Melanin Migration
Brothers in Arms
Performance Video
Experience the movement and storytelling of Melanin Migration: Brothers in Arms
Research and Development
Research Overview
Melanin Migration: Brothers in Arms
This research investigates how professional performers navigate uncertainty, career transition, and wellbeing when traditional performance structures are disrupted. It focuses on skills, forms of support, and collective practices that enable performers—particularly Black male artists working in commercial theatre—to imagine sustainable futures beyond the stage.
The inquiry is informed by reflective analysis of Melanin Migration: Brothers in Arms (2020), which operates here as a research foundation rather than a project description. Insights drawn from the process highlight how peer-led, embodied creative practice can support future-oriented thinking, mutual care, and professional reorientation during periods of instability.
Research Focus
This research explores:
- How performers prepare for life beyond the stage during periods of disruption.
- The role of peer-led, embodied creative practice in supporting wellbeing and resilience.
- How collective reflection and movement-based processes support career reorientation.
- Sustainable, non-clinical models of support within cultural labour contexts.
Research Approach
The research adopts a practice-based and reflexive approach, using creative process as a method of inquiry. Qualitative reflection on embodied practice, dialogue, and shared authorship is used to generate insight into professional experience, wellbeing, and future planning.
Future Direction
The long-term aim is to adapt these peer-led, embodied practices into accessible models that support wellbeing, skills development, and future planning across professional, educational, and community contexts.