D² Labs

Collaborators:

Siobhan Davies Studios, Sadler's Wells, Cognitive Neuroscientist Consultant: Dr Guido Orgs Artistic Consultant: Dr Matthias Sperling Creative Technologist Consultant: Ruth Gibson of Studio Gibson/Martelli

background

Exploring dyspraxicality- Making the invisible, visible

I founded D² Labs to address the profound ableism and urgent access issues that dyspraxic dancers face in the professional dance space. The lab is both a pro-disabled dyspraxic dance company and a research hub. It aims to explore "dyspraxicality" (the condition or quality of being dyspraxic) through the lens of dance, creative technology, and neuroscience. The lab leverages my academic background in biological sciences and neuroscience, training in the somatic practice of Feldenkrais, and my work in dance and choreography. The D² in D² Labs stands for "dancing differently." The overarching aim of the lab’s projects is to celebrate and reveal the unique intricacies of dyspraxic movement and dance. The lab's specific goals are threefold: to produce educative and compelling artistic works that utilise creative technology to make the invisible effects of dyspraxia on choreographic and performance processes visible, to advocate for dyspraxic dancers, and to research neuroscience-based tools that address the neglected neurological basis of dyspraxia. The latter goal stems from my insight as a dancer with a background in neurology, prompting the question: "How are dancers with dyspraxia meant to thrive if our neurological differences aren’t recognized and supported?" The lab has provided a creative crucible for me to delve deeper into my longstanding interests in neuroscience and creative technology. This journey led me to plan to pursue an MSc in Clinical Neuroscience at my alma mater, UCL, undertake a software development program, and complete a short course in Supervised Machine Learning from Stanford Online. I have also applied for creative technology residencies; most recently, I was shortlisted for the BlackBright Residency at Cambridge University’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence and LJMU. I am currently a Kernel Fellow (lead web3 program), where I am developing the labs projects and my creative technology atelier PABLA Studio as a whole. The projects at D² Labs are uniquely interdisciplinary, involving world-class experts such as Dr. Guido Orgs, a movement disorder neuroscientist from University College London; Dr. Ruth Gibson, a creative technologist from the BAFTA-nominated studio Gibson/Martelli; and Saskia Horton, a dance accessibility expert, disability activist, and founder of the dance disability organization We Are Sensoria. My goal is to position D² Labs at the forefront of leveraging creative technology to create compelling dance works that explore dyspraxicality and neuro-queer movement realities and futures. I also aim to place the lab at the cutting edge of applying creative tech and neuroscience to develop somatic learning experiences and tools that increase accessibility and enhance performance and well-being for dancers across the ability spectrum. Beyond the dance field, we aim to leverage and develop this immersive experience to help the general public find an engaging and joyous way to enhance their brain-body connection, express their creativity through movement, and improve their overall well-being. At D² Labs, we believe joyful movement is a human right, and we are excited to use emerging technologies to reveal the beauty of dyspraxic movement, help all movers reach their full potential, and make creative expression through movement accessible to everyone—demonstrating the advantages of radically accessible design for all.

the problem

D² Labs Projects: Body Doubles

Body Doubles is D² Labs initial choreographic enquiry, it was showcased at Siobhan Davies Studios on the 23rd March 2024 as part of the culmination of NEXT Choreography, a 6-month program where artists from across disciplines were given the opportunity to deepen their dance and artistic practices. Body Doubles is a six minute dance piece where myself and my co-performers Yingtong Lin and Anna Nicholls explored experiences of connection, disconnection, interdependence and relationality through the lens of dyspraxia. The work aimed to translate the feelings and experiences of moving through the world with a movement difference into dance form. I am currently developing the piece and am interested in the potential of motion-capture as a tool to quantify and the movement differences between dyspraxic and non-dypraxic dancers. I am also working with neuroscientists to uncover what happens in dyspraxic brains when we dance. I plan to capture this live neurofeedback and use a hand-coded machine learning (ML) algorithm to turn this into captivating visuals that will be projected into the space for all to enjoy. Much of the artistic work at D² Labs is revelatory- inviting audience members into the challenging yet multi-fascinated and multi-dimensional and ultimately, beautiful worlds of dyspraxic dancers. I believe exploring and uncovering what dyspraxic movement or ‘dyspraxicality’ is from a neuroscientific and movement perspective will be an exciting first step. A recording of Body Doubles is available to watch on my Instagram page: @perpetuapng

INSIGHT

Moving Beyond Reality

Moving Beyond Reality (MBR) centres and is inspired by the barriers to dance that dyspraxi dancers face i.e. difficulties with motor-coordination and choreography memorisation; addressing this through the mixed reality experience that integrates neuro-somatic tools in an interactive, engaging and radically accessible way- enhancing brain-body synergy, wellbeing and creativity for all movers. Moving Beyond Reality is a 3 minute live and 15 minute online immersive experience that leverages virtual and augmented reality technology, and cutting edge neuroscience to improve users’ brain-body connection and motor-coordination. Enhancing movement quality and wellbeing whilst facilitating creative expression through movement in an engaging, radically accessible way. Using VR and AR, users will be gently guided into neuro-somatic exercises primarily through their interaction with a dancing creature within the virtual environment. MBR was initially conceived as an innovative solution to the absence of meaningful and accessible neurological tools to support dancers with neurological disorders like dyspraxia. However, its use-case extends beyond the disabled community. MBR is a highly accessible learning and wellbeing tool for all movers, bypassing the substantial, sustained and self-directed attentional effort that neurological-based somatic tools usually require by creating an engaging and interactive virtual environment. Furthermore, by using the virtual environment to cue movement; users will be unknowingly choreographed into a short dance piece by the virtual environment and the AR creature in it. MBR circumvents another barrier to dance that movers with and without functional neurological disorders face: memorising choreography. Moving Beyond Reality disrupts the inherent ableism of the dance industry and is a stepping stone to position ourselves at the forefront of leveraging creative technology to increase accessibility and enhance performance and wellbeing in dance. MBR serves as a both powerful learning tool for dancers with and without functional neurological disorders and an education tool for the wider public- demonstrating advantages of radically accessible design.

INSIGHT

I came up with the following conclusions

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Audience Research

AUDIENCE Research

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Our campaign

Act 1: A typical birthing story. A black woman strains whilst giving birth.

Act 2: We hear the cry of a baby. We see tears being shed. Family holds each other.