On 17 December 2007, the award-winning UK dance company, Northern Ballet Theatre (NBT) came to Beijing to run a workshop for young people with, and without, disabilities.

The workshop was organised in partnership with the British Council, operating as the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy in Beijing, and the China Disabled Persons Federation (CDPF).

Twenty students, aged 18-25 years, from the Beijing Union University took part in the week-long workshop. The participants were not professional dancers, and half of the group were disabled people nominated for the workshop by the CDPF. The rest of the group were able-bodied student teachers, training to teach people with disabilities. The workshop aimed to improve the participants' communication skills through dance.

NBT's Learning and Access department ran the dance workshop from 17- 21 December and the dance company performed Madam Butterfly at the city's Poly Theatre from 21-23 December.

The dance workshop was the first event of the Young Advocates Programme – Developing the Paralympic Spirit. This is a British Council led initiative to secure an international legacy to China's 2008 and the UK's 2012 Paralympic Games. The Young Advocates Programme aims to develop skills in a core group of young people and through them raise awareness of the potential of sport to benefit a diverse range of people in the community. The disabled dance workshop participants will become Young Advocates and take on a volunteer leadership role in their community to promote the Paralympic Spirit and the inclusion of young people with disabilities in sport.

Samantha Grainger, Acting Director British Council Beijing, said:

"Giving people the confidence to expand their communications skills is invaluable. The more effectively we can communicate with one another the more we can understand each other.

"Through this workshop's interactive process we hope creative ways of developing communication and leadership will be embedded with all project participants.

"The participants will have the confidence to express their ideas, explore their own potential and to raise awareness, in their community, of the Paralympic Spirit and of importance of social inclusion."

Selina McGonagle, Director of Learning and Access at NBT, said:

"NBT has an ongoing commitment to working with disabled people and has built a strong track record in doing so. Dance is the only art form to use non-verbal communication as its primary means of expression. 80% of daily communication is non–verbal and this workshop focused on how we can develop this physical vocabulary with participants.

"We hope this project has proved to be inspirational for the participants, and that it has helped them to develop their physical communications skills We also hope that the project will leave a legacy for dance in Beijing through equipping teachers and community leaders with the skills they need to deliver dance for people with and without disabilities in the future."

The dance workshop was supported by several organisations involved with Beijing's disabled community; especially the Beijing Disabled Persons Activity Centre, which provided the workshop venue, and the Special Education College of Beijing Union University, which had a vital role in the recruitment of the participants.