Sample-NDIS Goals for Autism Ideas to Benefit NDIS Recipients InsideOutside Dance
Written by: Rhonda Valentine Dixon
No doubt about it. Nowadays people realise what an exciting and worthwhile activity dance is for our differently abled young people. Here is a local studio where your NDIS recipient can take part in a welcoming and fun learning environment while crossing off specific NDIS goals. Your young person may have goals around
making friends and maintaining friendships
gaining confidence
reciprocal communication
or perhaps simply exercising.
This Brisbane based registered charitable organisation is a public benevolent institution (PBI) run by Rosanne Stuart, a businesswoman with strong community and business ties locally and overseas.
While Rosanne runs the business, her daughter, Madeline, is InsideOutside Dance’s founder and ambassador. Madeline is an international multi-award-winning advocate for diversity and inclusion. She has built a reputation in the fields of beauty and fashion and is the world’s first acclaimed actress and model with Down Syndrome. Her talents as a dancer have been recognised and she added her London stage debut to her accomplishments in 2019.
InsideOutside Dance offers affordable high energy classes in fitness and a variety of dance styles to children, teens and adults with a disability. Drama is also taught and the opportunity to participate in on stage performances is available. Students learn valuable life skills including:
Confidence
Socialisation
Communication
Teamwork
Leadership
Self-awareness
While InsideOutside Dance welcomes students of all abilities, as classes progress the differences in capabilities indicate that more able students require greater challenges, so they tend to move on to other schools.
Rosanne said, “We don’t progress to subsequent routines until the first is learned completely. In this way our school is very nurturing for the less able students.”
I asked Rosanne if differently abled students begin with a support worker, and if so, was the worker able to move away from supporting in time.
“It’s purely a personal thing,” Rosanne answered. “A lot of dancers want independence, so the support people go off together for coffee, but there are others who always dance with a worker. A carer can keep the student on task and distractions to a minimum. Then there are workers who always stay for safety reasons because their client has epilepsy or some other medical condition that may require immediate intervention if an issue arises.”
Rosanne added that InsideOutside Dance allows parents and support workers to stay in the class providing they do not distract the dancers or teachers. After a while parents and workers recognise that the school is a safe environment, and the students experience immense fun with new-found friends. Carers have no compunction in pulling away when this happens. This is something Rosanne is very proud of.
InsideOutside Dance teaches mindfulness. This simply means the students are taught to pay attention to what is happening around them in the moment; of being aware of all their senses.
Rosanne strongly feels that mindfulness was the reason for Madeline’s success as Australia’s first model and actress with Down Syndrome. Because Madeline focussed well in her dance classes; because she learned to listen and follow directions; because she became fitter and lost weight, her confidence increased markedly.
It became Madeline’s goal to give to others the gift of confidence she received through dance. And she wanted others to experience the joy of dancing as well. So InsideOutside Dance was born.
The school has an impressive faculty of teachers and instructors, including one who is blind and another who is autistic. Rosanne believes that to be truly inclusive, the organisation must offer more than a service.
“You also have to immerse yourself in the world of the differently abled; have people with unique abilities in the company as well. Only people with disabilities can truly understand what living with a disability means. Our differently abled staff members are the key to ensuring the services we offer are what the public asks for, and the way we offer our programme benefits all.”
The teacher who is legally blind has a degree in Graphic Art. She does all the marketing material for InsideOutside, relief teaches dance, and handles all the new students when Rosanne is away.
The young man with autism is the Australian Champion in Just Dance. He is a favourite with the students because he breaks complex moves down to ensure all the dancers learn them. When his students perform at showcase events, they always stand out. Rosanne receives amazing feedback regarding this young man’s professionalism and teaching.
The interests and achievements of all the teachers enrich the school and serve to encourage students to accomplish their goals.
For class prices, timetables and venues see details on the website www.insideoutsidedance.com
Class Styles include: –
Beginner Yoga
Fitness
Hip Hop
Hip Hop & Robot
Contemporary
Jazz & Cabaret
Musical Theatre
Drama
Movement & Drumming
Kids Dance
Opportunities to perform occur throughout the year and there is an impressive number of events students have participated in listed on the website. This will give you an idea of the possibilities for your young person.
INSIDEOUTSIDE DANCE
Published on October 14, 2019
Words by Farhana Subuhan
InsideOutside Dance is a NDIS registered not for profit dance school offering dance classes for people with disabilities. The school’s ambassador and founder is international model Madeline Stuart, the world’s first supermodel with Down Syndrome.
