About
Surface Area Dance Theatre is North East England’s multi-award-winning, inclusive performing arts charity. Since 2022, have been a funded Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. With a strong commitment to accessibility and engagement, SADT plays a pivotal role in shaping and enriching the UK’s cultural landscape, while also influencing international arts and cultural practices.
As a distinguished arts and cultural organisation and a Disability Confident Employer, SADT is celebrated for its distinctive approach to inclusivity and takes pride in its team of highly trained and diverse experts in accessibility, inclusion, and creative production. By working with and supporting D/deaf and diverse artists and communities, SADT possesses the skills, knowledge, and understanding that underpin its firm belief in the transformative power of creativity and representation, particularly for marginalised and underrepresented individuals and communities. Based at Dance City in Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland, we have a wide-ranging reach across the North East region and beyond.
Our work is uniquely relevant and one of the few that genuinely work at the intersection of sign language, Deaf culture, and dance. The merits and skills of the company’s leaders and members have enabled international engagement with leading UK and internationally celebrated partners and institutes, including The British Council, The Japan Foundation, the Barbican, Turner Contemporary, The Henry Moore Institute, and Stopgap Dance Company. Cultural exchange is at the core of the company’s mission as we strive to represent the UK’s diverse talents and abilities in all our work.
In 2018, Surface Area Dance Theatre became a registered Level 2 Disability Confident Committed Employer and advanced in 2022 to a Disability Confident Committed Leader by the Department for Work and Pensions.
