Talented deaf performer Chyna Harrison-Bell, 14, from Lambeth, showed off her acting talents at a showcase event in Birmingham on Sunday 29 September, organised by the National Deaf Children’s Society.

Chyna was selected from dozens of hopefuls by the charity to take part in Raising the Bar, an intensive weekend of workshops in music, dance and drama, culminating in a showcase performance.

Chyna, along with 19 other talented youngsters, spent the weekend at the Ruddock Performance Arts Centre being mentored by professional deaf musicians, dancers and actors before demonstrating her extraordinary talents onstage in front of dozens of parents, family and friends.

The Raising the Bar event was designed to inspire deaf young people and show that there is nothing in the arts that deaf children can’t achieve with the right support.

Mentoring the deaf young performers were the leading deaf performance companies Music and the Deaf, Deaf Men Dancing and Deafinitely Theatre.

The 20 deaf young people, ranging in age from 8 to 16, were selected after an application process that saw them submit videos of their talents in music, dance and drama, demonstrating the skills they had acquired, their personal journeys and the barriers they had overcome.