Madeline believes dance provides students with confidence, social skills and fitness. Her mother and manager, Rosanne Stuart, helps Madeline facilitate at the school. Rosanne has been directing companies for the past 16 years. She completed her degree in Building Surveying in 1999 through James Cook University and was presented with Business women of the year in 2013. Currently, she owns four companies and her passion for working in the field of disability runs deeply.
The dance school works with disabilities, providing them with opportunities to learn a variety of dance styles and engage in performances and workshops. InsideOutside Dance school launched in February 2016 and now has more than 100 students at nine venues across North and West Brisbane. Over the past two years, they have secured performance opportunities at The Special Olympics dinner dance, The All Ability Balls in Hervey Bay and Bundaberg and Access Arts end of year event and the Royal Ballet.
Students who enrol in the dance school are given the opportunity to learn, create and explore new skills and techniques through dance. The dance teachers are all highly educated professionals who can teach both hip hop and contemporary genres of dance. Students who are committed, passionate and talented in dance are also offered the opportunity to join the performance crew. Moreover, their highly regarded performance crew attend and participate in shows and events across the country throughout the year. They currently offer their services in Kippa Ring, Mt Gravatt, Ashgrove, Jindalee, Brisbane CBD, Caboolture, Maroochydore and now Thornlands and will soon be opening up classes in Gold Coast and in Logan as well.
The team plan to expand the organisation to 30 locations by the end of 2020 with dance opportunities for every person with a disability.
Maddy moves to open special needs dance studio
Written by Anna Hartley 27th Oct 2015 12:00 PM
AFTER dominating the catwalk at New York Fashion Week and spreading the message of social inclusion world-wide, Mount Crosby teen Madeline Stuart is ready for her next challenge.
The young model and dancer is the ambassador for the InsideOutside Dance Ensemble, which supports young people with disabilities who want to join the dance industry.
Madeline’s mum and manager Rosanne Stuart said there were no dance classes specifically designed for special needs students which is why Maddy was helping InsideOutside Dance Ensemble open a studio in Ipswich.
“We need to find a dance studio with a mirrored wall that fits about 22 students and we’re looking for volunteer teachers as well.
“At this stage we would be looking at teaching contemporary and hip hop.
“Dance is great for people with disabilities. It helps with coordination, fitness, friendship and it’s just fun. Maddy loves it.”
Sheru Shares Inspiration through Hip-Hop in Woolloongabba
Sheru Bharadwaja of Morningside has just launched a new hip-hop class in Woolloongabba which will help persons with disabilities to stay fit. Mr Bharadwaja will help these usually “dance-shy” individuals to be confident, despite their disabilities.
Mr Bharadwaja, who once feared the idea of dancing, claims that through hip-hop, his life has changed greatly. From a shy nerd, he became a social butterfly. According to him, he got interested in hip-hop when he saw a video of someone dancing hip-hop, and then a few days after, a street performer doing the same. After some reflection, he decided to give it a go.
Within a year, Mr Bharadwaja decided to give up his day job in order to become a dance teacher. Today, Mr Bharadwaja is part of an inclusive dance studio called InsideOutside. The studio caters to people who have mental and/or physical disabilities through their dance ensemble project. Launched in August 2015, the project encourages those with disabilities to build up new skills. According to him, hip-hop helps people to develop some life skills and stay connected with each other.
InsideOutside’s overall aim is “to create a performance platform where emerging artists with disability can learn, create, explore and perform a body of work.” The studio hopes to eventually go on tour with the dance ensemble regionally, nationally, and internationally.
InsideOutside currently has almost 20 classes. Students with disabilities are taught hip-hop, contemporary, aerial, and experimental dances in secured studios. During the joyful classes, Mr Bharadwaja said that these students “grow in confidence, learn new skills and make friends.”
Dancing Queen! Down Syndrome model Madeline Stuart and her boyfriend get their groove on as she is announced as the ambassador for inclusive dance company
By Lauren Ingram For Daily Mail Australia Published: 17:02 AEDT, 1 February 2016
Model and darling of New York Fashion Week, Madeline Stuart, is back in the spotlight for a slightly different reason this week after being announced as the ambassador for an inclusive dance company InsideOutside.
