dr Aby Watson

🌞 Folk around and find out !! 🐌 What a jam packed weekend of folk activity as research for my new work 𝓕𝓸𝓵𝔁 💨 So much Morris dance, music, song and ritual between London and Stroud - as I soaked up the offerings at @neoancients and hosted @offbeatfilm ’s opening party ‘A Reet Northern May Day Party’ as my alter-ego Niki Rush, curated by @lucy_j_wright , where I also performed my Morris dance striptease (yes, that’s correct) for the first time 🌝 I’m leaving fired up with so much learning under my belt, connections made, and energy towards my own artistic folkscapades 🔔 This research is a part of Folx’s initial R&D phase, supported by @creativescots 💤 I am now cream crackered !! Looking forward to some rest and digesting of these adventures in folk —— 1. 🤡 Niki Rush preshow with her emotional support clipboard (bell harness by @metalxbreathx ) 2. 🔔 @boss.morris workshop, dancing with the lovely @juicenaznaz 3. 🌀 Spiral ritual led by Jill Smith 4. 🍃 6am singing to welcome in May Morning at @the_prince_albert 5. 🦋 Orcadia Carnival Morris (@behindthemorris ) at @themildmayclub - my first time ever seeing ‘fluffy Morris’ in person 6. 👑 Mackenzie doing the North East proud, crowned as our May Queen! 7. ❤️ Passing through a Morris Place in London 8. 🗣️ ‘Why Folk, Why Now’ panel re: folk and the political 9. 🍷 @mythicc_dawn atmospheric drone set 10. 🛒 Friends @belles_of_london_city dancing with @lucy_j_wright ’s Rushcart 11. 🪩 Passing the promise of a dancefloor retreat (it took willpower)

Join us on the 2nd of May to kick off the OffBeat Folk Film Festival with a procession led by Nick Hart and Tom Moore featuring morris dancers, effigies and morris dancers then a party curated by the incredible Lucy WRIGHT. We’ve got carnival Morris dancers (in London for the first time ever!), a marching kazoo band, gurning competition, folk strip tease and loads more including the wonderful Niki Rush and Melostme!!! Come in folk fancy dress for the whole thing for your chance to be crowned the May King or Queen! The procession is free to join and starts at CANONBURY station at 5:30pm and leads to the party at The Mildmay Club in Newington Green. A night to remember I think Tickets available via the link in our bio! @lucy_j_wright @mrnickyhart @tomoscarmoore @melostme @disorderingdance @themildmayclub

🔔 I am overjoyed to receive an Unlimited Large Open Award to make Folx! This is massive for me - having the support to realise this ensemble experimental neuroqueer choreographic ritual (!!!!) is a dream come true 🌞 I send HUGE thanks to the panel for trusting me & to all who have supported Folx to get here. Shout out to @clairecprojects , @hzt_berlin and @oespacodotempo whose support planted the seeds for this commission 🩷 Forever gratitude to @weareunltd , who have been fundamental to my development as an artist 🌀Folx will be produced by Siân Baxter, co-produced by Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm (@mousonturm ) and supported by The Work Room (@the_work_room_dance ), Dance Base (@dancebase ), and Take Me Somewhere (@tmsomewhere ), to premiere in the UK in Autumn 2027 ♾️ This commission comes during our turbulent, divisive and uncertain present. Conflict, violence, and fear escalates - especially for marginalised and vulnerable communities. Structures that support disabled people (and their creative work) are actively being dismantled. Receiving the privilege of this award in this moment, it feels important to acknowledge this. Folx will be made in response to this climate, seeking a space for co-regulation, togetherness, and the life-giving nature of dance, song, and sensory experience ✨Folx is an Unlimited UK Open Award 2026 commission made possible thanks to funding from Creative Scotland #WeAreUnlimited #UnlimitedCommissions #UnlimitedOpenAwards Alt text: Aby Watson, a white petite person stands in a dance studio in exercise clothes. Her arms cross over her head, holding handkerchiefs. She has morris dancing bell pads on their shins. Three sticks lay infant of them. She looks directly at you. Overlayed on this is a roundel reading ‘Commissioned to create. Unlimited Open Awards’

We’re delighted to welcome Dr Aby Watson to Unlimited Space/Time. @disorderingdance is a neuroqueer artist, choreographer, performer, & academic working across contemporary performance and knowledge exchange -------- Unlimited Space/Time is a paid online group residency (2–6 March 2026) for experienced disabled artists, delivered in partnership with Unlimited. It asks: How can you continue to thrive as an artist? #UnlimitedSpaceTime 📸 Tiu Makkonen

