“Everybody Can Dance!” dismantles any obstacles created by the social norms and general teaching environments that would create a barrier between people of different learning abilities and backgrounds. By using the medium of contemporary dance, this project allows young persons from various backgrounds to learn, develop and create something together. By focusing on participants who come from a disadvantaged point of interest, we can create opportunities in a safe, happy and inclusive platform for all involved.

Equity and inclusion are the main objectives of the Erasmus+ programme and “Everybody Can Dance!” meets these aspirations by providing a safe space for youth groups of mixed abilities to work side by side on an equal level. After Gregor Ruttner and Mathilda Olive met at a seminar carried out by SALTO in September 2015 in Paris, an idea formed to utilise both groups' strengths of working on international projects. Both BiondekBühne and CSCJ have worked with youths of fewer opportunities and now want to devise an exchange that will allow them to include the aspect of contemporary dance into their work which will able young persons of many cultures to work together.

Participants from the ages of 13 to 25 years who have been members of their respective organisations for more than a year will be selected, with those who have not taken part in an international project lately and/or have already been eagerly doing voluntary work at their organisation having a higher priority of being selected. A special focus will be on young people of fewer opportunities, so there will be at least 50% of participants who fall under these criteria. Moreover, each organisation will foresee a gender equality within their group meaning that no more than 5 participants of each organisation should be the same gender. In total, we will have a total of 16 young persons with an almost 50% balance of genders. Additionally, there will be five leaders and three accompanying persons to support the young people.

The unique teaching method found in the Chladek Dance system allows this specific teaching approach to lead a clear, comprehensive and ageless dance technique which will give a practical and interesting platform to work on contemporary dance with the participants. By building workshops that use the natural establishments of our bodies, it allows this project to be accessible to all ages and physical abilities. The freedom of dance allows the leader to give the participants so much power of their own body as they complete these daily activities. Within this project, there will be an opportunity for the participants to perform for the public in the old town of Baden, Austria, as an end performance where the participants will dance together and show off what they have learnt during their exchange. The basic elements of this youth exchange are dance pedagogy, sports, and group building-games whilst enjoying themselves. Additional events during the exchange will be a daily informal time with board games, music and an inter-cultural evening, providing the youths with a chance to present their country's culture through the arts and food. The participants also have the chance to use the application, Action Bound, which can turn one's smartphone or tablet into a map or a task sheet however to one's liking.
The expected impact on the participants from this exchange will, hopefully, be positive and numerous. Those that come from a non-disadvantaged background will gain an understanding about those with special needs that they might not acquire in the Austrian or French schooling systems who regularly isolate students with disabilities from the core group. This project will dispel any of those barriers, both physical and mental, that are imposed onto today's society. This project will allow these young people to connect with each other through a creative medium, improving their self-confidence and expanding their perceptions of their own potential. By dancing together the participants will see that there are no major differences throughout the European population, no matter if you have fewer opportunities, speak another language or have a different point of view on several topics.

The participants' involvement in this exchange will allow them, and those who learn/hear about it, to realise the importance of non-formal learning and, indeed, dance as a tool of non-formal learning and help to increase this idea across Europe. This project will give these participants a chance to work, play and explore within a safe environment about others from a place of fewer opportunities and different backgrounds. An increasing concern about the solidarity of our society and developing democratic citizenship requires the ability to locate ourselves and each other in the world and to being to re-evaluate and create new values. This is what awaits the young people who participate in contemporary dance projects like ours.