Ella Mesma
Founder and Co-Director. Business Yoga
Speaker profile
Ella is an established professional artist with over 15 years of experience in dance and movement, and the founding Artistic Director of Ella Mesma Company. As a choreographer and human, she is interested in unlearning to get back to our authentic selves, in transformation and wellbeing and in story telling; in particular putting the stories she would love to have seen growing up on stage.
Of mixed heritage, born in Kent, now based between Leeds, where she studied politics, and her home town Bristol, Ella began her dance career dancing salsa in clubs, and training samba in Brazil where she paraded in carnaval as a passista in 2006. Ella began breaking just before she started her conservatoire training at Laban/LSCD. Performance highlights have included Russell Maliphant Company, Lea Anderson (The Chomondeleys), Olympics Opening Ceremony, Southpaw and Uchenna. Ella is passionate about working with older dancers, and was a part of the Dance On project at Yorkshire Dance. Her love for Rumba has led to her creating and touring the international Roots of Rumba Festival since 2013. Ella Mesma Company have performed at various theatres worldwide and Ella has been commissioned by Sadler’s Wells, Manchester International Festival (Little Amal) and the National Centre for Circus. Ella was Associate Artist at Dance City (2017), Associate Artist Trinity Centre Bristol (2018), Slate World Artist (2020), Pervasive Media Studio Resident (2020), Pavillion Dance South West Associate (2020-2021), Hounslow Associate Artist (2021)
Ella Mesma is the published author of Journal to Joy and offers a year long coaching platform for creatives under the Goddxss Path and Maya Gandaia, co-director and founder of award winning company Business Yoga (Prestige award 2020) where she develop the unique 23onMe sessions inspired to help her sister reduce the stress induced by working in London for a big finance company, and her own journey as a sufferer of scoliosis.