Olivier Awards 2024
I was honoured to be a nominee for the Olivier Awards 2024 as
Best Theatre Choreographer for my choreography in The Little
Big Things, an award-winning West End musical. After all my
years in the theatre industry, at this moment in my life, I feel
accepted and embraced by the industry and that all my hard
work and dedication is being recognised. I had a fantastic
evening and a wonderful experience at the event. Being nominated was a
highlight in my career and an unforgettable moment.
Antony & Cleopatra Cultural Enterprise Awards
Congratulations to Antony & Cleopatra at The Shakespeares Globe for winning Best Event at the Cultural Enterprise Awards.
The Globes bilingual production is spoken in English and British Sign Language and became the first Deaf-Inclusive production of its scale on a major UK stage. Creative captioning enhanced the experience for all audiences and the shows bilingual framework creatively heightened the textual themes of communication.
​Our House
I'm excited to tell you that I will be directing and choreographing the
Madness’ musical Our House at the Royal Welsh College of Music &
Drama. The performances will be at the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff
from 29th May to 4th June. This will be my second time working with
the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama having choreographed
Sweet Charity last year. I am thrilled to be returning this year as a
Director for Our House.
Cre8 2024 - Bird College
I was happily invited back by Bird College for the fifth time, to choreograph a piece for the third year students. We created a piece called Wave after Wave with the music from Kate Bush's classic album Hounds of Love, inspired by Alfred Tennyson's poem The Coming of Arthur and Ivan Aivazovsky's painting The Ninth Wave. Please find images of Wave After Wave on Fiona Whyte’s website: https://www.fionawhytephotography.co.uk/For-Sale/Bird-College/Cr8-14-November-24/n-Q63cSB/2​
​​
​D-Clusivity
​
As the Founder & Artistic Director of Deaf Men Dancing, I've had the pleasure to collaborate with Black Country Dance Hub for the project D-Clusivity. Phase 1 of the project was funded by Arts Council England and gave us the opportunity to undertake R&D for a new dance piece, which explores the story of a young deaf dancer navigating life in the UK. The project aimed to create a compelling performance, focused on the experiences of D/deaf and Hard of Hearing people in theatre and dance. It also aimed to challenge perceptions and increase visibility for D/deaf or Hard of Hearing dancers in the performing arts, and inspire young people who are D/deaf or Hard of Hearing, their friends and family. During the audition stages and the R&D, I worked with the dancers to explore the creation of movement for the first part of a new professional piece of work with four Deaf/Hard of Hearing Dancers. The piece was set to an original musical score by composer Alex Beetschen.The dancers and I had the pleasure of teaching a workshop and presented a sharing of the work that we developed to Funky Teens (a local based charity group serving the needs of families affected by deafness or hearing impairments and provide social and recreational activities for Deaf and Hard of Hearing teenagers). I’m pleased to say that they really enjoyed the workshop and we received positive feedback about the ​​​​​​​​​​performance.
​
​
​
​
​
​Antony & Cleopatra
I had an exciting opportunity to choreograph Antony & Cleopatra at the famous Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London with Director, Blanche McIntyre. Creating a diverse production, Deaf & Hearing actors were cast in the play and the cast were split into two groups, the Romans and the Egyptians. BSL was incorporated into the play. The show received amazing reviews, calling it a “groundbreaking bilingual production.” I am delighted to share the news that Antony & Cleopatra is the winner of the UK Theatre Award for Excellence in Inclusivity. It was a pleasure to work at The Globe Theatre and an amazing experience. I am so thrilled Antony & Cleopatra received this well-deserved award.
Synergy
​
​
​
​
​
Synergy is a new dance project exploring the impact of climate change on Deaf and disabled individuals. My inspiration for Synergy was astrology, the big bang, how the planet is in danger and the climate crisis. Musa Motha plays an astrologer sending a message to the future after a time capsule is discovered, warning us to renew the energy of our life, health and well-being. With Deaf and Disabled dancers creating this educational and inspirational piece, each character plays a different planet (Mars, Jupiter etc.) telling a different story through personal experiences and struggles during the pandemic, such as communication breakdown, mental health and access support. On your own, it can be very isolating and your energy can become low. So when they all come together as a community, the energy builds around them forming a Synergy. When they join through the spirit to discover a new planet it symbolises hope for a better future.
​
We had the pleasure of performing Synergy at Birmingham Hippodrome’s Birmingham Weekender, GDIF’s Dancing City & David Attenborough Arts Centre. We then collaborated with Arts Center South Africa Sibikwa to create Synergy 2.0. I flew with someof the cast to South Africa to work with a new team of Disabled South African dancers. Taking the original storyline and creating a different version, the dancers made their own interpretation of Synergy with their own stories, including looking at the impact of “Load Shedding” in South Africa. It was so interesting to discover the power cuts they had to face for 10 years. We took these events and made a creative response to it in the choreography. Synergy 2.0 was performed in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Synergy has some amazing partnerships with Without Walls, Black Country Dance Hub, Arts Council, Birmingham Hippodrome, Attenborough Arts Centre, Bird College, Sibikwa Arts Centre and Greenwich + Dockland International Festival.​​​​​
​
​​​
​MGC's Futures Bursary
I was delighted to receive an award be to a recipient for MGC's Futures Bursary. The bursary assisted me to take a new direction as a Theatre Director. I undertook research and development where i observed Director's whilst working in rehearsal and gaining their experience and advice I also developed a R&D workshop which had a small invited audience. Michael Grandage kindly agreed to mentor me for this project and during this experience i gained a lot of knowledge and steer in the right direction. I am very thankful to MGC'S Futures for this opportunity and helping me towards a new carer in the future.
​
​
​​​​​​
