Ella Mesma Company is a British based dance theatre company who use a diverse range of folkloric dance styles, inspired by director Ella’s background in Afro-Latin, Breaking and Contemporary dance, as well as the skills of each individual who has joined the company.
The company strive to use diaspora dance theatre (a term they created to communicate this unique meeting of dance styles) to allow transformation: telling personal and global stories to connect to our truest selves, and create powerful, personal and political work.
“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” ~ Toni Morrison.
Ella, of mixed heritage, began dancing Salsa aged 14 and much later (age 25) studied Contemporary dance and trained in Breaking. Ella’s incentive is to make accesible dance work with BIPOC womxn, LGBTQI+ people as the central characters and using the dance styles she has always loved.
*womxn: we are using this alternative spelling to avoid suggestions of sexism perceived in the sequence of m-a-n and m-e-n, and to be inclusive of trans and non binary women.
Ella Mesma Company also teach workshops and work with young people to create dance projects in the community.
Thank you to Pavillion Dance South West, where Ella is Artist in Residence, to Geraldine Connor Foundation where Ella is an Associate Artist and to Arts Council England for continued support through public funding.
