Lily Norton

Lily Norton (they/them) is an autistic dance artist, audio describer and access consultant. Reimagining access as a creative act, Lily explores new ways of moving, sensing and communicating through dance. They are particularly interested in how access tools, such as audio description, sensory access, and relaxed performance, can become creative, collaborative elements of the work itself.

Lily currently works with Stopgap Dance Company as Content and Access Artist, co-leading on access strategy, consultancy, inclusive communications and creative development across live and digital projects. They also deliver training on disability, neurodiversity and accessible practice. 

As a performer, Lily takes on the role of live audio describer in Lived Fiction, and most recently provided description for the company’s new outdoor work RO-TES  រទេះ. Their audio description work extends across digital and live projects, including Fierce Grace, Dance for Kids with IRIS, and Here & Where. They also contributed to Dance Tapes and Home Practice as an access artist

Their consultancy work supports organisations, artists and educators to embed access from the earliest stages of planning. This includes working with arts organisations to create resources such as visual stories, improve online access, and rethink inclusive dramaturgy. Lily is part of a collaborative team at Stopgap evolving progressive models of inclusion and co-creation, always working in conversation with artists’ needs and access requirements. Their approach is shaped by lived experience, underpinned by a degree in Dance from the University of Chichester (First Class Honours, 2019), with a dissertation on audio description in dance. 

They first joined Stopgap in 2014 as a performer in the Sg Troop Youth Company, later performing at the Paralympic Heritage Flame Ceremony (2016) and contributing artwork to Moon Language and the IRIS Syllabus. After university, Lily returned to the company as Access Worker for apprentice company Sg2, before moving into their current role.

“When the dancers Emily Lue-Fong and Nadenh Poan duet, Norton describes the way their bodies coil together, skin-on-skin, their eyes meeting, how one “slips like water” over the other. I feel the tenderness of the dance, even though I don’t know every move that’s happening. The emotional weight is more important. As the performance finishes, I feel I have experienced something with everyone here. For the first time, I’ve been given my window into dance.” Caroline Butterwick, The Guardian

“Lily’s descriptions add to the beauty of the movement. Emily Lue-Fong is described in one sequence as “catching the wind”. An outstretched palm becomes “amphibious” in ‘Tipping Trio’. As Nadenh, Christian and Jannick build playful movement together we are drawn to a focus on “the solidity of Christians’ collarbone”. A body can resemble “a lighthouse” or “a puzzle of muscle and metal”. The choices around metaphor and alliteration are chosen to connect the audience with the dance, simply and dynamically.” Colin Hambrook, Disability Arts Online