During her residency Ella will use Latin, HipHop and Contemporary dance theatre to explore what it is to be a 'citizen of the world' and challenge notions of belonging, home, identity and coming of age as ‘other’ through her project ‘Foreign Bodies’.

"I am super happy to be coming back to my Bristol Roots. It will be a very special project for me to be working in my home town and getting to know the community."

Ella discovered dance at Cotham school in Bristol, then trained at Laban and The Place, graduating with a postgraduate diploma in 2011. She also has a Politics and Sociology degree from Leeds University. In 2013, she was selected as a future Dance Leader for the ABLE leadership program and in 2015, awarded a Bench fellowship for emerging female choreographers. She has trained internationally in Cuba, Brazil and USA including The Graham school- New York, La Ena- Havana, Deborah Colker- Rio De Janeiro and Funceb- Salvador da Bahia. Credits include Russell Maliphant Company, Southpaw Company, Professional cast of the Olympics Opening Ceremony, Wendy Houston, poet Warsan Shire, Adidas, and apprentice for Upswing Circus. She established Latin company Element Arts in Leeds in 2005 and has produced Roots of Rumba (an annual Latin Dance Theatre Festival) since 2013.

Find out more about Ella here: www.ellamesma.co.uk