Hey, it's me - Xavi De Santos - a Bath-based freelance performance practitioner and facilitator.

 

Over the last decade, I have been devising and performing with Dust Ensemble, Yama Dance Company, and for the company I co-founded, AllouAqui Dance Theatre. I have been creating work for and with dancers, actors and multidisciplinary artists, often blurring the lines between these disciplines. My creative practice has a strong focus on the theatrical potential of the moving body, a creative approach I have been developing since my training began in my hometown of Porto, Portugal. I later also trained at BSU and, most recently, in 2024, I completed an MA in Performance Practice at Middlesex University, with a Practice-as-Research focus on composition, devising and improvisation strategies.

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Alongside my creative work, I'm also a facilitator and an educator. Since 2018, I have contributed to both the BA and MA Dance programmes as an Associate Lecturer/Guest Artist, delivering creative modules, performance projects and specialist workshops. Since 2022, I have also worked as an Associate Movement Lecturer on the BA Acting programme. I recently joined the Dance department as a Dance Lecturer for the 2026/27 academic year, contributing to teaching and module leadership across the programme. Here, at BSU, I'm also currently completing my PGCHE, continuing to develop my teaching practice through critical reflection and research.

 

Alongside my academic work, I also facilitate community workshops for various groups across the Southwest of England. This year, I was shortlisted and a proud finalist at the Bath Creative Awards 2026 for the categories of ‘Inspirational Person’ and ‘Creativity for Good’ with my recently founded Creative Playgrounds in Bath and Trowbridge, as part of my ongoing commitment to making creativity accessible and strengthening the artistic community. 

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My Practice-as-Research originated during my MA studies at Middlesex University in 2024, where I started to investigate the Inner Voice as a tool for movement and text improvisation, devising and performance-making through creative processes that foreground intuition, physical sensation and inner speech. My research explores how performers can tap into their inner landscapes through embodied practices, and how this influences artistic expression, lived experience and connection. This ongoing research continues to inform both my artistic and academic practice, as I regularly facilitate 'Inner Voice' workshops for the BSU MA Dance students as well as through Bath's Creative Playground.