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Ella Mesma Company

Our Values

Diversity in stories matters. Growing up in a small town in England, director Ella didn’t see many superheroes that looked like Ella’s mixed family, and so wanted to create a company that was diverse and that challenged our society and its beliefs.

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” Maya Angelou

At the heart of our work there are five values:

  • Expression:
    Expression is about creativity, about speaking our truth, and having all voices heard.
  • Balance:
    Balance for us is also connected to the concept gender roles and role playing; it is about finding our own inner balance: our cup being full up: unlearning concepts that are not about listening to what our body needs. It is about promoting and creating the freedom to be all sides of ourselves regardless of gender, background, heritage, and our own wholeness; living in line with our truth.
  • Movement:
    Movement is of course present in all our works; it is our expression and keeps us healthy, happy and alive.
  • Self Love:
    Self Love is really about how we can heal the world when we know and love ourselves and our ‘cup is full up’, and when we give ourselves permission to express that love to others, to be ourselves unapolgetically.
  • Equality:
    Equality for us is about respect and acceptance of all. It is an opportunity to celebrate our uniqueness, the diversity of the universe, and create opportunities for connection and community, evolution and vulnerability. We believe unlearning is a core element of creating equality, and we believe this is one of the superpowers of art.

About Us

Great to meet you here!

My name is Ella, my pronouns are she or they.

I created Ella Mesma Company to make work by the superheroes I wanted to see on stage.

I love to work with the dances of the Orixás, contemporary and Hip Hop styles to create theatre collaboratively with my company.

“Dancers are the athletes of God.” Albert Einstein

I am super inspired by dance as a healing ritual, a gateway for transformation and positive change (Can art be activism? Can we use it, like a hammer, to shape the world we want to see?).

I have a holistic approach to creativity, creating from a space of connectivity to self, bravery, enquiry and purpose.

“Art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” Bertolt Brecht

As I didn’t dance until later in life, it is important to me to reach those who don’t necessarily have a background in theatre, and as a person of mixed heritage (I am mixed Black Nigerian & white British), I strive for my cast and the stories we tell to be super-hero(ine) voices under represented onstage.

I also love to connect with my audience through discussions and play (whilst ensuring the audience never feel pressured to join in!)

Read Our timeline BELOW

A HUGE Thank you to Pavillion Dance South West, where Ella is a Supported Artist, to Geraldine Connor Foundation where Ella is an Associate Artist and to Arts Council England for continued support through public funding. 

Our journey began in 2011 with a premiere at Breakin’ Convention (Sadler’s Wells): a solo called Evol (Love backwards).

In 2013, Ella made a solo; Ecdysis with Anthony Egea of Compagnie Revolution

In 2013, Ella Mesma was aselected as a future Dance Leader for the ABLE leadership program.

The company officially formed as Ella Mesma Company in 2014 with a piece called Orixás.

In 2015, Ella was awarded a Bench fellowship for emerging choreographers.

Since then, Ella Mesma Company have presented work in a number of highly regarded venues & festivals and made many pieces of dance theatre including;

  • Sadler’s Wells (Wildcard 2017) Guerreras,
  • Women’s International Leadership Conference, New York City (2017) to perform Ladylike,
  • National Circus Centre (2018) to create Papyllon,
  • ICA Festival, Capetown South Africa (2018) to perform Papyllon
  • IETM Hull (2019) to perform Ladylike

Ella Mesma Company were residents with;

  • Casa Latin American Festival 2015,
  • Associate Artists at Dance City (2017),
  • Associate Artist at Trinity Centre Bristol (2018),
  • The company were runners up for the ‘Best Dance Production of The Year’ by the Latino Life LUKAS Awards 2018.
  • Slate World Artist (2019)
  • Pervasive Media Studio Resident (2020)
  • Company in Residence for 2020-21 at Pavillion Dance South West (and we are now a Supported Artist)

Testimonials

Unabashedly emotional
Sanjoy RoyThe Guardian
Amazing, powerful energy in abundance
Dr Nathalie TeitlerDancing Words
She really pushes the form beyond battles and bravado
William DrewExeunt Magazine
Ella Mesma has a holistic approach to creativity, creating from a space of connectivity to self and purpose
Elsabet Yonas Dance Artist
Carrying that vital spark of originality
Graham Watts Chairman of Critics’ Circle Dance Section UK
The students really enjoyed both workshop and performance and found it interesting and inspiring
Antonio BorielloPhoenix Youth Academy Coordinator
The students really enjoyed both workshop and performance and found it interesting and inspiring
Antonio BorielloPhoenix Youth Academy Coordinator
Ladylike should be compulsory watching for the world
Chris Megginson Yorkshire Dance
F***ing brilliant. Very moving
Audience MemberOffbeat Festival
An absurd, comical, and emotionally charged ritual of dance theatre
Bristol 24/7
Totally swept away by the powerful performances of the four women! They do represent a diaspora of desires, fears and heroism
Casa Festival 2019South Social Film Fest
The MMMM classes were an absolute tonic during lockdown and beyond
It has improved my basic technique and gotten me back into dancing and feeling rhythms again and moving in a way that works for me.
I love the openness of the class as well as the structured exercises that we add our own flavour too. Looking forward to more!
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Ella Mesma Company

A British Dance Theatre Company that use a diverse range of folkloric dance styles to share stories we would love to have seen growing up on stage

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