BLINK Dance Theatre

What BLINK Dance Theatre does

BLINK Dance Theatre is a UK-registered charity (No. 1208838) founded in 2013, operating as a neurodiverse-led performing arts organisation. The company designs and delivers multi-sensory, immersive dance theatre productions and participatory workshops for three primary beneficiary groups: children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in schools and day centres; adults aged 16+ with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD); and neurodivergent and learning disabled artists seeking leadership and career development in the arts sector. Its core productions include FOUR CORNERS (full-length dance theatre), GIRL MEETS BOY (incorporating the world's first known MAKATON iPad rap-poetry), ELVIS DIED OF BURGERS, BEAT-FLYS (sensory immersive work for PMLD audiences), PULL UP (a music-led project), and It's My Move (Theatre in Education with Forum Theatre methodology).

The underlying 'technology' is human-delivered rather than algorithmic: BLINK employs Total Communication methodologies integrating MAKATON signing, picture symbols, gesture, and Intensive Interaction techniques, with all performances delivered as relaxed performances with integrated BSL interpretation. The BEAT-FLYS production is capped at 7-12 PMLD audience members plus carers (14-24 total), reflecting the high-touch, low-throughput model. The organisation reaches approximately 700 audience members per major tour (e.g., ELVIS DIED OF BURGERS 2023, 7 venues, 6 cities) and over 200 SEND students annually through school partnerships.

Revenue is generated through a hybrid charitable model: multi-year grants from Arts Council England (National Portfolio status since 2023), Paul Hamlyn Foundation (£114k over three years), Big Lottery Community Fund, Youth Music, Spirit of 2012, and other trusts; public donations via website preset tiers (£5-£50 and custom); commissioned site-specific works from venues and institutions (Wellcome Collection, Battersea Arts Centre); workshop and training fees for schools, day centres, universities, and arts organisations; and performance/touring fees. The company operates from a Cultural Anchor Tenant space at Space 52, New Mansion Square, Nine Elms, London, with a small team of approximately 12-15 staff and a board of six trustees.

Name

BLINK Dance Theatre

Legal name

BLINK Dance Theatre

Website

https://blinkdancetheatre.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

BLINK Dance Theatre is a UK neurodiverse-led charity creating multi-sensory, immersive performances and workshops for SEND communities, PMLD adults, and learning disabled artists, funded through grants, donations, and service fees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Funding: BLINK is a registered charity (number 1208838) that relies heavily on grant funding from Arts Council England (National Portfolio), Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Big Lottery Community Fund, and other charitable trusts. They also accept public donations through their website with various preset amounts (£5, £10, £20, £50) and custom amounts, on a one-time, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual basis.
2. Workshop and Training Fees: Revenue from running professional development training sessions for artists and professionals, CPD sessions for SEND teachers, INSET training for school staff, and workshops for schools, day centres, youth clubs and other organisations. Training is available to any arts or non-arts organisation wishing to be more inclusive.
3. Performance and Workshop Bookings: Income from theatre performances, venue bookings, and participatory workshops. Productions are available for touring to venues and festivals. They provide Theatre in Education shows for SEND schools and colleges.
4. Venue and Arts Organisation Commissions: BLINK receives commissions from venues and arts organisations including Battersea Arts Centre, Wellcome Collection, and others for creating site-specific works and performances.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

BLINK Dance Theatre creates and tours multi-sensory, immersive dance theatre productions featuring original live music, dance, and storytelling for and with learning disabled and neurodivergent artists. They deliver participatory workshops for schools, day centres, youth clubs, and community organisations, and provide professional development training in inclusive arts practice for educators, artists, and venues. Performances include relaxed formats with integrated BSL interpretation and MAKATON communication, addressing audiences with SEND and Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD).

