Welcome to Discover 2025

I’m Bobak Champion, theatre maker, movement artist, creative, British Iranian, lover of hip-hop, Artistic Director of Salaam Salaam and more. I’m a Dance Artist that utilises hip-hop dance styles, storytelling and humour to tackle the often-negative stereotype of the Middle East and Islam shown in the media.

I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Iran, where I’ve been warmly welcomed not only by family but by many different people and encounters across my travels there. Following these enlightening and welcoming trips to my mother’s country, I’ve embarked on a mission to share a new more nuanced perspective.

Having often felt helpless watching a torrent of news stories that paint a simplified view of the region, it is truly heart-warming to be able to create work that sparks a conversation where love, pride and unity take the centre.

Hearing the conversations and debates that the shows spark (for example with audiences after watching – I’m Muslamic Don’t PaniK) , has been a huge source of light. I’m excited to discover how I may be able to offer work for outdoor spaces and to celebrate culture which is often only seen and celebrated behind closed doors.

Bokak Champion profiles:

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I am a performer, theatre maker and director and interdisciplinary artist interested in contemporary and experimental performance. I am originally from Hong Kong and now live in London. With a multicultural background, I love exploring European and Eastern art forms and developing the intersection of cultural performance. I am intrigued by the relationship between body representation,  sensation and perception. Growing up with physical theatre and dance training, I believe in the body as the truthful tool to expand human limitation and possibilities.

Physicality is my main medium to express and react to the world. I am constantly training to further refine my body mobility. I’m currently exploring a new concept of performance and theatre, interested in working with diverse artists and absorbing their perspective into art and world.

Bri Wng’s profiles:

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I am a politically driven theatre maker from the Netherlands. After studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland I created Greensleeved, an ensemble-based theatre collective that advocates for the audience’s right to imagine and think, and challenges theatrical tradition by building more inclusive ways of interacting with story, especially for neurodivergent and disabled audiences.

My work often verges into music theatre, with elements like puppetry, live foley and audience participation, and centres on themes of the unseen and the un-belonged.

Cecilia Thoden van Velzen’s profiles:

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I am a circus theatre practitioner who incorporates clown and comedy into the work I create. I have spent the last 16 years working on my technical discipline in the traditional juggling props (balls, rings and clubs) as well as exploring everyday and non traditional objects. After gaining a first class Performance BA from renowned circus school Circomedia in Bristol, I then went on to be the head of juggling on the very same university course, and used my teaching to influence my research based practice.

I enjoy using juggling as a medium to communicate bigger ideas and have been able to do this in collaboration with companies such as Broken Box Collective and Stumble Dance Circus. My work has taken me to international arts festivals including Auch Circus Festival and Edinburgh Fringe. I have worked with a number of established companies, including Desperate Men, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Cirque Bijou and Gandini Juggling.

My recent creative practice has begun to explore outdoor performance with a focus on site specific juggling, developing these techniques in public space and using film as medium to capture and share this work. This has taken the form of short Instagram clips to longer form short films that have been screened publicly alongside physical performances.

Charles Brockbank’s profiles:

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I am a dancer, movement director and creative producer inspired by the extensive potentials that art holds in building communities. I hold 10+ years of experience working across performance, choreography and movement direction in live and digital spaces. My work has been commissioned by Bernie Grant Arts Centre, The Place, Arts Admin, LIFT, Breakin’ Convention, Zinnema & Tempo festival, amongst others.

Over the years, I have honed my experience in working with micro, localised community groups, building my practice around people, space and connections. I have spent the last decade regularly facilitating in a range of participatory art settings whilst building my portfolio as an independent artist.

In 2023, my personal commitment to widening pathways into dance and carving sustainable careers for dance practitioners led me to supporting the creation and development of Metal & Water, a new creative studio for dance founded by Nancy May Roberts. Together, we create and produce live, digital and participatory dance at the leading edge of new practice.

Elsabet Yonas’s profiles:

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I am an interdisciplinary theatre maker who works with landscape, documentary and archival materials to create intimate stories grounded in people and place. My work has a particular interest in social history, folk traditions and the forgotten stories from marginalised voices. My previous work includes The Secret Agent, The Alpha Project, The Turing Project, Summerland and Inside the Memory Palace.

I have collaborated with a number of co-producers including British Science Festival, Manchester Museum of Science and Innovation, Theatre Royal Margate and Greenwich Theatre.

I also previously worked at Kneehigh Theatre’s Asylum Theatre space. I was previously a participant on National Theatre’s Step Change Programme, an associate artist at Greenwich Theatre and, most recently, a recipient of a Develop Your Creative Practice grant from Arts Council England to explore the potential for technology and storytelling to create more accessible theatre in terms of both form and delivery.

