Blackstage Show, Clapham Grand

A.T. is a queer Kenyan artist, musician, and pole dancer based in London, with a career in law and fintech. With no prior background in dance or gymnastics, they have been pole dancing for over 8 years. They have worked with Harley Weir, AJ Hamilton, and trained with FKA Twigs. Some of their recent work, a short film Bloom, was commissioned by Edinburgh’s Fringe of Colour Films online arts festival, and curated for Sheffield DocFest ’21 in Campbell X’s exhibit on ‘Decolonising Queer Desire’. ⁠

A.T. is inspired by the idea that pole dance is a metaphor for queerness; in a state of nature it is innocent, but in a social context stigma attaches to it.⁠ They dance to “Nothing Without You” by Tanerélle at the Clapham Grand in London as part of the Black Stage Show 2023, produced and directed by its founder Leila Davis.

For this piece, they are wearing over 100 Swarovski crystals applied by hand and a bejewelled Bloch dance belt.