A York performance academy for learning disabled and neurodivergent singers, musicians and dancers has recently gone viral on social media.
THS Performance Academy, based out of Tang Hall SMART, York, has been going viral – after one of their videos gained over 970,000 views across Instagram and TikTok.
The viral video was announcing a performance at the Derwenthorpe Festival, which happened back in June, and, along with other videos, has helped the academy gain over one million views across all their social media pages.
The academy now has followers from America, Canada and Australia, as well as its local following.
The performance academy was established in September 2025, and over the last nine months has seen the creation of two new bands (Paradox Odyssey and The Lightning Fires), one dance ensemble (Gold in Motion) and the development of an established band (Snakewolf).
In these performance groups, band members and dancers are using social media to gain a larger following for their groups, and to break down the stigma of being learning disabled.
The groups aim to show their new followers that having a learning disability doesn’t mean that they cannot have these skills – in fact, it means they have even more passion, energy and enthusiasm for the work they create.
As they embark on their second year of the academy, they are creating a film to document the process they undertake to create original dance and music pieces, and their dreams of performing these at external, professional venues in summer 2027.
The film will premiere at a screening in York in late 2027, and will show the benefit of the long-standing relationship that they have with the academy members, some of whom have been with Tang Hall SMART since it began in 2014.
THS Performance Academy are crowdfunding to raise money to create the film. This will allow them to have it professionally filmed and edited.
