Beyond The Darkness

By CoDa Dance Company

We are CoDa – a multimedia dance company specialising in dance and neurology

More about CoDa

As the Floor Shifts (film) and (The Moment) Everything Changed (interactions) form part of a body of work – Beyond the Darkness that we have been developing iteratively over the past three years, using dance and cutting edge creative technologies to shed light on the hidden stories of people with neurological conditions and disabilities.

Our Artistic Director, Nikki Watson, has a personal connection to this world because her mother has MS. Nearly all the work CoDa has created since Nikki’s mum’s diagnosis has been about these experiences. Very few people know how to recognise conditions like Multiple Sclerosis, Motor Neurons Disease, Gillian Bar’s Syndrome and Acquired Brain Injury, or how to support someone experiencing the unusual symptoms that come with these conditions.

Beyond the Darkness is about giving voice to communities that aren’t normally given a space in the cultural sphere. Their hope is that this work raises people’s awareness of what it’s like to live with a neurological disability so that we can all be a bit more understanding and compassionate towards people who may move in the world in a way that is unfamiliar to us.

To ensure authenticity, CoDa collaborates with Lived Experience Consultants (LECs) from the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, all of whom live with neurological conditions. These LECs have guided the work by sharing their personal stories, providing feedback, and influencing the research and creation process.

The work is a collaborative effort that amplifies voices from communities often excluded from cultural conversations. The aim is to enhance understanding and empathy towards those living with neurological disabilities, encouraging us all to be more compassionate towards people who navigate the world in ways that may be unfamiliar to us.

Facts and Figures

1 in 6

of us has a neurological condition 

1 in 5

Deaths is due to a neurological condition

800,
000

hospital admissions every year result from neurological problems

Every 90

seconds someone is admitted to hospital with a brain injury

Over 9,000

neurosurgical operations take place every year

Support for Issues Raised During this Project

If you have been affected by any of the topics raised today, you can access support through a number of trusted organisations including:

MS-UK 

MS Society UK 

Headway 

The Brain Charity

Parkinson’s UK

Renovo Care Group 

Our Lived Experience Consultants

Find out more about some of our LECs – the people who help shape our work and make sure it authentically reflects their lives.

Creative Team

Artistic Director & Choreographer
Nikki Watson

Executive Director & Creative Producer
Elise Phillips

Performers
Jodie Honeybourne
Claire Lambert
Maiya Leeke
Nikki Watson

 

Lived Experience Consultants
Ruth Balkansky
Laura Dajao
Tom Mercer
Teresa Scott
Anne Watson
Nick Wheeler

Multimedia Artists
Andra Ciacoi (PlayLa.bZ)
Marius Matesan (PlayLa.bZ)

Creative Technologist
Marius Matesan (PlayLa.bZ)

Sound Composition
Jeph Vanger

Motion Capture & Animation
Bertie Sampson (Immersive Me)

 

Production Assistant
Vernon Kavanagh

Film Editing
Matt Bartram (Cave & Sky)

Dramaturg
Lou Cope

Digital Access Consultants
Sarah Pickthall
Stuart Waters

Mentors
Collusion
XO Labs

Your Feedback

Please tell us what you thought about your experience today. Your feedback is vital in order to secure future funding for our work.

Join our email list

Thanks to our Funders & Supporters

Arts Council England 
National Lottery Community Fund
People’s Postcode Lottery
Essex Community Fund
Thurrock CVS

Thurrock Local Authority
Co-op Community Fund
Aviva Community Fund
The Albert Hunt Trust
Dance Network Association

The Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability
DanceEast
South East Dance
Arts Outburst