Matt Cleary

Matt Cleary – dance artist & inclusive dance educator

Matt Cleary is an independent Dance and Movement artist and educator based in Bath (UK). His practice centres on an inclusive and integrated process based approach and he specialises in creating work with, and for children, young people and adults with complex and profound learning disabilities. After studying at London Contemporary Dance School, and Goldsmiths (University of London) Matt worked for several years in Devon and the Southwest in a number of professional, community and education contexts. Alongside a number of projects he cofounded an inclusive dance company. He also developed Theatre work for ROC creative (an arts council funded charity arts project) with the aim of providing access to professional performance and training for adults with learning disabilities and celebrating the practice of disabled artists across the region and beyond.


Since 2015 Matt has been based in Bath and funded by Threeways School (an Ofsted Outstanding Generic Special School) as in house dance practioner and consultant to research and develop accessible movement techniques and advocate for inclusive dance within education nationally. The culmination of his work has been ‚InMotion‘: A dance, movement and communication programme designed to promote creative physical, emotional, cognitive and social skills through response to, and interaction with immersive light and sound design, textural set and digital interface. Now embedded in the schools curriculum Matt has recently had funding renewed and increased to expand his programme as a practical and research model; focusing in particular on developing inclusive movement based technologies.


After working as a collaborator and physical researcher on ‚Lucidity‘ Matt joined Sound and Colour Productions in 2017. He participated in the research and creation of work as part of the companies residencie’s at Bath Spa University and Dance Limerick in 2018. In May 2018 he taught and lectured at the Pyrenees Dance Intensive (www.pyreneesdance.com). Delivering a course entitled „‚Moving for Every-Body‘: Towards new models in process, performance making and bodily practice“. A series of overlapping lectures, workshops and physical research labs. In 2019 Matt was commissioned for the second year to create work for the ‚Forest of Imagination‘ Festival. A large scale arts festival for children and young people at the Holbourne Museum Bath (UK) (www.forestofimagination.org.uk). His new multi-disciplinary work ‚Glimpses‘ premiered at the four day festival in June 2019 comprising screendance film, sound score, live performance, a series of workshops and an immersive installation piece. The next stage of development and performance is due to take place in Bath and Leicester during 2020.