Product overview

BLINK Dance Theatre is a neurodiverse-led performing arts organization that creates multi-sensory, immersive performances and workshops. Their portfolio includes multiple named productions: FOUR CORNERS (dance theatre with live music), GIRL MEETS BOY (dating/comedy show with MAKATON rap-poetry), ELVIS DIED OF BURGERS (semi-improvised food-themed performance), BEAT-FLYS (sensory immersive show for adults with PMLD), PULL UP (Delson Weekes's music project with album and animation performances), It's My Move (Theatre in Education for SEND schools), and Wink Murder (murder mystery). Alongside productions, they offer workshops for schools and community settings, and professional development training for artists and organizations in inclusive arts practice. The company operates as a single unified offering rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• FOUR CORNERS A full-length dance theatre production that weaves together dance, original live music, and storytelling, following four strangers whose worlds begin to tangle out of control. Created with mentoring from Jacky Lansley through Dance Research Studio.
• GIRL MEETS BOY An adventurous and radical show about the complexity of dating and finding love, featuring an energetic blend of uninhibited dance, bespoke beats, intimate storytelling, and the world's first known MAKATON iPad rap-poetry.
• ELVIS DIED OF BURGERS A semi-improvised, non-linear production exploring the hilarity and tragedy of overeating through dancing, rapping, and rhyming about food, memories, and relationships to eating.
• BEAT-FLYS A fresh sensory and immersive show for adults with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities, featuring beatboxers and a fantastical journey with costumes, props, and set pieces. Audience limited to 7-12 individuals with PMLD and their carers.
• PULL UP A project led by Co-Director Delson Weekes featuring an 11-track concept album inspired by Jamaican heritage, combining reggae and dancehall with experimental electronic beats, accompanied by track-by-track animation performances.
• It's My Move

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 700 audience members reached during 2023 ELVIS DIED OF BURGERS tour across 7 venues in 6 cities
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and regional.

