Meet the Team

Executive Team
Dan Daw (he/they) – Artistic Director and CEO /Performer

An Australian queer, Crip (disabled) artist now living in Manchester (UK), Dan works collaboratively with a growing network of companies and artists to develop new work for UK and international audiences.

Blurring the divide between theatre and dance, Dan exploits his deviating functionality to examine what it means for his queer, Crip body to occupy, and be unapologetic in, non-disabled spaces and the function of care and interdependence in those spaces.

Liz Counsell (she/her) – Executive Director

Liz is an experienced Creative Producer and Arts Consultant with over 10 years experience working across multiple artforms. She has worked in both strategic and delivery roles with Trinity Bristol, MAYK, Tongue Fu, Roundhouse, Watershed and Radio 1Xtra and was the Founder of Disability Arts Festival I’m Here, Where Are You? ⁠⁠

Liz’s work centres around artist development, community engagement, social prescription and creating accessible experiences that share lived experiences with a wide range of audiences.

Delivery Team and Associate Artists

Zed Lightheart (he/they)  – Access Co-ordinator 

Zed is queer and disabled. He is currently Access Support for Dan Daw Creative Projects for both the team and audiences, and leads on the access provision for ‘The Dan Daw Show’.

Previously, he has worked with National Theatre of Scotland as the Company Liaison for the European Tour of Claire Cunningham’s ‘Thank You Very Much’ in 2021.

Zed trained in Education, Nursing and Art. He has worked as a paediatric nurse, (in children’s hospitals and hospices), a presentation skills coach, ceramic artist and undertaker.

Christopher Owen (he/him)  – Associate Artist and Performer/Collaborator (The Dan Daw Show)

Christopher is a dance artist, teacher and choreographer based in the UK. He has worked as a performer for leading repertory dance and theatre companies including; Scottish Dance Theatre, Candoco Dance Company, Dance Theatre of Ireland and National Theatre of Scotland.

He was introduced to a wide range of contemporary techniques from; Nigel Charnock, Russell Maliphant, Sarah Michelson and Trisha Brown. Christopher received a ‘Moving Dance Forward’ award to further his choreographic interests and has since created works on graduate and professional dancers alongside intergenerational groups.

More recently, Christopher co-founded London International Dance Intensive, an annual dance festival offering dancers a diverse programme of teaching artists that best reflect today’s working conditions.

Sarah Blanc (sher/her)  – Associate Artist and Movement Director (The Dan Daw Show) Co-Director (EXXY)

Sarah is an Irish loudmouth choreographer, performer and host based in London. She creates solo dance comedy work on herself and is Artistic Director of Moxie Brawl – an award-winning inclusive dance theatre company. She is one third of Annie Vicky Sarah – a trio of collaborators who are challenging inclusive dance practices within creative settings.

As a freelance choreographer/movement director, Sarah has worked with companies, organisations and artists such as Little Red Kettle, Complicite, Bryony Kimmings, Royal Opera House, Yami Löfvenberg, Greenwich Dance, Blink Dance Theatre and The Place. She is currently working with Dan Daw Creative Projects, Baby Lame and Xnthony.

Froud (he/him)  – Associate Artist and Production Manager (The Dan Daw Show and EXXY)

Simon Froud, known as Froud, is an artist, designer and performer, whose practice ranges from sound design and digital art direction, solo performance work, visual art, and creating experimental technologies in performance.

His work operates in the intersections and oscillations between art and technology. Notions of time/space, immersion and interaction, the individual and the collective experience informs his work to comment on a spectrum of topics.

Froud often advises on projects, both technically and artistically, facilitates workshops and guest speaks. He regularly collaborates on projects with other artists and companies from multiple disciplines. He also works nationally and internationally as a stage, production and technical manager. Froud is also an Associate Lecturer at Rose Bruford College, and the University of Chichester.

Nao Nagai (she/her)  – Associate Artist and Lighting Designer (The Dan Daw Show)

Nao is a London based lighting designer, technical collaborator and performer from Japan. Since immigrating to UK at the age of 15, she trained at Rose Bruford College in Lighting Design and she’s been lighting and collaborating multiple genre of performances, inter/nationally.