


LATE NIGHT: Dean, Don’t Dance!
Dean loves musical theatre. Dean is also a working actor who’s spent half his life in audition rooms. So why do dance calls fill him with dread? Simple: people with cerebral palsy are seldom revered for their flawless balance or silky- smooth hand-eye coordination.
Dean, Don’t Dance! uses a slate of original songs, bad clipart, and stories about huffing nose beers in the accessible bathrooms, to have a wider conversation about “otherness” and the journey to discerning the difference between how you feel about yourself, and how you’ve been choreographed to.
Winner of the “Commitment & Innovation in Access Award” at the 2025 Sydney Fringe festival, Dean, Don’t Dance! intertwines Audio Description and Auslan into the storytelling, creating a shared, universal - and for most audiences an entirely new - theatre experience.
Creator & Performer: Dean Nash | Stage Manager/Operator: Pearl Junor | Audio Describers: Emma Bedford & Charley Allanah | Auslan Interpreter: Yasmin Dandachi | Sound Design: Dean Nash & Ryan Harcher | Composer: Dean Nash | Additional Composition/Arrangement: Ryan Harcher | Choreographer: Cassidy McDermott-Smith | Lighting Design: Caity Cowan
This listing is updated as cast/creatives are confirmed in the lead-up to the production, and if there are changes to the team.
Approximate Run Time: 50 minutes
Content Warnings: Talk of ableism, references to drug use, references to medical trauma
Access: Audio Description, Auslan, and Wheelchair


