As part of Culture Liverpool’s Leap Dance Festival Creative Grants Programme, Amy Milson has created UNSEEN, a dance film exploring her experience of living with a visual impairment. Here, the 25-year-old dance graduate from Liverpool City College explains how participating in Rambert’s Future Movement programme, also supported by Culture Liverpool, gave her the confidence to follow her dreams.
Periventricular Leukomalacia is a brain injury that I’ve had from birth but was only diagnosed with in primary school. The messages from my eyes to my brain get jumbled so it takes me longer to process what I’m seeing.
I’ve been dancing since I was three. Sometimes I struggle to get my words out and reading can be difficult but when I’m dancing, I feel free. There is no pressure for it to make sense, I can just be in the moment.
Choreographer Grace Goulding came to do a workshop at Liverpool City College and told us about a free creative youth programme she was facilitating called Rambert’s Future Movement. As a leading British dance company, I was already aware of Rambert so when I heard about the programme that would not only connect me to professional dancers but also other experts in creative disciplines, I was excited to get involved.
Whether you’re interested in performing, designing, or exploring behind-the-scenes roles, Future Movement is a safe space to express yourself, develop new skills and get inspired by industry professionals.
I’ve previously been hesitant to tell people about my visual impairment. People tell me that I don’t look disabled. Why does that matter? Why does my reality need to fit your expectation? But Future Movement was such a supportive environment that I felt comfortable to open up. Everybody was so encouraging, which has given me the confidence to be more open about my hidden disability.
At the end of term, the Liverpool group held a special event attended by young people from the London and Mansfield group. As part of the event, I created a video called UNSEEN, which is about my journey with my visual impairment and how I deal with everyday struggles such as using public transport.
When the Culture Liverpool’s Leap Dance Festival Creative Grants Programme opened, Grace encouraged me to go for it to develop my video and get it out to a wider audience. Putting yourself out there is scary but I’ve had such a great reaction.
Being co-commissioned by DaDa, I want to use my video to raise awarenes about hidden disabilities and make people with them feel less alone.
My ambition is to share my story as a workshop, work with dance schools and a professional company to inspire other young people to follow their dreams.
When I was younger, there was nobody like me. Even now, I don’t feel like I’ve got anybody to look up to, anybody I can relate to, but if I can help even one person by sharing my story, that would be amazing.
This is how I choose to live my life. My hidden disability is a part of me, but it’ll never define me.
