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Moving Together: Surrey Place Clients Experience Inclusive Ballet

JANUARY 27, 2026

On Sunday, October 5, 2025, Surrey Place clients and caregivers joined the National Ballet of Canada for a special ballet workshop. Surrey Place volunteer Emma Randall provided a summary of the day’s events:

In a ballet studio at Queens Quay and Spadina at the Walter Carsen Centre for The National Ballet of Canada, with live piano music and laughter, 12 participants stretched, breathed and moved together with instructor and Senior Teaching Artist, Anne-Marie Cabri. The partnership between Surrey Place and The National Ballet of Canada offered a free, inclusive multi-sensory workshop.

The class wasn’t about perfecting the dance but making movement accessible and fun.

I think anyone who wants to do it should be able to. It’s safe; it’s judgement free. Even people who were hesitant at the beginning felt comfortable at the end.

Terri Hewitt, Surrey Place CEO

Cabri has spent years teaching creative access in dance and leading workshops with the National Ballet, making sure her classes welcome people of all abilities and comfort levels. 

It’s common to see people arrive shy or unsure, then they start to let go through natural movement patterns that touch our nervous system and spirit. I love to see that magic happen.

Instructor and Senior Teaching Artist, Anne-Marie Cabri

Her teaching draws on brain-compatible dance education, a training she learned earlier in her career. She uses a movement chart she made herself, which can be used to calm or energize the participants and prepare them to dance. 

It’s a non-medicated movement tool that can take away stress. It can be done in three minutes or over a whole class, and I use it every time I teach.

Instructor and Senior Teaching Artist, Anne-Marie Cabri

As the class moved away from tactile exercises to breathing work, counting, stretching and a handful of ballet moves, the room was full of smiles and excitement.  

We’re so fortunate the ballet is willing to partner and allow people to have these opportunities.

Terri Hewitt, Surrey Place CEO

Thank you to the National Ballet of Canada for working with us to provide such an exciting opportunity for clients!

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Has your baby had their hearing screened? YES NO

By 6 months

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Startle in response to loud noises? YES NO
Turn to where a sound is coming from? YES NO
Make different cries for different needs (hungry, tired)? YES NO
Watch your face as you talk? YES NO
Smile/laugh in response to your smiles and laughs? YES NO
Imitate coughs or other sounds such as ah, eh, buh YES NO

By 9 months

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Respond to their name? YES NO
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Understand being told no? YES NO
Get what they want through using gestures (reaching to be picked up)? YES NO
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Enjoy being around people? YES NO
Babble and repeat sounds such as babababa or duhduhduh? YES NO

By 12 months

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By 4 years

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Follow directions involving three or more steps (First get some paper, then draw a picture and give it to Mommy)? YES NO
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Generate simple rhymes (cat-bat)? YES NO
Match some letters with their sounds (letter b says buh, letter t says tuh)? YES NO