2x2 Art Residency: A Common Thread

Clare ADAM

Clare is a Deaf dancer who has performed with Haley Earlam in ‘BRRR’ and ‘Love Songs’ by Company Philip Connaughton. Clare is interested in sensory performance and playful experimental ways of working, finding the potential in unique spaces. She has also worked closely with Clifftop Projects as an Arts facilitator and is part of EIF Access Committee. She also attends regular workshops around access and inclusion learning from artists such as Marc Brew.

Lesley HOWARD

Lesley is an Autistic dancer & facilitator. Lesley is a company dancer with Second Hand Dance, ‘We Touch We Play We Dance’, ‘The Sticky Dance’, a performer in ‘Strings’ by Barrowland Ballet. They are interested in durational experimental sensory work. Lesley has international experience of delivering accessibility workshops (Korea & Düsseldorf). They also worked as a Youth Arts Coordinator at Clifftop projects where they managed their youth arts programmes connecting with over 150 young people each week, managing budgets, freelancers and materials. Lesley is also a board member for Imaginate & BOP.

HUANG Te

HUANG Te is an improvisational dancer and a physical theatre creator with cerebral palsy. He is dedicated to expressing his vitality through original physical theatre, allowing audiences to witness the authentic lived experiences of disabled people. As an independent creator, Te has produced two theatre works ‘Island of Symbiosis’ and ‘The Silent Power Erupts Now’, which have been featured in festivals like the Ideal Archipelago Art Festival. In his creative process, he draws from

ZHAI Jin (Gene)

ZHAI Jin (Gene) is a wheelchair user with a physical disability, born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a rare bone disorder. He was introduced to contact improvisation and collaborative dance when attending a Symbiotic Dance workshop and gradually step into the inclusive arts. Gene is now a core member of the Mistakable Symbiotic Dance Troupe, a pioneering inclusive contemporary dance group in China. The group includes visually impaired, physically disabled, intellectually disabled, and non-disabled members, all collaborating to create performance art, and Gene personally contributed as both a choreographer and solo dancer. Gene is also a professional illustrator and comic artist, and over time, he has also channelled the aesthetic sensibility into his dance and theatre work.