Since training in photography at the Royal College of Art, I have been fully engaged with music making and performing. I knew if I chose music I would always do art; which, 30 years hence, has proved to be true.

A vocalist, saw player, movement artist and show deviser with the arts collective, KlangHaus working closely in collaboration, with the team, we know we are greater than the sum of our parts. I’m the frontwoman for the artrock band The Neutrinos, the noise element of KlangHaus. As The Neutrinos we toured North America and wider Europe but grew tired of the gig format of ‘one gig, one city’ and the actual room set-up, the separation between audience and performers.

We knew we wanted something different, so gathering up a bunch of artists and musicians, we got an old-fashioned Arts Council grant and went to Berlin to record an album and make art. We couldn’t afford a recording studio, but were given the run of a building called the Funkhaus, a semi-derelict ex-DDR Radio Station. Bowled over by the place, we recorded the building, the history, the ghosts and several years later the critically acclaimed site-responsive promenade show, KlangHaus, was born. A show that responds to and travels through buildings.

We always spoke of “where does a show begin, where does it end?” Invariably this was outdoors. At London’s Southbank we took people outside onto the roof, in Colchester Old Bus Depot, the roof was so bad we were outside. Our move to outdoor work is an inevitable next step. A recent foray into the woods exploring our most recent project TreeHaus: Making yourself at home in the woods, at a Wild Rumpus residency sealed the deal, I can now proclaim that I’m outdoorsy.

Karen Reilly’s profiles:

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I am a performing artist dedicated to sharing the beauty and richness of Odissi Indian classical dance. Studying under leading global exponents of the form, including Guru Sujata Mohapatra, Guru Madhavi Mudgal and Colleena Shakti, my practice focuses on the experience of inhabiting the body through dance and movement, and the process of developing emotional sensitivity and internal growth through rigorous immersion in devotional dance. 

In recent years, I have also been developing original work grounded in Odissi vocabulary, that both expand on the depth of classical Odissi repertoire (Prelude to Pallavi, 2021; We begin with flowers, 2023), as well as working with the musical and poetry traditions of my Persian heritage (Embodying Rumi, 2022), to give audiences innovative ways of experiencing Odissi that go beyond the classical repertoire.

I perform as a soloist and as part of dance ensemble works, and collaborate with musicians and spoken word artists to produce original work, and have performed at venues such as London Southbank Centre, the British Museum, the National Poetry Library, and the London Transport Museum. As well as my performance work and practice in the UK, I have travelled to India extensively to deepen my understanding of the cultural context from which the dance form has grown.

I am in the 2023-25 cohort of the Sadler’s Wells South Asian Dance Development programme, where I have been further developing my skill set as an artist, maker and facilitator, and was awarded the 2024-25 Lisa Ullman Travelling Scholarship Fund main award, to support a four-month trip to India where I deepened my understanding of Odissi choreographic and pedagogical approaches.

Maryam Shakiba’s profiles:

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My name is Shreya Vadnerkar and I’m the Associate Director of Nupur Arts, Leicester’s leading South Asian dance organisation. I specialise in the creative sector, serving as both a cultural leader for a National Portfolio Organisation and as a dance artist.

I’ve been training in Bharatanatyam, Bollywood, Tap, Modern, and Street dance at Nupur Arts and recently have engaged with Breaking (Breakdance), exploring topics through a fusion of styles. Some of my highlights include featuring in the high-profile Marvel Studio’s film ‘The Eternals’ as a Bollywood dancer, being invited to perform my Breaking and Bharatanatyam piece Breakin’ Boundaries at Dialled In festival, Serendipity Arts Festival, Birmingham Introducing festival and more, touring with Sonia Sabri Co for Mughal Miniatures, and being a key artistic partner for Light Up Leicester.

My experience spans both personal and professional spheres. Witnessing my mum Smita, the Founder and Artistic Director of Nupur Arts, inspire and transform thousands of lives has deeply influenced my own journey. I have contributed to the academy’s growth with now over 200 students and an array of accomplishments. Some achievements include attending the Buckingham Palace Garden party as a key contributor and securing the National Portfolio Organisation for Nupur Arts.

My larger mission focuses on providing security and employability within the arts sector, sharing the heritage and cultural of South Asian dance, as well as creating a safe space for people of all ages and backgrounds to be empowered by dance.

Shreya Vadnerkar’s profiles:

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I am a performance maker, interdisciplinary stage artist, researcher and educator. My work seeks to intersect history and current affairs by mixing together tools from the worlds of theatre, circus, and contemporary performance, exploring the power of art as an investigative tool for inciting change.

