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Intimate documentary “Everybody Dance” beautifully showcases life-changing program for disabled dancers.

By Michelle Swope on February 28, 2025 • ( 1 )

People who live with disabilities are often made to feel invisible. In fact, society in general considers people with disabilities to be disposable, many times not wanting to even be reminded of their existence, when all people who live with limitations want is to be seen like anyone else and not have their disability define them. Accessibility is often an issue, whether it’s access to adequate healthcare, education, or events. If disabled people don’t advocate for themselves, usually no one else will, and that adds to the anxiety and stress that comes with living day to day with any kind of physical or mental limitation. I know all this because I have been disabled for a decade and I’m the parent of a neurodivergent child. For anyone with any kind of disability, the struggle is real. So, it’s especially heartening when someone does something to lift up those of us living with disabilities and make sure we feel seen, not for our limitations, but as human beings. Director Dan Watt’s (Women of Dance) wonderful new documentary Everybody Dance, which profiles the Ballet for All Kids Program, captures how encouraging those with disabilities to operate outside their comfort zone in a supportive environment can be invigorating, life-changing, and incredibly meaningful to everyone involved.

Two dancers in the Ballet for All Kids Program help each other stretch before the recital in the documentary EVERYBODY DANCE.

Everybody Dance follows a group of disabled children and young adults who are part of the Ballet for All Kids Program as they rehearse for a recital. The dancers all live with varying disabilities ranging from physical limitations, like those in wheelchairs, to some who are on the autism spectrum and exhibit neurological and cognitive challenges. Watt beautifully captures the dancers as they practice their dance moves for the big day when they will perform in front of an audience, including their families. It’s an anxiety-inducing, but ultimately satisfying process for the students, who not only feel seen as dancers and artists, but also as human beings.

Ballet slippers worn by the dancers in the Ballet for All Kids Program in the documentary EVERYBODY DANCE.

Bonnie Schlachte has degrees in both dance and psychology and founded the Ballet for All Kids Program in 2008, utilizing what she calls the Schlachte method, a teaching style designed to assist all children, regardless of disabilities or weaknesses. Assisted by a troupe of teenage volunteers, Schlachte’s curriculum incorporates props and words and addresses each student on an individual basis, taking into account those with auditory or processing difficulties who might learn or think in pictures. Everybody Dance thoughtfully profiles various dancers in the program, as well as their families, as they prepare for the recital. Emotions run high in the rehearsals as the students learn to overcome not only their physical and cognitive limitations, but also the anxiety and fear that comes with vulnerability.

Through Schlacte’s instruction and encouragement, the students learn how to dance while improving their self-esteem, confidence, and motor abilities. Watt graciously showcases intimate conversations with dancers and their families which are enlightening, sometimes fun, and brutally honest — disabled kids have the same feelings and thoughts as any other kid. When the day of the recital comes, some of the dancers struggle with meltdowns and question their abilities, but, ultimately, the program is transformative for the students and validates them as artists and human beings. Everybody Dance succeeds in masterfully highlighting the fact that our disabilities do not define us.