How Xenia Davis Created Space for Creativity And Why You Can Too

What if the real secret to creative transformation lies not in doing more, but in allowing yourself the space to say yes? In this episode, Xenia Davis shares how stepping back from rigid plans and inviting spaciousness into her life led her from self-doubt to a thriving career as a community song leader. Through her story, you’ll discover how making room for possibility—emotionally and practically—can open the doors to confidence, community, and joy, even in the face of uncertainty.

Guest Bio:

Xenia Davis is an experienced song leader and workshop facilitator with a passion for bringing people from all walks of life together to sing in harmony. She uses her warm and inclusive style to create playful and supportive spaces for people of all levels of experience to explore their voices and enjoy singing together.

Xenia is a member of the Natural Voice Network and strongly believes that everyone can sing and should have opportunities to do so. Her teaching style reflects this inclusive approach. She teaches everything by ear, so it doesn’t matter whether or not you have previously learnt to read music.

Xenia currently runs 4 regular community choirs across south London (Sydenham, Catford, Peckham and Streatham), and works with over 180 singers a week. Her choirs have performed at a wide range of events from supporting local community fairs to performances at venues including the Southbank Centre, Southwark Cathedral and Lambeth Country Show, as well as occasional singing flashmobs. In addition to this she has led singing at Stonehenge as part of the winter and summer solstice celebrations, organises highly popular residential singing retreats, and runs workshops at workplaces, weddings, festivals and community events.

Her earliest musical memories are of dancing round the living room aged 3 in Mozambique, where she was living at the time, to gorgeous harmonies from the South African musical Ipi Ntombi. She has been singing for as long as she can remember, and can also (rustily!) play clarinet, piano and guitar. Aside from music, her background is in youth and community work, social action, participation, and training and facilitation.

Episode Chapters with time stamps:

1. 02:03 - Creative News in The Edge
2. 06:22 - Introduction to Xenia Davis: Embracing Community Singing
3. 10:42 - The Turning Point: Embracing a New Passion
4. 22:03 - Exploring the Essence of Creativity
5. 29:44 - The Importance of Overcoming Self-Judgment
6. 34:16 - The Value of Creativity in Education
7. 40:54 - Exploring Creative Connections through Singing
8. 45:56 - Creating Space for Creativity
9. 46:44 - Creative Adventures

Four Creative Nuggets:

“Together we can make a sound that we can’t make on our own." — Xenia Davis

"I’ve got a bit more spare time in the day to start thinking about what could I do.” — Xenia Davis

“A really big part of a tricky warm up game is feeling okay and being able to laugh at ourselves and thinking, oh, that didn’t quite go right. But that’s okay… we’re not at the Proms.” — Xenia Davis

"I felt really scared about doing it and decided just not to tell my colleagues that I was really scared of doing it and did it anyway, which is the best thing to do.” — Xenia Davis

Links:

Xenia Davis

Xenia Davis - Choir leader and singing teacher

https://www.instagram.com/sing.with.xenia/

The Edge

‘Music reached a part of him that words no longer could’ | BPS

Bingley gears up for three-day community arts festival | Bradford Telegraph and Argus

Over 50 groups awarded micro-grants to take part in Bradford 2025 | Creative Lives

Creative Adventures

The Creative Switch Episode mentioned with Richard Tyler

Nikki Vallance

The Bold Types on Substack

https://nikkivallance.com/the-creative-switch-podcast/

https://www.nikkivallance.com/

https://www.instagram.com/nikki_vallance/

https://podchaser.com/TheCreativeSwitch/

Afflliate Links

Alitu: https://alitu.com?fp_ref=nikki-53

Captivate: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=njg4ytq