Aby Watson joins us for a one week residency, Folx! Folx is a neuroqueer ritual and experimental ensemble choreography inspired by Morris Dancing. Through jingling bells, striking sticks, and waving handkerchiefs, Folx celebrates neurodivergent embodiment whilst sensorially and critically investigating tradition, nationalism and gender in our turbulent, divisive times. Don't miss two free Public Events 👉 📆21 February, The Work Room, Studio, Tramway 🟣 Workshop, 11.30am-1.30pm 🟣 Talk Circle, 2.30pm-4pm 📧 Email [email protected] to book your place on either or both events. Images: 1 - Aby Watson. 2 - Cutting, J. (2010). History and the Morris Dance: A Look at Morris Dancing from Its Earliest Days Until 1850. David Leonard: Guildford Image Description: 1 - Aby stands poised in a studio setting wearing active wear and Morris bells. 2 - An illustration of several naked morris dancers. @disorderingdance

Join us for: Neuroqueer Morris Dancing with upcoming Artist in residence Aby Watson. Aby will be hosting two free public events, sharing research and practice from her residency and new project FOLX. Saturday 21 February The Work Room Studio 👉WORKSHOP 11:30 am – 1:30 pm Together we will share, learn, and experiment with traditional Morris dance stepping. 👉TALK CIRCLE 2:30 pm – 4 pm The talk circle creates space to reflect collectively on neurodivergent embodiment, tradition, and ritual. Book by emailing [email protected] See more under What's On page of our website, link in the bio. Image description: Aby stands poised in a studio setting wearing active wear and Morris bells.

2025 @ Disordering Dance HQ! ✨ Better late than never for the yearly round up! Loads of learning and new adventures the past year. So grateful for the projects, opportunities and collaborators… and seeds planted to grow this year ahead! 🌱 🌊 Here’s my highlights !! • 1: Choreographing ‘Dussskk’ by @snapelastic - the first time I’ve choreographed a show for another company and the first time putting radically relaxed performance into practice! LOVED working on this show 📸: @tiumakko • 2: Performing ‘Stimprovisation as Neuroqueer Choreographic Technique’ performance lecture for Choreographies of Care symposium with @clairecprojects and team at @hzt_berlin 🎥: Andrea Keiz • 3: Stimprovisation workshops in Antwerp with @platform_k and @royalconservatoireantwerp 📸: Rudy Carlier • 4: Being an artist in residence at @soundplayprojects , developing new sensory work for intergenerational engagement 📸: @tiumakko • 5: More alterego adventures in the cabaret world as Niki Rush (@nikirushxo ) with @queertheoryglasgow and beyond 📸: @dumivisuals • 6: Performing improvisation with an excellent gang of fellow dancers and musicians from @newstringcollective 📸: Audrey Bizoume • 7: Solo research for my new work Folx at @oespacodotempo with support from @the_work_room_dance 🔔 • 8 & 9: Curating and delivering HERE WE FLOW in partnership with @magnorththeatre and support from @sianbaxter - a HUGE and proud achievement. Loved it - graphics by moi • 10: Lecturing! Peddling my knowledge to students at @hksottersberg , @rcsofficial , & @uofglasgow • 11: Sensory workshops with @artlinkedin - adored working with @lsgault , loved exploring multisensorial worlds and building relationships with sensory beings

On Saturday, February 7th, Chris Martin will open Oughtism with a workshop on autistic languaging as a restorative force. As he describes it, “often this languaging flourishes most fully along what Imane Boukaila calls ‘the periphery.’” Chris is eager to introduce you to some of this languaging and the autistic writers who offer it forth. In the afternoon, Leon J. Hilton will engage the work of Fernand Deligny, alongside close readings of works by William Pope.L, Mel Baggs, Wu Tsang, and others in his talk, Counter-Cartographies. Hilton’s exploration of performance and performativity reveals how the norm of neurotypical reality is continually reinforced through acts of doing, redoing, and undoing. Aby Watson will close Oughtism with a stimprovisation jam, an embodied creative practice of sensory-seeking, instant composition. Coined during Dr. Watson's doctoral research and developed as a somatic practice for neurodivergent people, stimprovisation acts to liberate neurodivergent embodiments through a choreographic practice of ‘unmasking’. You do not need performance experience to join us, only a willingness to play and explore! For the complete symposium schedule, program descriptions, contributor bios, shuttle bus and access information, visit the Blackwood website. Free to attend. Register on Eventbrite: link in bio. Oughtism is supported by the UTM/JHI Annual Seminar (@uoftmississauga @jackmanhumanitiesinstitute ). #NeuroculturesCollective #StimCinema #TheStimmingPool #Oughtism Image Credits: (1) Aby Watson, Stimprovisation Workshop at Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, 2024. Photo: Rudy Carlier. (2) Imane Boukaila, Tressing Motions at the Edge of Mistakes, 2024 (excerpt), Milkweed Editions. Book design: Mary Austin Speaker. Courtesy the Publisher. (3) Aby Watson, Stimprovisation Workshop at Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, 2024. Photo: Rudy Carlier.

