Ali Williams

Ali Williams is a Welsh circus artist, director, and producer who co-founded NoFit State and spent three decades building contemporary circus from street performance into large-scale ensemble spectacle. Williams's recorded association with NoFit State dates from 1984; she later recalled formally founding the company in 1986 with Tom Rack and three friends after learning juggling through Cardiff's community-circus scene. In the early years, the group performed on the street before touring a small big top around the United Kingdom. From 1986 to 1990, Williams performed in the Dangerous Duo, a street show built around clowning, juggling, diabolo, knife throwing, and comic reversals of control.

As NoFit State matured, Williams's responsibilities broadened from performer to administrator, general manager, community director, producer, and executive creative leader. In 1995 she directed the circus scenes and performed an incidental knife-throwing role in *The Bartered Bride*, a production that combined objects, aerial and balance skills, acrobatics, theater, and music. Over the following decades, she produced and developed large-scale NoFit State works including *ImMortal*, *Parklife*, *Barricade*, and *Open House*. These productions used traveling ensembles, aerial structures, ladders, tires, juggling, live music, and audience-facing activity to animate tents and public space. In *Barricade* (2011), Williams served as producer while Orit Azaz directed and Mish Weaver choreographed the circus elements—illustrating how NoFit State's work remained collaborative across roles.

Alongside professional production, Williams pursued social-circus and sector-development work. She directed the Circus Development Agency from 2008 to 2010, participated in European circus networks, and worked with Jugglers for Peace. In 2013, she took a sabbatical in Nepal with Circus Kathmandu, where she produced *Swagatam* for international touring. After leaving NoFit State following roughly three decades of involvement, Williams continued international collaboration, including work on the 2017 cross-cultural project *As a Tiger in the Jungle*, which connected Nepalese and European artists and presenters.