The Queensland-based dance and theatre company, which works with people with disabilities and dementia. They have just launched Dance Ensemble, a new project to empower young people with disabilities so they can have the training to work professionally in the dance industry.
Madeline was one of the founding dancers of Dance Ensemble, and showed off her moves with her boyfriend at the company’s launch in Brisbane over the weekend with other young dancers with disabilities.
‘InsideOutside was a way to help people with disabilities express themselves creatively,’ Angela told Daily Mail Australia.
The company has a number of different choreographers who work with the young dancers, mentoring and advising them as well as teaching them to dance. They work with a number of different styles, including aerial, contemporary dance, hip hop and experimental dance.
‘The power of theatre and dance is that anyone can do it. Everybody can dance, everybody can move something. We focus on the movement that people have got, and adapt moves for that.’
‘Madeline wants other young people to have the same opportunities and chances she had to succeed. We feel so blessed to have her as an ambassador,’ Angel said. The company hopes to train some of its dancers to become choreographers, both for Dance Ensemble itself, and other professional dance companies.
With no student fees, Dance Ensemble is supported by grants and a crowdfunding campaign, which is hoping to raise $20,000. ‘We’d really love anyone who can help out to donate, every little bit counts,’ Angela said.
The program is currently running in four locations, Brisbane CBD, Caboolture, Ipswich and Jindalee, but Angela hopes to one day expand nationally. She wants the program to be available in the regions as well as the city, because services for young people with disabilities can be difficult to find in the country.
‘The overall aim is to create a professional performance platform where emerging artists with disability can learn, create, explore and perform and devise a body of work which we can tour regionally, nationally and hopefully internationally,’ Angela said.
‘In the future we also want to create a blueprint for parents to use and run the programs themselves. All you need is a hall and people to set it up.’
Madeline is jetting off to the United States to walk in New York Fashion Week, but will be dancing with InsideOutside whenever she can. She’s the first model with Down syndrome to walk twice at NYFW.
Madeline’s mum, Rosanne Stuart, said that their aim was for Madeline to walk in Milan and Tokyo fashion weeks later in 2016.
Inspirational story: Prettiest Model, Madeline Stuart
By Hadil Arja
Our story begins with the “love chromosome”, which is an extra chromosome with which people with Down syndrome are born. 23-year-old Madeline Stuart from Brisbane, Australia, has this chromosome.
But why do we call this extra chromosome causing Down syndrome the “love chromosome”? In short, Madeline’s story inspired this name. Both the model and her mother consider it to be something special and a strong reason to achieve the former’s dream of becoming a shining star in the biggest fashion shows.
She invested her success in supporting charity organizations to offer help to anyone with the love chromosome.
Let’s now move to the first chapter of Madeline’s inspiring story.
The Beginning: Weight loss of 20 kilograms
In a cold day in late 2015, Madeline attended a fashion parade with her mother in their home city, Brisbane, in Australia. It was such an unforgettable day for her — a day that changed the course of her life.
“I found everything to be charming: the designs and the models. I uttered three simple words to my mum: ‘Mum, me model!’,” Madeline shared with Tiny Hand.
“If you want to become one, I will fully support you!” the mother replied.
And this is what exactly happened.
Madeline’s adventure started when she started to lose weight to be able to pursue her catwalk dream. She went on a healthy diet, worked out, and eventually lost 20 kilograms.
The moment she posted her “before and after” photos online, her story went viral. It took only days for the photos to be viewed over 6.8 million times.
By posting these photos, both the mother and her daughter sought “to encourage other people with Down syndrome to lead a happy and healthy life,” the Australian model pointed out.
Not much time passed until Madeline’s phone started to ring continuously to receive modeling offers from three fashion brands.
Few weeks later, she made a career leap after receiving another phone call in response to her photos which spread virally on social media.
At this time, Madeline started to work without a break to become a brilliant star in the fashion constellation.
Q: For Madeline and her family, what does it mean to become the first model with Down syndrome?
A: It is such an amazing thing! But we don’t think about it in this way. Madeline has worked hard to make a good career for herself in fashion and to succeed in gaining a prestigious position like the one she attained today. She shows deep gratitude and happiness to become a source of inspiration for others to pursue their dreams.
Madeline Starts to Walk on Runways
“I closed my eyes and took a deep breath while wearing a dress designed by South African designer Hendrik Vermeulen. Everything was extremely stunning just like the most talented and modest designer,” Madeline narrated.
