Executive Director and Founder of Surface Area Dance Theatre

Nicole Vivien Watson has over twenty years of experience in the arts. She is the Executive Director and Founder of Surface Area Dance Theatre, a charity she established in 2007. Under Nicole’s leadership, Surface Area Dance Theatre has been included in Arts Council England’s National Portfolio for 2023-26. Her collaborative work has involved partnerships with leading national and international organizations such as The British Council, Arts Council England, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, The Barbican, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, and the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation.

As a dynamic and highly motivated researcher, Nicole earned a rigorous MA scholarship from the School of African and Asian Studies (SOAS) at the University of London in 2021, where she specialised in East Asian Buddhism, Japanese history, and Shogun iconography.

Nicole facilitates creative projects across disciplines, effectively communicating ideas to diverse audiences through multiple platforms. British Sign Language (BSL) is her second language, and she is a passionate advocate for BSL and D/deaf culture. With support from the Royal Ballet Benevolent Fund, she completed five years of accredited education in Sign Language and Deaf Culture in 2021. Nicole promotes collaboration between D/deaf and hearing communities, working to build international relationships with Deaf arts ambassadors in the UK, Japan, Greece, and North America.