My proudest achievement is creating “The Escape Act: A Holocaust Memoir”, a one-person show blending puppetry, theatre and circus, rooted in a decade of historic research. It is based on the true story of Irene Danner, a Jewish acrobat who survived the Holocaust hiding at a German circus, and examines questions of antisemitism, xenophobia, and generational-trauma. The show toured in Finland, Germany and England, frequently with an accompanying exhibition and educational talk.

Recently I was one of 31 artists commissioned by disabled-led arts organisation Dash for “WAIWAV”, a project which was the largest showcase of work by d/Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists ever to be presented in the UK to date, spanning 30 galleries in the Plus Tate network.

Outside my stage work, I am a dedicated historic researcher, writer and lecturer. My work spans my many interests, intersecting Jewish culture, circus history and/or queer history. My research has been presented in academic conferences, festivals and public events around the world.

I am a current Artist-in-Residence at The Pomegranate Tent Collective and the Fall 2025 Fellow at the Circus & Allied Arts Collection at Illinois State University. My work was supported by Arts Council England, The Puffin Foundation, TelepART, The European Cultural Foundation, NoFit State Circus, The Jewish Education Project, West of England Combined Authority, Alliance for Jewish Theatre, and others.

Now based between Bristol and New York, I am proud to be a queer, disabled and neurodivergent immigrant of Middle-Eastern and Jewish roots. My work will always and forever be shaped by those lenses.

Stav Meishar’s profiles:

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I am a multidisciplinary artist and part-time Senior Lecturer in PGCE Secondary Design & Technology at the University of East London. My practice flows through textiles, shaped by identity and spirituality. As the creator of Mehraj, I produce mainly textile-based installations and prints that invite people into immersive, reflective environments. My work often explores the in-between spaces – where each tangible moment is akin to a strung musical instrument; when plucked, I intertwine my creativity to quiet procrastination’s negative thoughts. 

Processes such as dyeing, printing, and fabric manipulation serve as windows into the intricate layers of my identity. They visually craft an ambiance that draws viewers into ‘Sba’s world,’ speaking to a spiritual subconsciousness. Through the personas of Mehraj – an Indian Mughal Prince, a former Bollywood actress/socialite, and a rude girl from East London – I explore ‘my being’ as a Fakirni: a female Sufi Muslim ascetic, and part-time one at that. I reflect on renouncing worldly possessions and dedicating life to Allah’s worship through my practice. 

My artistic journey becomes a spiritual ascent, akin to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)’s night journey (Shabe Me’raj). As I navigate the depths of my soul through creative expression, materials serve as conduits for identity exploration – embodying colour, memory, and symbolic shrouds. Textiles metaphorically partition the mind, symbolise protection, and represent cultural migration. They hold the power to veil and reveal identity, opening dialogue between what is hidden and what is expressed.

I’ve exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Sufi Rung Festival in Ajmer, India (2014) and the V&A’s The Fabric of India (2015). I lead regular workshops at the William Morris Gallery, where I serve as a Trustee. My recent work includes a sculpture created for UEL’s ITTE Secondary Inclusion Festival 2024, exploring the theme of inclusion.

Sba Shaikh’s profiles:

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I’m Uzma Rani, a multidisciplinary artist based in Rotherham. My creative journey began after a long career in the corporate sector, when I decided to pursue my passion for art as a way to reconnect with my identity, heritage, and community.

My work blends abstract impressionism and Arabic calligraphy, and is deeply inspired by nature, spirituality, and the lived experiences of British South Asian communities. I often collaborate with local people – especially women, young carers, and BAMER groups—creating participatory projects that celebrate culture and connection.

Over the past few years, I’ve worked on a wide range of community-engaged and outdoor arts projects. These include the WOW Rotherham Festival, Ferham Festival, We Wonder at Wentworth Woodhouse, and collaborative work with the University of Sheffield on projects like Blurring the Edges and Crossing the Frontier. I’ve also facilitated workshops, curated exhibitions, and led art trails in public spaces.

I’m passionate about using creativity as a tool for empowerment, healing, and visibility. My practice is grounded in the belief that everyone has a story worth telling—and that public art can be a powerful way to honour those stories. Through the Discover Programme, I hope to deepen my practice and build meaningful connections with other artists working in outdoor and public art contexts.

Uzma Rani’s profiles:

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I am a performer, architectural researcher, writer, and filmmaker. My work is personal and although ranging in mediums and topics, it can be seen mainly as an exploration of my body’s relationship to physical and non-physical spaces around me. I am interested in postcolonial translations of space, neoliberal surveillance, and mediating between tradition and modernity.

I have a background in Kathak, a classical Indian dance form, and more recently have been learning how to Vogue. Finding similarities and connections between seemingly juxtapositional ideas or art forms interests me, and I work to break down these binaries.

Mahika Gautam’s profiles:

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