She walked confidently along the catwalk to catch everyone’s eyes with both her beauty and confidence.
For her first show, Stuart walked at New York Fashion Week. This was the starting point of her modeling journey. It was the first time in her life to feel that “she is under the spotlight and everyone appreciates her.”
After the New York show, she started to receive modelling offers to appear at fashion shows in France, Italy, United Kingdom, China, Dubai, and other places as well. Her photos appeared on the covers of the world’s most famous fashion magazines.
When asked about her experience in the fashion world which is rife with fame-caused problems, she told Tiny Hand that it is often thought that the people with Down syndrome are fragile; but in reality, they are strong and struggle hard to achieve their goals!”
“We resolve any problem we face in the fashion world using the same technique: We show kindness when dealing with kind people and defend what is right,” the Australian model added.
The Most Important Chapter in Madeline’s Life: Philanthropy
Madeline continues to be one of the most successful examples in the fashion world. Although she does not describe herself as one, she has undoubtedly become a pioneer in the fashion industry.
She is the first professional model with Down syndrome to become the face of a cosmetics company, the owner of a line of handbags called “The Madeline”, and the first disabled fashion model to walk along a big catwalk in Paris.
All this phenomenal success brings faith and hope to the hearts of people who struggle to discover the reason why the seemingly-insurmountable obstacles hindering the achievement of their goals do exist.
Having all this in her mind, Madeline shouldered the responsibility for helping others.
To achieve this, she started to offer help to people with disabilities by establishing the InsideOutside Dance Ensemble. Speaking to Tiny Hand about the ensemble, Madeline said, “It gives people with different levels of disabilities chances to learn a variety of dance styles and offers them numerous performance opportunities.”
“The ensemble is not only an educational environment where I meet new friends; it also enhances people’s self-confidence, fitness, and social skills,” she added.
Madeline tries to seize any opportunity to raise awareness about the people with Down syndrome. The international model visited Uganda and used fashion to spread awareness for children with disabilities. In some villages in Uganda, people kill children with disabilities simply because the latter are autistic or have Down syndrome.
During her visit, Madeline appeared on local TV channels sharing her story with the public. She also took part in support groups in several schools.
Her visit had a significant impact. Around 50 families having disabled children finally found enough courage to end a lockdown at home that has lasted through many years because they had been frightened that their children might be killed.
Madeline’s inspiring story gave these families the support they need to stop hiding and lead a normal life leaving behind any fear that others might fail to recognize and appreciate the amazing spirits of their disabled children.
Q: What was your intention behind supporting tens of nonprofit organizations and organizing fashion shows to make generous donations to the charity?
A: We all deserve to feel loved and appreciated. All people have their own unique characteristics. No one should be ignored or excluded.
Unfortunately, many people with disabilities feel they don’t belong to any place. This is what I want to change so that everyone would gain appreciation.
Time to End Stay-at-Home Status
Like millions of people around the world, Madeline has been voluntarily confining herself by staying at home after COVID-19 spread everywhere. She decided to gradually end her 3-month-long stay-at-home status to resume her daily routine while abiding by the social distancing rules, she noted.
Maybe her daily routine would be slightly different than before the COVID-19 outbreak, but what is certain is that she will continue “to do a daily workout, go to the dance ensemble, and meet her friends.”
“I miss travel and busy workdays which have today been slackened by the coronavirus. I used to wake up early in the morning, do my hair and makeup, take photos, walk along the runway, participate in fashion shows, and have interviews,” she narrated.
She eagerly waits for life to go back to normal so that she can resume her work, continue to change people’s view on the fashion world, and enhance diversity in this industry. She also wishes she will one day walk along the catwalk wearing the designs of the most renowned Tommy Hilfiger, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, or Versace.
That is not everything! She is also eager to become an iconic model just like Karlie Kloss. “For me, Kloss is a role model because she is beautiful inside and out and encourages people to believe in themselves. This is such a wonderful characteristic that wins admiration. She is also a successful fashion model who has inspired and supported her colleagues,” Madeline pointed out.
Although the Australian modeling star still has a lot of dreams she strives to realize, each story shared and discussed will certainly be a source of inspiration and a lesson in the achievement of success.
“Indeed, the world would suffer a tremendous loss if it fails to fully appreciate the people with Down syndrome. These people laugh more cheerfully and heartily and love unconditionally. My advice is to appreciate and support them.”
