I’m currently the Deputy CEO/Head of Health and Wellbeing in Dance at People Dancing, leading, for the past 4-years, Live Well & Dance with Parkinson’s. This is a programme of dance activity and community development alongside, for and with people living with Parkinson’s and their community.
I am passionate about creating spaces for people to dance from within their own experience and their own leadership. My work is focused on creating the conditions for democratic, socially engaged, co-created approaches to dancing for everyone.
I trained at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance and have an MA in Choreography form Nottingham Trent University and as a performer have worked with DNA Dance and Music, Kantikoy (Dancexchange Ensemble Birmingham), Paula Hampson and Lea Anderson
From 2009-2017 I held the post of Deputy/Head of Service at Coventry Music Education Hub and Arts Service leading strategy, development and fundraising all of which supported children and young people across the city in creative dance and music making. I this role I developed programmes of dance, creative movement and music making across the special schools in the city.
For many years I worked at Coventry University as either a full/part-time senior lecturer and Course Director for the BA (Hons) Dance course at until its closure in 2020.
I have worked as a Relationship Manager at Arts Council England (Birmingham) with a focus on dance & disability, working with several high-profile National Portfolio Organisations, independent arts organisations, artists, and dance companies.
In 2019, I went to the USA as part of the creative team for Say Man Take Heart, a project inspired by the work of the Artistic Ensemble SQ, based at San Quentin prison, San Francisco, resulting in the creation of a programme of Movement, Poetry and Creative Writing with people who are users of the UK Criminal Justice System.
I am a former member of the Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship Fund panel (LUTSF) and former Chair of the board for FRONTLINE Dance, an inclusive dance company based in Stoke-on-Trent.
Links to work: Live Well & Dance with Parkinson’s at People Dancing