Our next Soundtracks Artist Workshop is Stimprovisation with Dr Aby Watson @disorderingdance - at the Playspace on Thursday 22nd January 3.30-6pm. A playful improvisatory session using stimming as a basis for creation, this session is for musicians,artists and anyone interested in accessible creativity. Tickets are £5 available from Linktree in bio #stimming #sensoryplay #sensoryprocessing #improvisation #artistworkshop

I’m on the @weareunltd shortlist! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🎉 I’m thrilled for my project Folx to be shortlisted for Unlimited’s Large Open Award (for Scotland) 🔔 A neuroqueer contemporary ritual and ensemble choreographic performance inspired by the tradition of Morris Dancing. Folx reembodies folk dance as collective stimming and togetherness, whilst investigating nationalism and gender in our divisive times. A rhythmic, multisensory relaxed performance for those often outside tradition 🤞Cross things for me now as I go into preparing my full application…!! 📷: Headshot by the ace @tiumakko ID: A headshot of Aby Watson, a white woman on a vivid blue background, her face framed with brunette wavy hair and a short fringe. She looks to the right, without direct eye contact to the camera, with a surprised look on her face. Her mouth slightly ajar, showing some teeth, is pursed with red lips. She wears mirrored star shaped earrings and a leopard print high neck top, as white feathers adorn her shoulders

💥 THIS WEDNESDAY 💆‍♀️ join us on zoom for a stimprovisation workshop with Dr Aby Watson @disorderingdance 💅 Stimming is a practice of repetitive movements, behaviours, and/or vocalisations to self-soothe, regulate, or stimulate to bring oneself into balance. We all stim, but for neurodivergent people who process the senses differently, stimming is particularly important for wellbeing. Stimprovisation is a practice of sensory-seeking improvisation, discovered and coined by Aby during her doctoral research. Developed as a somatic practice for neurodivergent people, Stimprovisation acts to liberate neurodivergent embodiments through a choreographic practice of ‘unmasking’. In this playful workshop, neuroqueer choreographer Aby Watson shares her process of stimprovisation: sensory-seeking improvisation through practices of movement (stimdance), object (stimplements), and voice (sensinging), directed by the sensorial curiosity of the bodymind. This workshop offers a practical introduction to stimprovising - you do not need performance experience to join us, only a willingness to play and explore! The session will be held on Zoom. We will email you a link to join ahead of time. More information and booking via the link in our bio! Please let us know if you have any access requirements when making your booking. See you there! Image description: A colour photo of a workshop led by Aby Watson, she is a white woman with brown hair tied up in a bun, she stands to the right of the frame wearing black loose-fitting clothes with white graphics, her hand is on her heart and she is mid-speech. Out of focus around her are workshop participants leaning against the wall or sitting on the floor, various props are hang from the walls or lying on the floor such as long colourful ropes, a large blue exercise ball, textured materials and blocks. On top of the image are purple and green graphics with the basic information for the workshop, the making time logo, and a pink/yellow flash that says 'book a free ticket!' Image caption: Aby facilitating a Stimprovisation workshop with dancers from Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp and Platform K, February 2025. Credit: Rudy Carlier

🌞 What a folk-ish kinda summer! 🔔 Here’s harking back to warmer times, on my research adventures for my new project Folx 1. Becoming Saddleworth Rushcart’s Gurning Queen! As a born and bred Saddleworth girlie, winning the Rushcart’s Gurning Competition is genuinely one of my proudest achievements. I’m excited to explore gurning in my neuroqueer choreographic practice - diving into its grotesque, silly abjectness to challenge the neuronormative male gaze with my BIG UGLY STUPID FACE!!! 📸: @maxcrowreeves 
 2. Being a ‘Mop Maiden’ alongside @_kyliedarling for @lucy_j_wright ’s excellent performance ‘Add to Rushcart’ with @horseandbamboo in Rossendale Valley. Bringing a new edge to being a ‘broom maiden’— women who traditionally swept the road in front of the cart as it is processed 📸: Tilo Reifenstein
 3. Hearing no.1 top fairy @sachacoward excellent talk on his book ‘Queer as Folklore’ at @jupiterrising_fest . Super nice to meet him and chat about neurodivergent changelings!
 4. & 5. & 6. Snippets from Saddleworth Rushcart 2025! Look how incredible this tradition is from my home parish - always a favourite part of my year. The dancing! The outfits! The bells! The huge cart from from rushes, pulled BY HAND! I came alone and made many friends. A beautiful homecoming

7. Me announcing the last dances of Saddleworth Rushcart on behalf of the @saddleworthmorrismen - when their voices falter, this gobshite is happy to step in! What an absolute privilege 👀 Keep your eyes peeled for exciting news and plans about Folx coming soon… #neuroqueerchoreography #morrisdancing #neuroqueermorris #queermorrisdance #queermorrisdancing #saddleworthrushcart #saddleworthrushcart2025