A.T. is an interdisciplinary queer Kenyan artist from a career in law & financial technology, recently based in London. Originally trained as vocalist & violinist, their work extends to film, photography, pole performance, and oil painting. Their current research interest explores the potential of immersive frontier media like extended reality (XR) and augmented reality (AR) to catalyse psychotherapeutic embodied healing.

They are better known for training with  FKA Twigs as a pole dance & fitness instructor, cinematographer, and headlining the Blackstage Show at the Clapham Grand. Without a background in dance or gymnastics, they have been dancing for over 9 years, and singing since they were 6 years old.

Ritually, A.T.’s movement is rooted in expressionism and the practice of pole dance as a radical act of self love. “ Ĩgũa” is a word in Kikuyu, A.T.’s mother tongue, a verb meaning both “to feel" and “to listen”, in Swahili it roughly translates to “sikia”, and in French to “sentir”. By analogy, the point isn’t just to move, but to connect intimately with ourselves.

Ultimately, they are inspired by the idea that pole dance is a metaphor for gender & sexuality. It is innocent, yet socially, stigma attaches to it.