Cleo Lake

💃 Celebrating Dance - in all its forms Artist and activist @cleolakecreativity and her dance crew took over the RWA as part of our opening celebrations for Dance Out Curated by @david_remfry_ra and art historian, @jamesrussell66 , Dance Out brings together paintings, drawings and film across decades of dance culture – from 20th century London and New York to Bristol’s contemporary nightlife. The exhibition includes a newly commissioned film, ‘Night Moves’, by @melaniemanchot featuring Bristol dancers filmed across the city at night. Feel the haptic @beatblocks dancefloor, playing a curated soundtrack, featuring mixes from DJs @d4rling_x @dj_devolicious , @josephine.gyasi Discover a diverse range of dance styles and cultures with an extensive programme of events that will invite you to explore new and familiar ways of moving. Like dance culture itself, Dance Out crosses boundaries, blurring distinctions between the personal and the social as it does between media and between genres. 💥🔉 @dj_krust Set Speed 📆Dance Out opens tomorrow 9 May – 9 August 📍 RWA, Queens Road, Bristol

🪩 Exploring dance as a language @cleolakecreativity blurs the boundaries between arts, activism and politics, Cleo’s ‘weapon of choice’ is dance. Taken from Melanie Manchot’s new film, ‘Night Moves’ this reel is part of a series of six second reels created specifically for social media that invite you to explore dance as a language and as a conduit for people to find connection through shared physical expression. ‘Night Moves’ shows as part of our major Summer Exhibition – Dance Out, opening 09 May at the RWA. Who truly owns the night? Come find out. 📅 Dance Out 9 May – 09 Aug 📍 RWA, Queens Road, Bristol 🎫 £11 (concessions and Annual Art passes available) ‘Night Moves’ is supported through the RWA’s Commissioning Circle and funding from @artfund

The launch of DIASPORA 2026, a city-wide celebration of cultural diversity through the arts, from @diverseartistsnetwork began with a special celebration of water. Water holds memory, carries wishes, flows and rejoins, sustains and renews. The opening ceremony witnessed the sacred space that water holds in cultures across the world. Artists with deep connections to Tibet, Taiwan, The Phillipines, Nigeria, Iran, Argentina, Palestine, Mexico, Jamaica, Scotland and others reflected on how water is revered far beyond being seen as “a resource”. @cleolakecreativity used dance as a way to embed cultural knowledge, @carolsherman46 was a mermaid granting wishes through bubbles, Tenzin Sangmo used a singing bowl to create healing through sound. There was plenty of drumming and singing (@agatapalmer ) and dancing, and so much more! Here are a few images from the official opening at The Station. Movement, wilderness, memory, desire, healing, togetherness; a sum of all parts. Lots more to come!

Set Speed....the journey. Happy Beltane. May Day Greetings. 🎶💚☀️

Today we had our volunteer briefing 💗🔥 wouldn’t be possible to put on this incredible event without you guys!! Thank you!!! We also dug in the maypole & have been postering about town 🌸 Now I’m here on the socials to announce some more fantastic folk & artists you can see at MAY DAY SUNDAY 3rd May (NEXT WEEKEND!!!!) Get excited for: FOLK DANCERS: Swanning folk @theswanningfolk ~ a progressive, queer collective of clog dancers based in Bristol who delight in community and nimble footwork, co-founded by Sophie Slattery in 2021. Their repertoire includes Lakeland, Lancashire and Welsh styles. Their wish is to queer traditional folk dance and to promote clogging, a lesser known folk dance from the British Isles. MAY DANCE CALLER: Cleo Lake @cleolakecreativity ~ intuitively understanding the power of dance to transform individual and collective realities, Cleo is a dance graduate, qualified dance therapist, researcher and dance animator who engages a blend of influences, music genres and inclusive methodologies to enshrine cultural memory into dance forms. CYANOTYPE WORKSHOP: Laura dyer @lauradyerart ~ is an artist and printmaker following the seasons to create, a collaboration with mother earth. Foraging for wild plants in her local lands, often with medicinal properties, she makes cyanotypes and photographic artworks. PERFORMANCE ART: Imogen Moon @thistle.moon ~ a multidisciplinary artist. Her practice centres on Invoking animate vision. Through gesture and ritual storytelling. Creating living offerings shaped by body, earth, and the unseen. Full line up listing will be shared tomorrow 🌱 Designed by @rabbit.baby.2

The sun came out today 💚💛❤️🙏🏾🌞

It was an absolute honour to say a few words and perform Memorial Dance at Ras Judah's memorial last week Friday. It was a beautiful service at the Malcolm X Centre. It is never easy to lose people, particularly community heavy weights like Judah. You were one of the most genuine and kindest people I have ever met. You had time for anyone without discrimination or judgement unless they showed you a side that sat outside your bounds. I am comforted that you made it to Ethiopia in recent years. You seemed so happy to have had that experience. I will miss you dearly and yet as a person of African descent on my learning journey I also know that your influence, lessons and example stick with us here and keep your legacy alive and beyond that as our ancestor, your spirit can go between worlds and can be called upon to guide us. In fact, any number of our greats, such as those here in this mural, can be chanelled if only we know how. Part of the how is through active remembrance. So Judah, in your own words Much Love and Respect 💚💛❤️ Excerpts of Memorial Dance will be explained and shared tomorrow, 31st March, at the Earthday Memorial for Ras Bandele Selassie, 3.30pm @rastafariculturecentre Suitable for children, families, and elders. All welcome. Do join us 🙏🏾 Thanks to Donovan Jackson for the footage

