Billy Read

In October 2020 I was contacted by UK Deaf Sport’s project manager regarding an exciting new opportunity to deliver dance classes on Zoom. This followed up on a recent series of dance sessions I was commissioned to deliver by the National Deaf Children’s Society, which I taught over six weeks starting in September. What is Deaf Active Online? The hashtag #DeafActiveOnline is the name of the ambitious nationwide campaign spearheaded by UK Deaf Sport and funded by Sport England

Monday 21st December marks the Winter Solstice - the shortest day of the year, and for many people, its been the worst year in living memory. It Get’s Lighter From Here is a collaborative, cultural experience from the West Midlands Culture Response Unit (WMCRU) - a virtual day of hope and positivity that showcases a collection of 60-second films from organisations across the region. Deliberately marking the shortest day / longest night of the year, the purpose of the campaign

This was another one of my week-long school residencies as part of my Sign Criminal commission, following on the success of my Derby, Doncaster, and Liverpool school residencies. In the summer of 2019 I continued to gain momentum on my Sign Criminal commission with yet another school residency that brought an exciting week of dance, drama, poetry and story-writing, as well as ice breaker games, dance workshops, and a performance to the whole school. This time, we worked with

As part of my Sign Criminal commission, I ran a series of week-long dance residencies at several schools and colleges around the country in the summer of 2019. The Royal School for the Deaf in Derby was one of the highlights. Following the success of my residency at Communication Specialist College in Doncaster, I headed to Derby for another week of dance performance and workshops, games, brainstorming, drama and poetry. Also supporting me on this residency were Ariel Fung, C

In July 2019, I started my first week-long residency at Communication Specialist College in Doncaster, as part of my Sign Criminal commission. With me were dancers Ariel Fung and Chris Fonseca, and sound artists Chris Bartholomew and Nao Masuda. Prior to residency, I visited the college three times in April-May 2019 to establish a network and connection with some of the staff and students, and putting on some dance taster workshops sessions so that the students could have a f

Lockdown for Deaf young people is more challenging than for hearing young people. The majority of Deaf young people are born to hearing families forced to follow an ‘oral’ method of education, reliant on speech and lipreading. Social distancing for Deaf young people has been double isolation: they often cannot communicate with their own parents and siblings at home, they often travel long distances in taxis to attend specialist educational provision, which results in isolatio

In November 2019 Ariel Fung and I spent a week making new dance theatre with the Deaf and HoH children at Knotty Ash Primary School in Liverpool. I first visited Knotty Ash Primary in June 2019, upon successfully receiving a response from Kath Sweeney, the Head of Deaf Resource Base at Knotty Ash Primary, following my outreach emails to schools across the country. Along with Ariel Fung, I visited for one day of workshops we delivered to various different groups of children. I

On 6th May 2021 I gave an interview in BSL with the presenters on-air during the live showing of Blue Peter, followed by a short dance performance, as part of Deaf Awareness Week. The show, which aired at 5pm on CBBC, marked my first ever live interview and performance on television. The host asked me questions which I replied in BSL, and even asked me to teach her a few dance moves. The interview was interpreted by Rachael Veazey of Deaf Explorer. Naturally, this was a monum