Shaaray Sharif - About Shaaray

Shaaray Sharif (she/her) is a performance maker and interdisciplinary artist whose work explores power, identity, and resistance. Combining sound, movement, and text, Shaaray creates performances that challenge societal norms and amplify marginalised voices. Rooted in autobiographical material and framed through feminist, queer, and decolonial perspectives, Shaaray’s practice invites audiences to experience spaces of disruption, reflection, and empowerment.

ABOUT SHAARAY'S PRACTICE

Shaaray’s practice is rooted in lived experience, drawing from autobiographical material, she uses personal experience as a lens to interrogate social constructs. As a neurodiverse, Pakistani/Scottish mixed-race, queer woman, her work is shaped by the complexities of moving through the world as a part of multiple marginalised groups. These layered experiences of difference inform an evolving practice attuned to the politics of visibility and belonging. Rather than separating these identities, Shaaray explores how they coexist and interact, often becoming sites of tension and creativity. This multifaceted perspective continues to shape her ongoing exploration of identity, power, and resistance. Often working in a collaborative process across sound, movement, and text, Shaaray develops interdisciplinary performance work that questions societal norms and amplifies marginalised perspectives. Sonic elements are frequently at the foundation of creating work, acting as material and critical inquiry, movement arises from embodied research and improvisation, while text is spoken or pre-recorded. Creating with these forms allows for natural tensions to evolve in the space and help deepen her exploration. Her praxis continues to evolve through engagement with feminist, queer, and decolonial theories. Influenced by researchers such as Gayatri Spivak, Edward Said, Susan McClary, Sarah Ahmed and Koa Beck, her work responds to systems of oppression that are constructed and maintained through societal norms. These theoretical foundations are not merely cited but are integrated into the structure and dramaturgy of the work; shaping both form and content. Shaaray’s performances often utilise abstraction, prioritising multiplicity over resolution. She invites audiences into environments of reflection, where discomfort, tension, and vulnerability are held together. The audience is positioned not as a passive spectator but as an active witness, involved in the unfolding and interpretation of the work. Through this evolving practice, Shaaray continues to craft performance as a site of resistance, one that challenges dominant narratives while offering space for complexity, connection, and change.

Health & Wellbeing

Shaaray states - 'Care is embedded in devising work with such personal, political, and emotionally charged material, looking after myself and my collaborators is built into the process. Engrainging things like taking breaks when things feel heavy, checking in regularly, dancing around to lift spirits, and creating space to set boundaries and move at a pace that feels safe. I often foster a shoes-off-at-the-door environment; leaving the work in the rehersal room and then picking up where we left off in the next rehersal. The work often asks a lot, but it should never come at the cost of wellbeing.'

EDUCATION

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland - BA(hons) Contemporary Performance Practice
Edinburgh College - FA Apprenticiship Creative and Digital Media
The Royal Highschool of Edinburgh

SKILLS

Devising Dramaturg Facilitator Performer Director Collaborator Actor

Movement Creative Writing Reasearcher Film Making Composition Soundscape

Theatre-maker