Nikki Watson

Background

About Nikki Watson

I am a working class, neurodiverse choreographer and performer and my passion is making art with social conscience. I have been making professional and participatory dance productions for over a decade, specialising in creating dance theatre that puts people’s voices and lived experiences at the heart of the work. I believe that, as artists, we should be problem solvers. By using our imagination, and by collaborating with others, we can find new ways to present stories about real lives differently. I work with multi-media artists, composers and performers to support people to engage with dance on their own terms. I like to present my work in a variety of spaces and places to reach a wider audience, in particular, those who may struggle to engage with more traditional arts spaces. In 2013, my mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and, having subsequently discovered a lack of dance opportunities for people experiencing neurological disabilities, I founded CoDa Dance Company. Choreography became a way for me to process and express the situation my family found ourselves in and I quickly recognised the impact dance was having on people struggling with the symptoms of conditions such as Parkinson’s, MS and acquired brain injury. Today, CoDa is an award-winning, socially driven, female and disability-led dance company and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. We are a multi-media dance company specialising in dance for neurology. To find out more about CoDa, visit our website at or follow us on Instagram @codadanceco.