About

Born and based in beautiful West Yorkshire, I discovered contemporary dance + started to write poetry in my mid 20s, benefitting from free government + council funded schemes, alongside support from charitable foundations. Passionate about access, representation + participation, I work across diverse contexts to empower individuals + communities through the transformative power of the arts.

As a performer, writer, maker, facilitator, creative director, curator and advocate, I’m interested in trans-disciplinary thinking and collective experimentation. My work is often interdisciplinary, participatory, intergenerational, improvisational or outdoor; I welcome art that expands beyond traditional spaces, audiences + formats. Projects include live/film commissions, solo performance, published writing, participatory projects and advisory roles. 

I hold a BA(Hons) English Language and Literature from The University of Manchester, completed before retraining in dance as a mature student, gaining a First-class Honours Degree + awards for Outstanding Achievement + Dance Writing from The Northern School of Contemporary Dance. I then completed a Masters with Transitions Dance Company, performing across the UK + Europe and finishing with distinction. My practice-led thesis explored solo improvisation + documented a mushrooming understanding of the radical potential of dance.  

As performer-maker my work includes All Over + Everywhere by dance theatre collective Scatterlings (Migration Matters Festival, Resolution, SVN Scratch, NHS D&I Conference) and a diverse range of commissions; Book of Dave (Newfangled @ The Turnpike), Own the Crone (Apples & Snakes @ ARC Stockton), Book of Witchin’ (Wigan Arts Festival) and Their Body is a Prophecy (LEEDS2023). Broadly recurrent themes are explorations of class, gender, ageing, power, magic + place. The more-than-human world increasingly inhabits my practice.

I specialise in dance for older adults + intergenerational work, as lead artist for Dance On, rooted artist for Company of People (Yorkshire Dance, Performing Gender) + for Dancing with Parkinson's (Ascendance Rep). Participatory projects include Beige (Ageless Festival), To the beat of a different drum (Family Encounters), Strike-a-Pose + Kick Off (Gracefool Collective) and People Powered (Creative Scene). As associate artist for The Institute of Everything, a partnership between Fevered Sleep + Clifton Green Primary School in York, I led the curation + delivery of a term long festival of creative care + recovery post-Covid.

My poetry was published in Popshot, Bloody Amazing, Artychoke, Komorebi Magazine, Anthropocene + Black Nore Review, and I’ve performed widely, including; Frontline Poetry (Nymphs & Thugs), Writing on Air (Chapel FM), Blur the Lines (Leeds Playhouse, Leeds Lit Fest), Attic Stories (Lawrence Batley Theatre). I was a finalist in the Write Bloody UK 2022 Competition, shortlisted for Verve Poetry Press Competition 2022 + my short film Still Witches (1) was selected for Verve Poetry Festival’s Film Event 2023. In 2024 the title poem of my upcoming pamphlet Invocation was longlisted for the National Poetry Prize. I am also part of Silver Park Social Arts collective. Our zine LS6: A Pandemic Portrait was exhibited at Leeds Poetry Festival + Bradford Photobook Fair.

In 2022 I was a DYCP Award recipient, which led to the development of a multi-stranded interdisciplinary arts project incorporating a performance, poetry pamphlet and participatory project. See Invocation for more. I was also a member of Yorkshire Dance’s Artist Advisory Group, in the belief that closer dialogue and grassroots listening between artists, community members and cultural organisations is essential to a healthy, vibrant and more equitable future for the arts.

Finally, I am a curious, creative, playful + passionate yoga teacher, driven by a deep gratitude for the peace + presence that practising the art of yoga has brought to my own life. I hold a 200 hours Hatha Yoga TTC from Mathatitu Yoga Ashram (Kerala, India) + a 60 hours Restorative Yoga TTC with Barefoot Body Training. I have taught in studios, schools + community settings.