Chimera Arts Team
YE-MEER-RUH Latin - A mythical creature composed of various animal parts or perceived as wildly imaginative or implausible.
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Chimera Arts is a new disability lead arts company working in Yugembeh and Meanjin country, Queensland Australia. The group celebrates the resilience of professional movement artists, who identify as d/Deaf and/or Disabled, and supports emerging artists into the next stage of their career. While circus and aerial are our foundation, we also want to support other movement practices and offer space for those interested in experimental arts.​
Founded by Lauren Watson (Professional aerial and movement performer with disability) and Tara Denman (Emerging movement performer with disability and d/Deaf) we recognised from our own experiences that there is a lack of safe spaces for people with disabilities to explore circus with agency over the movements, skills and their own bodies. Having experienced ableism, especially in aerial silks and other apparatuses, we aim to show people outside our community that there are more ways to spin a plate, juggle, hula hoop and of course aerial. Our combined experience working with people living with disabilities for over 12 years, having agency over this is what is missing in most places in Australia. Chimera wants to be the start of change in Queensland by creating the first disability lead circus company and in turn will create strong disability arts leaders.
Chimera Circus Ensemble hope to explore the new and unknown of disability circus arts creating high quality work that is disability lead and working backstage and sound with disabled artists and workers where possible. Our values include support, inclusion, creativity, open-mindedness, and leadership. We strive to create high quality work that is disability-led and to show other communities the value of embracing d/Deaf and/or disabled artists.