From the archive and bigging up myself on International Women's Day!! A Dance Letters pre cursor of sorts. Bosseyed 2007. From the Creative Souls studio & unleashed as a response to the Cabot Circus Development at that time. Part of Foundations my first full-length production performed at The Pro Cathedral @artspaceuk and @cubemicroplex Seed funded by the then St Pauls Unltd Thanks to a lot of people and vibes, including on IWD performers and contributors @getfreedancetherapy @rebeccatantony @rebeccamartadandrea Filmed by @afrikan.g.lalibela , who was willing to just follow my intuition around for the day! Lyrics You do nothing for me You could never make me happy Or is it totally derogatory To tell me that you built the city Cuz through me eyes threes a juxtaposition on the skyline Or is it totally … You do nothing for me You could never make me happy Or is it totally derogatory To tell me that you built the city Cuz through my eyes there’s a juxtaposition on the skyline A mixed match occupation by the high tide Highfliers and the low lifes It is High time to stay more than alive And through my eyes Don’t tell this aint what I’m seeing Or is it cuz im bosseyed bosseyed bosseyed or am I blind Should I be moving from the left right left right No I ‘ll just step on time Or is it cuz im bosseyed bosseyed bosseyed While you were switching from the left right left right I just stepped on time Try and do something for we Cuz what your trying just isn’t helping Or should I totally go rob a toy re And feed it to the starving hungry And through his ice Or is it cuz im bosseyed bosseyed bosseyed or am I blind Should I be moving from the left right left right No I ‘ll just step on time Or is it cuz im bosseyed bosseyed bosseyed While you were switching from the left right left right, I just stepped on time

I'm catching up after an amazing awards event on Friday and a phenomenal event yesterday at Kuumba. Thank you @bristol247 and everyone who attended, nominated, performed, fed us, gave us wine and everything. I had the best time. From my make-more-special shoes that almost worked 🤭🤩, my homemade designer skirt and all my legend mates! Big love to the person who nominated me and the panel who decided that I was to win my category within performing arts 'other' 👊🏾✔️💜🙏🏾🍷🥂 Being nominated gave me the inspiration to remember my archive and works. The works continue, no such things as overnight success after all! #Bristol #BristolLegends #Dance #PerformingArts

We’re honoured to welcome Cleo Lake as a speaker at Rise SISTAS Rise ✨ Cleo Lake was a British Green Party politician, community activist and artist who served as Lord Mayor of Bristol from 2018 to 2019. Spanning arts, culture, activism, politics and community engagement, she has been a prolific advocate for social justice and African descent matters. Cleo championed a reparations motion acknowledging Bristol’s role in the transatlantic slave trade and worked to challenge harmful historical narratives in civic spaces. Her experience is vast and impactful, including serving as Chair of St Pauls Carnival, radio producer and presenter on Ujima 98FM, an Association of Dance of the African Diaspora Trailblazer, writer in residence at the Arnolfini, a Bristol + Bath Creative R&D Inclusion fellow, and lead researcher consultant for the pioneering Bristol Legacy Foundation commissioned Project T.R.U.T.H. Cleo’s leadership is bold, creative and community focused. a voice you do not want to miss.

Today is the 45th year since The Black People's Day of Action. 45 years ago, over 20,000 predominantly African descent people took to the streets of London, following the New Cross Massacre. This important marker is a reminder of the ongoing quest for justice by African descent people over generations. Today also marks 5 years since Bristol City Council passed a reparations and atonement motion. Acknowledging Bristol’s role in the historic Transatlantic Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and the contemporary legacies to be addressed. So we thought it was an apt day to announce that our new collaborative piece of music and accompanying video will be released a month from now on April 2nd. Much gratitude and thanks to everyone who has contributed to this initiative: Memorial Dance, A Pan African Descent Journey. #AfricanDescent #Bristol #Reparations #Dance #Memorial

DANCE LETTERS Messages In Movement An embodied enquiry into connection to past and presence. Join dance artist Cleo Lake on Thursday evenings at 7.30pm GMT online. Workshops include writing letters to oneself, others, nature, the world, and then putting the letters into movement form. Inspired by the Sunday Letters initiative, induction for the month long course begins on March 1st and there will be a sharing on March 29th. FREE donations welcome. To register, email [email protected] Thanks to my daughter @ashante.lake for popping out to film this few weeks back. Nothing long. In the moment. Go for it. Movement. Movement! #Dance #Letters #Bristol #Rivers #Expression