Dani Abulhawa

I am a British-Palestinian performance maker based in Manchester, UK, and a lecturer in Contemporary Applied Performance at the University of Leeds.

I make performance-led artworks in galleries, and I work as a performer, director and sometimes producer - mainly in theatre and also in film. My performance training is focused around movement and improvisation; I typically use the Creative Articulations Process, Laban efforts and Overlie's Six Viewpoints in my own solo devised work and directorial projects. Spoken word or testimony based on people's lived experience often features in my creative process or productions.

I am a trained skateboard coach, and community facilitator. I am a co-founder of Accumulations - a collective of dance/movement artists and a supportive network for the development of experimental movement, dance, and performance. I’m an ambassador for skateboarding charity, SkatePal and I’m a director of Skate Manchester, which involves coordinating and delivering community-based skateboarding projects within the city.

My PhD examined the ways that women are prevented from a playful engagement with the city, through social regulation of their behaviour. My community-based work focuses on projects that are engaged with social justice, that democratise access to playful public realm and support people’s capacity for creative interaction within their environments.