Clare and Lesley were selected to be Launchpad artists as a duo in 2022.
Clare Adam, a Deaf Dance Artist, and Lesley Howard, an Autistic Dance Artist, are both based in Scotland. They are 2020 graduates of the Scottish School of Contemporary Dance. They enjoy creating work that is immersive and interactive, aiming to teach life skills through a multi-sensory and kinaesthetic approach. They combine movement with play to help their audience connect with that inner child we all tend to hide away when we grow up. Their work has one aim, to simply make people smile by sharing their movement, passion, and friendship, often combining British Sign Language with movement and storytelling, allowing them to share this beautiful language to a wider audience.
They put accessibility at the forefront of their practice. Valuing the importance of disabled voices within Dance, they want to use their own experiences to help educate other Artist and inspire young disabled people, whilst speaking up and challenging ableist views. They are passionate about ensuring professional dance training can be a more inclusive space for disabled artist to be celebrated and how they can have these important conversations.