Today we are in Bristol to talk to Katie Sparkes MBE about the charity she founded and leads - Flamingo Chicks. A fantastic organisation, committed to breaking down barriers to social inclusion through dance, or as they put it, ballet not barriers ! Our Head of Communications, Luke Upton, caught up with Katie, who has over 20 years’ experience in our sector, but whose connection with the charity is a deeply personal one.

Luke Upton (LU): Thank you for the time today, could you give us a little intro to the work of Flamingo Chicks and community that you serve?

Katie Sparkes (KS): No problem, Luke, Flamingo Chicks is a multi-award-winning national charity and inclusive community delivering ground-breaking programmes that give disabled children the opportunity to dance. We have five core pillars: inclusive dance classes, peer-to-peer support, intergenerational volunteering, youth-led advocacy and global outreach. These pillars unite to drive systemic change for a fairer and more inclusive society. We have become a national force championing inclusion for disabled children. 35,323 children have danced with us since we began 10 years ago.

LU: Brilliant, how has your focus changed and developed?

KS: I founded Flamingo Chicks ( @FlamingoChicks )  inspired by my daughter Poppy who has cerebral palsy. We are so passionate about creating inclusive opportunities where disabled children can enjoy dance and movement, alongside friends.  Magic and sparkle remain at the heart of all we do, creating fantastical worlds of wonder to immerse and inspire. To build on this, last year, we launched our new Performance Deconstructed project - a unique fusion of dance, performance, and advocacy delivered from an enchanting mobile pop up stage with interconnecting sensory canopy.  We’ve been able to take this out on tour and have now delivered 45 shows, reaching 648 children. It is packed full of sensory props, textured fabrics, emotive smells, and mountains of colourful costumes and props to ignite confidence, imagination and curiosity.

LU: What an impact! You received funding from National Grid and Localgiving’s Community Matters Fund last year. Tell us some more about the project it helped find and what it aims to deliver.

KS: We were able to run 140 regular inclusive dance classes with 306 disabled children in special schools, hospices and community settings transporting children worlds of wonder through immersive backdrops, colourful equipment, magical storytelling, music and our unique adapted blend of movement. Our approach is unique: we use communication aids alongside adapted movement and multi-sensory elements to ensure ALL children can participate.

LU: How important is the support you’ve received from Localgiving and National Grid?

KS: Dance is a proven way of engaging and inspiring children with complex needs. Our sessions cater for ALL disabled children, including those with Down’s syndrome & cerebral palsy, autistic children, visually impaired children and those with long-term health conditions. Every child who dances with us is an active participant.  Not only does it improve physical wellbeing but there are many other benefits too, including improvements in speech and language, forging friendships, confidence and independence.   A huge thank you to Localgiving and National Grid for supporting us!

LU: Funding aside, what would most help you in 2024?

KS: 2024 has been an incredible year for us so far.  We’ve held a 24-hour dance festival, our youth advocates took over Downing Street training up cabinet office staff on our inclusive techniques and our on-demand Olympics/Paralympics virtual active learning dance class saw 9000 children dance with us.  We have some big plans coming up for 2025, all around the theme of nature. We’d love any contacts or connections who could help bring wow to our classes and workshops – especially people working in conservation who might like to visit a class or support our class plan creation.

And finally, we are currently running a very exciting campaign called ‘It takes two to tutu’!  A host of celebrities including Amy Dowden, Lorraine Kelly, Andy Day and Angela Rippon all designed beautiful tutus for us and they are now available to buy here.

LU: Wonderful, if anyone can help bring the “wow” to classes or workshops or just want to get in touch with Katie and the team, click here.