GIFT Festival Review- STAGE REVIEW
STAGE REVIEW: GIFT Festival – Day One (28.4.17) “Firstly Ella Mesma’s piece Papillon picked up similar themes to Zoe Murtagh’s piece earlier in the day, though from an entirely different angle, as she explored the notion of home and belonging in response to Theresa May’s assertion that ‘if you think you’re a citizen of the […]
Interview questions: Conversations with Bgirls on how to be a ‘lady’.
Q1. How do you define a B-girl? Mantis: A female who breaks Brie: She is determined as fuck. She has fire. She hasn’t been able to express herself anywhere else. I have my gear… There is a way she dresses and things she needs… The pants… Her shit. I recently support brands I stand for-building small companies… Unique graffics. Keep it large baby. […]
June 2016: Brazil WCMT
2015 WCMT Travelling Fellowship: Brazil Blog and reflections on Cuba Dates of journey: 17th January to 1st March 2016 Where: Salvador, Brazil Favourite food: Aipim com Queijo (Cassava with cheese)/ Acerola com Laranja (A fruit which was juiced with Orange- apparently with the highest Vitamin C content in the world/ Abaré (An Afro-Brazilian dish from Bahia made from baking a paste of mashed black-eyed peas.) Most inspiring person/people I […]
From Caterpillar to Butterfly: 9 Months with The Bench, Roots of Rumba 2016 and other projects…
May 2016: The Bench This year I really flew. I always felt it was in me and there was more to come, and in this project, like the Maya Angelou quote, ‘“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” I feel like I […]
Ladylike: A blog all about creating my piece Ladylike and thereafter.
December 2015: Ladylike R&D The Ella Mesma Company guide: How to be a lady… or choose not to… Ladylike is a concept I initially developed as a solo in 2012. I first heard the term ‘ladylike’ aged 4, when I was criticized for being ‘unladylike’ or too boisterous when playing. As anadult I have experiencedthe weight of gender expectations in dance. As a Salsa dancer I am expected to smile,look sexy […]