Gemma Collard-Stokes (PhD) is an interdisciplinary performance artist, researcher and educator.

She studied contemporary performance, dance, and somatic practices at Coventry University, graduating with a first-class bachelor’s degree and distinction for her master’s degree. Gemma then went on to secure a funded PhD opportunity at the University of Wolverhampton, completing her thesis, Dissolving Borders: The Integration of Writing into a Movement Practice in 2017.

Her ecologically informed practice extends from her work with Helen Poynor through the Walk of Life Training, and the principles of this underpin her approach to teaching, making, and living.

Gemma's research is concerned with dance in its therapeutic capacity, examining the function of dance as a route to prevention and management of conditions affecting physical and mental health conditions. Since 2010, Gemma has been developing an ecologically conscious interdisciplinary approach to outdoor dance and is known for her on-going enquiry into the ways dance supports sustainable relationships between humans and the rest of nature. This body of work has seen her collaborate with poets, visual artists, musicians, and film makers and she has made numerous live, multimedia and installation pieces.

Orcid ID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7798-9169