know how disabled people fit into the picture. We’re just beginning to examine whether there are more than just physical disabilities. Do you know anything about neuro-divergence? Dance is constantly evolving, and I love to see people pushing the boundaries in their own unique ways. Great choreographers create their own unique language, and that’s what I’m looking for. Can someone in a wheelchair move in a unique way? Can a crutch become the extension of the arm? That is what I want to know. In recent years, people have wondered where all the female choreographers were, and we’ve come a long way in addressing that question. We know we need to explore the field of physical disability. If we want to be properly inclusive, we must look at how we work with disabled performers and creatives”.

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