My pole dancing practice is expanding into new areas of research around feminism, bodily autonomy, economic injustice and gender inequality. The Dover Prize would be of invaluable support to develop my practice around these themes, experiment with new approaches, build artistic collaborations with new creative partners and discover more innovative, fun and accessible ways to engage with these ideas. Funding would support:
• Time and space for me to explore ideas myself in a pole dancing studio, to read, research and expand my knowledge of these topics and experiment with how to convey them through movement and performance.
• Collaborations with other artists across disciplines including pole dancers, musicians, poets, burlesque, drag, physical theatre, circus artists and more. Funding would allow me to cover the costs of rehearsal space and expenses to work with artists I co-create with (including travel UK travel and cost of e.g. attending others’ events and workshops), and be able to commission artists and creative partners for e.g. joint performances with professional photography and videography.
• Explore collaborations with non-artists e.g. political activists, feminists and academics whose work relates to my topics of interests. For example: rather than just doing a podcast interview with an academic about falling birth rates, could I explain their ideas in a pole dancing routine and try to make it go viral on Instagram?
• Build a website dedicated to my artistic research to share work-in-progress, create podcasts, YouTube and social media videos, use all documentation of process to grow my artist profile and that of all participating collaborators.
• Work towards a final performance of “The History of Capitalism Explained Via Pole Dancing” (working title): a performance piece resulting from my explorations of how pole dancing is a unique way to expose social injustices around gender and economics. Could be a solo piece or collaborative performance depending on the outcomes of artist collaborations.
• Support the costs of my trip to Iceland in October 2025 (flights and accommodation already covered by Reykjavik Fringe Festival) to explore and document relevant feminist themes around the 50th anniversary of the Icelandic Women’s Strike.
• I would collaborate with 2 pole dancing studios in Darlington (Pole & Plumes, Body & Pole Volume 2) to run workshops with Darlington-based pole dance, burlesque and performance artists and stage work-in-progress performances. Darlington artists working across the mediums of pole, dance, physical theatre, drag, and more around would be invited to take part in the workshops to develop both my ideas and their own practice. Local photographers and videographers would be commissioned to produce high-quality media of the events, boosting the visibility and profile of all collaborators, and equipping all participants with strong material for future opportunities.
• I would research feminist and activist organisations in Darlington e.g. the Darlington Nurses’ Union who activities overlap with the themes covered in my practice. Members would be approached to ask for their participation via e.g. interviews and attending events, sharing their expertise and contribute reflections that form part of my ongoing research.
• While organising my events, I would network with creative communities in Darlington to better understand the social and artistic landscape, build collaborative relationships and explore how Darlington-based artists and activists can be incorporated into work I produce in other areas of the UK.
My pole dancing practice began by accident when I was doing unpaid internships in London to try and break into media jobs and become a TV writer, and started working in strip clubs to make up the cash shortfall. Strip clubs are where I first discovered the craft of pole dancing, and my lived experience of the intersectional feminist politics around it have stuck firmly with me and my artistic output. I was also moonlighting as a stand-up comedian, gaining a nomination for the BBC New Comedy Award (2019), performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, running my own queer comedy club Permitted Fruit (listed in the Evening Standard’s Top 10 Comedy Clubs and Top 10 LGBTQ Nights in London) and getting featured on BBC 3. I was eventually persuaded by friends to combine my skills as a stand-up comedian with pole dancing, which premiered in an experimental hour at Camden People’s Theatre’s Festival of Feminism with a show asking “can pole dancing be funny?” This formed the basis of my critically-acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe Show “Pole Yourself Together!” which gained five star reviews and had a sold out run at London’s Soho Theatre. I see the mediums of stand-up comedy and pole dancing as mirror worlds of each other: both are inherently provocative, engage with taboo subjects, and are slippery disciplines that challenge distinctions between “high/low” art and cross boundaries of class, geography, ethnicity, age and gender. Because pole dancing is so linked to the history of sex work and my own experience of working in strip clubs, I’ve felt increasingly empowered with this medium to engage artistically with how capitalism is failing women and be bolder in my feminist material about politics and sexuality – inspired by comics such as Bridget Christie, Fern Brady and Desiree Burch, and working on how to combine my razor-sharp writing skills and social observations with all the possibilities of pole dancing. An enthusiastic collaborator, my practice is rooted in co-creating opportunities with other artists in every way possible, most recently as part of my Queer Natures artist residency with University of Exeter.
BA(Hons) Education with Drama and English, University of Cambridge – 2013. I specialised in dramatic writing and submitted theatre writing pieces as part of my final undergraduate evaluation.
Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice grant (2022)
BBC New Comedy Award Nominee (2019)
Shortlisted – The Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Other Prize (2013)
My own queer comedy club Permitted Fruit which I produced, curated and hosted was listed in the Evening Standard’s Top 10 Comedy Clubs and Top 10 LGBTQ+ nights in London, championing surreal, alternative and experimental acts and performance artists within the comedy scene.
Between September 2021 and December 2024 I co-hosted the cult comedy night Alternative Comedy Memorial Society, an experimental space for left-field comics, clowns and unusual acts to try ideas that wouldn’t work in a normal comedy club.
I was commissioned in 2023 by Arts & Humanities Research Council (via a collaboration with Dr. Ina Linge) to create and deliver comedy writing workshops to engage young LGBTQ+ people in Cornwall with climate activism.
My comedy writing workshops have been commissioned by Wakefield Literary Festival, Buxton Youth Theatre Digital Festival, English Theatre Brussels and Whitman College, USA.
Between 2016 and 2018 I was commissioned by the sexual health clinic at 56 Dean Street and HIV prevention charity Wandsworth Oasis to produce, curate and host “Sextroverts”, an LGBTQ+ comedy night about sexual wellbeing.
• Project combining pole dancing, comedy and activism “Stand up for Sex Workers” featured in the Guardian (2021)
• Listed in British Comedy Guide’s Top Picks of the Edinburgh Fringe 2023
• Interview about “Pole Yourself Together!” featured in The List special about pole dancing shows at the Edinburgh Fringe 2023
• Interview about lack of women on the UK club comedy circuit featured in The Telegraph (2024)
• Currently an artist in residence with University of Exeter’s Queer Natures research project, supported by Arts & Humanities Research Council.
• I was selected for the Arts & Culture University of Exeter Creative Fellowship 2020-21 exploring “The Politics of Sexual Nature” with Dr. Ina Linge.
Email: omnisianbles@gmail.com
Address: 38 Mildmay Avenue, London, N1 4FD, GB
Local Authority: Islington, London
