Ella Mesma is an established professional artist with over 15 years of experience in dance, yoga, & meditation. Artistic Director of Ella Mesma Company, Maya Gandaia & co-director of award winning company Business Yoga, Ella is the published author of Journal to Joy & is about to publish a second book. Ella offers a 9 month coaching programme for creatives (The Goddxss Path) & yearly retreats to Thailand, Portugal & Morocco.

As a choreographer & human, she is interested in unlearning to get back to our authentic selves, in transformation & wellbeing & in story telling; in particular putting the stories she would love to have seen growing up on stage. Her creative passions include painting, capoeira, surfing, travel & speaking languages.

Of mixed heritage, born in Kent, grew up in Bristol, now based mostly in Leeds where she studied politics, Ella began her dance career in clubs dancing salsa, then studied under Merville Jones (a founder of Phoenix) before going to Brazil to study Samba & aerial, where she paraded in carnaval as a passista in 2006. Ella began breaking just before she began her conservatoire training at LSCD (the Place) in 2009 (& an MA in 2017)

Performance highlights include Russell Maliphant Company, Lea Anderson (The Chomondeleys), Olympics Opening Ceremony. Ella Mesma Company have performed at theatres worldwide & Ella has been commissioned by Sadler’s Wells, Manchester International Festival (Little Amal) & the National Centre for Circus.

Ella has been Associate Artist at Dance City (2017), Trinity Centre Bristol (2018), Slate World (2020), Pervasive Media Studio (2020), Pavillion Dance South West (2020-2021).

Ella was a Dance On artist at Yorkshire Dance. She created & toured Roots of Rumba Festival (2013-2018).

She is currently creating Papyllon & The Rainbow Butterfly which combines aerial, dance & singing to explore oral storytelling traditions & mixed heritage identity.