20/08/2026
Why are we called Echo Performing Arts?
We used the word “Echo” because of a way of learning and communicating called “Echolalia”. This is a tricky word, but it’s a very simple meaning - it means to talk by repeating something that has been said by someone else - this might be a friend or family member, or it might be from a song or from a movie. All children who learn to speak will use echolalia while learning to talk, but it is also common for it to continue throughout people’s lives, both within the learning disability community, and for Autistic young people and adults.
As well as Echolalia being something we loved and recognised as being present in this community, we also had a fondness for the people we knew who used Echolalia when communicating.
We also loved the simple meaning of the word “Echo”. The word Echo means to hear a sound bounced back through sound waves on surfaces over and over again. It also can mean a repetition, or affirmation of what someone is doing through copying or empowering them, by mirroring what they do. When leading a dance class - your dancers are echoing what you are doing in their own ways. We have 9 trained dance leaders, and many dancers, who all have the opportunity to experience the room around them echoing what they are doing.
All these meanings mirrored our intentions to reflect back people’s culture, identity and creativity through our work. We have been so strong from day one in ensuring our work is led and owned by its own community. We love uncovering the interests, motivations, ideas and beliefs of our community members - we strive to focus first and foremost on communication to enable this to happen.
And the last part - Performing Arts - although we are dancers and run dance classes, we didn’t want to single this company to one artistic area. So we used the words “Performing Arts” to enable a combined arts approach, so we can include acting, comedy, shadow dancing, singing, sound making and a wide range of other art forms within our shows.
Performing is a very important part of what we do, because we want people to feel seen and heard within their community, and we also want to show the world around us who we are, so they may carry some of the echoes of our work into their lives 💗
