“Dance is a song of the body. Either of joy or pain.” Martha Graham

I am Ella, director of Ella Mesma Company and am inspired to to empower and inspire performances and audiences to come back HOME to themselves (a bit like our company name: Ela/Ella/Ele/Elu means she/he/they & Mesma means real/really).

I am passionate about our audiences feeling connected and seen through our work and I love to create opportunities to participate and interact. 

I refer to the work we make as diaspora dance theatre in recognition of the African roots of all folkloric dance styles, from Hip Hop to Rumba. I know that we are also making a new journey (just as these dances did), taking influence from the past and making sense of this in our lives and our art today. I acknowledge the painful history of colonialism and enslaved people that has led to the creation of these diasporic dances and commit to honouring and respecting them and their history, also acknowledging all the unrecognised cultural lineages and stories that are untold.

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” ~ Toni Morrison.