Siân - Kaleidoscope's creator

For me, Kaleidoscope is about joy. About feeling sweatily, vibrantly alive and connected and lifted up by community.  Dancing is where I find sanctuary, where I celebrate the good days and find my way through the bad ones.

It's also about the future I want to build. One a little less filled with heteronormativity, rigid expectations, oppressive gender roles and unspoken assumptions about what it means to agree to something - even within a dance. 

I get excited about connection, about pleasure, and about how much better our worlds get when we have access to joy. Our joy matters. Your joy matters. 

Ian - Kaleidoscope XXL co-organiser

It's pretty much Ian's fault that Siân is a fusion dancer. And an organiser, now we think of it. They were touring around Europe on only-slightly-on-fire schoolbuses as part of a team throwing fusion events way before Kaleidoscope came along.

A music nerd to their soul, Ian has performed at fusion festivals across Europe and America with the Battery Powered Blues Band, and was one of the main DJs and organisers for Disco Ball, the now-legendary series of extremely hecking punk-yet-wholesome underground dance parties thrown in and around Bristol! Fitting then that they take the reins on all things music at Kaleidoscope XXL - our fusion mega-weekender. 

Lauren - Microscope mastermind

Our co-organiser for Microscope, Lauren's dance journey has been a far-ranging, heady tour through the worlds of west coast swing, tango, blues, latin dances and zouk.

Her first fusion weekends were in the US, where she met and fell in love with micro. It was like someone gave a name to This Thing that was already part of her dancing - and a doorway into exploring more.

Microscope - Bristol's smallest fusion weekend - started when Lauren said the magic words "cosy micro weekend" and our eyes met across the table. It's also a straight-up excuse for her to have more micro on her doorstep.