• Beatbox Academy (Battersea Arts Centre)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFirst-time collaboration between BLINK and Beatbox Academy to create BEAT-FLYS, a sensory immersive show for adults with PMLD. Beatboxers create the soundtrack to the audience's journey. Conrad Murray is Artistic Director of BAC Beatbox Academy.
• Face Front Inclusive TheatrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing collaboration on Theatre in Education project 'It's My Move' which travels to SEND schools and colleges, using Forum Theatre style to help learning disabled students with transition and self-advocacy.
• Goldsmiths CollegecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBLINK teaches regularly on Masters programmes in Applied Theatre. Supported Four Corners national tour and PULL UP project. Mentoring from Jacky Lansley through Dance Research Studio.
• Central School of Speech and DramacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBLINK teaches regularly on Masters programmes in Applied Theatre. Host placement students from the course. Supported SEND school shows and workshops.
• Battersea Arts CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommissioned BLINK for multiple residencies including Dark Room residency (produced by China Plate), Battersea Arts Centre Commission exploring magic, and ongoing collaboration through Beatbox Academy partnership. BLINK joined NYT as Associate Company with BAC involvement.
• Wellcome CollectionmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommissioned BLINK to create 2 site-specific works for Festival of Minds and Bodies: 'GIRL MEETS BOY: unravelled' in the Reading Room and interactive installation 'TANGLED' in the Play Well exhibition, with 133 audience interactions.
• Lyric HammersmithcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMain London venue for BLINK performances including Four Corners. Hosted Wink Murder performance and ongoing partnership including POLLINATE pilot programme with NEET Alumni participants.
• Hackney EmpireregionalChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorVenue for Four Corners national tour and planned venue for POLLINATE programme expansion in East London.
• China Plate TheatrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProduced BLINK's Dark Room residency and organised support sessions during COVID-19 pandemic for emerging and smaller producers. Part of the Advisory Group supporting BLINK.
• TourettesherocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on Festival of Rest and Resistance at Battersea Arts Centre, co-programming at Shambala Festival with Rebel Soul events. Partnership includes relaxed performance revolution work and biscuit Land Cabaret collaboration.
• Redbridge Drama CentrecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorVenue for GIRL MEETS BOY R&D and Four Corners national tour. Supported DRIVE THRU project. Ongoing venue partnership offering space in kind.
• Shape ArtscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey contact for Unlimited Commission, provided support for PULL UP professional development research and mentoring. Collaborated on artist development for learning disabled artists.
• Peabody and Battersea Power StationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBLINK successful in bid to become Cultural Anchor Tenants at 'Space 52' at New Mansion Square, their new home base from early 2024. Supported by this major regeneration project.
• National Youth TheatremajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBLINK appointed as one of NYT's new Associate Companies in 2022, joining existing Associate Company The PappyShow. Two-year collaboration to create opportunities for learning disabled young artists and champion inclusive practice.
• Jack Tizard SchoolcoreOthersRegular ongoing partnership delivering original theatre productions and creative movement workshops for students with SEND from early years to sixth form. Supported return in Summer 2020 and development of RECONNECT mental health programme.
• Brookfield House SchoolcoreOthersRegular ongoing partnership creating 4 original school shows annually for students with SEND, engaging over 200 students.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• StopGAP Dance Company: StopGAP is a UK inclusive dance company creating work with disabled and non-disabled dancers, with a strong participation and training arm. Comparable to BLINK in its integration of disabled and non-disabled performers and its focus on inclusive dance as artistic practice rather than therapy.
• Corali Dance Company: Corali is a London-based dance company specifically for learning-disabled artists. Like BLINK it creates original dance work with learning-disabled performers, delivers participatory programmes for SEND audiences, and operates from a small team model — making it a highly comparable specialist peer.
• Candoco Dance Company: Candoco is the UK's leading disabled and non-disabled professional dance company. It is the closest direct peer to BLINK: a UK-based inclusive dance company producing narrative dance theatre, touring to major venues, running participation programmes, and offering professional training — with a comparable mission around disability-led and integrated practice.
• Mind the Gap: Mind the Gap is a West Yorkshire-based learning-disability performing arts company producing original theatre, touring nationally, and running training and participation programmes for learning-disabled artists and audiences. Comparable to BLINK in target population, programme mix, and touring model.
• Graeae Theatre Company: Graeae is the UK's leading disabled-led theatre company, producing touring theatre, Theatre in Education, and talent development programmes. Although theatre-led rather than dance-led, it overlaps closely with BLINK in mission (disabled-led creative leadership), audience (SEND/PMLD), and partnership ecosystem (BAC, Lyric Hammersmith, NYT).
• Diverse City: Diverse City is a UK inclusive performance company creating touring work with disabled and non-disabled performers and delivering participatory programmes. Comparable to BLINK in its inclusive-by-design ethos, touring model, and focus on participation alongside professional production.

Broad incumbents

• Rambert: Rambert is the UK's flagship contemporary dance company, touring nationally and internationally with a large ensemble and significant ACE NPO funding. Not disability-led, but a broad incumbent in the same contemporary dance touring space and a useful scale benchmark for UK dance-company operations.
• English National Ballet: English National Ballet is a major UK dance institution with national touring, learning and participation programmes, and ACE NPO status. Provides a useful scale and infrastructure benchmark for BLINK's potential national touring and education reach, though ENB's classical/neoclassical remit is distinct from BLINK's inclusive dance-theatre practice.

Others

• Shape Arts: Shape Arts is a disability-led arts organisation that supports deaf and disabled artists through training, resources, and the Unlimited commissioning programme (which has funded BLINK's PULL UP). Not a direct producing peer but a sectoral enabler and frequent collaborator relevant to BLINK's ecosystem.

Emerging players

• Extant Theatre: Extant is the UK's only professional performing arts company led by visually impaired artists. Smaller in scale and narrower in remit than BLINK but comparable in mission around disabled-led practice, touring, and access-focussed methodology.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Customer concentration

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• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/blinkdancetheatre

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about BLINK Dance Theatre