Aby Watson

Aby Watson is an artist, dance maker, performer, and researcher based in Glasgow, Scotland. She makes playful, sensuous and stimulating performance that expresses the neurodivergent energy and embodiment of her dyslexic, dyspraxic and ADHD mind-body. Through the use of movement, choreography, voice, and object, her work toys with tensions between virtuosity and the pedestrian, beauty and the grotesque, the silly and the serious. She strives to challenge exclusive neuronormative values in dance whilst expanding neurodivergent-centred choreographic processes and methods. Her work has been seen at venues The Southbank Centre, Sophiensaele, Tramway and Wales Millennium Centre, and her practice has been supported by The National Theatre of Scotland, Unlimited, The Workroom and Janice Parker Projects. She is currently undertaking her practice research PhD at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, titled Disordering Dance, which interrogates dance making from a lived experience of dyspraxia and neurodivergence.

During her residency Aby will be continuing her research and practical development for her UNLIMITED R&D commission ‘Back and Forth and Forth and Back’ (BFFB). 

Aby says:

I’m excited to explore the temporal duration for BFFB, and experiment with the form taking a long-form installation performance where, like the experiences of ‘hyper-focus’ and ‘zoning in’ explored in the work, time can melt away, and an alternative temporal experience can be offered to the audience. This will involve developing durational choreographic scores that continue the ‘dance as stimming’ approach that I am exploring in my practice. Choreographically, I seek to work more closely with embodiments of repetition and ‘riffing’ in loops of movement, sound, voice and interaction with object, and will deepen my explorations that explore a stimming body in motion. Finally, I wish to develop my understanding of sensory performance through reading and research, and explore how to practically apply it to the sensory world of ‘The Zone’ that BFFB takes place in. I’m curious to learn more about the potentials for sensory exploration for both audience and performer, and hope to leave the residency with ideas to take back to my collaborators.

Twitter @abswatson

Insta @disorderingdance 

Web www.abywatson.co.uk 

Images from Aby’s residency