Other Projects
At BLINK Dance Theatre, we thrive on invention and collaboration. Our portfolio of bespoke projects showcases work commissioned by other organisations that value our perspective as a neurodivergent and learning-disability led organisation. Genuine co-leadership is key to our aim of building something that couldn’t exist without everyone’s input, and this shines through in all our work.
Below, you will find details on specialised training, unique workshops, and commissioned artistic work, demonstrating how we bring our best practices, expertise and lived experience into all the work we undertake.
Flick, Swirl, Bounce, Choose
Photo Credit: Rachel Cherry
In 2024, BLINK took part in A New Direction’s I AM Festival; a yearly celebration empowering Deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent young people to explore their creativity. Working alongside eight students at Cherry Garden School, we co-created a piece of work called ‘Flick, Swirl, Bounce, Choose’, responding to the festival’s theme, ‘See Me, Hear Me’.
We also ran two CPD sessions for teachers during the festival week; Creative Communication techniques for the classroom, empowering teachers to elevate the voices of Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent students in their classrooms, and Sensory Storytelling Revamped, sharing practical strategies for co-creating exciting & culturally relevant sensory experiences.
Feeling Our Way Through the Pandemic
Co-curated by Touretteshero and Wellcome Collection, ‘Feeling Our Way’ was an exploration of our relationship with touch, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Our film, ‘Feeling Our Way Through the Pandemic,’ shares the story of our work and the importance of safe touch in our practice. Touch is an important action for communication, for body awareness, for creativity, and for emotional reasons. However, for many of our participants, touch is medicalised or limited to only certain interactions, leading to feelings of isolation or loss of connection. Throughout the pandemic, we adapted our practice to remain Covid-safe, whilst maintaining this core part of our work.
One way we did this was the creation of the ‘CONSENT ROBOT’, who visited workshops and the Wellcome Collection as part of ‘Reaching Out’, greeting people in different, socially-distant, ways.
FIND YOUR OWN
Commissioned by Battersea Arts Centre and funded by Necessity as part of a project to create resources for people newly disabled by Covid-19, FIND YOUR OWN was the first piece of work co-created by the BLINK Dance Theatre Directors after the pandemic. Using Delson’s love of magic as a catalyst for the story and movement, it explores our individual relationships with magic, and how we can use our inner magic to connect with the world and project ourselves.
FIND YOUR OWN was screened at the 2024 Oska Bright Film Festival, Brighton.