Pavilion Dance South West, one of the nation’s leading dance venues outside of London, have today announced that they will be making Ella Mesma’s Papyllon available for live streaming from 18-24 January. This new piece provides the opportunity to see a work in development from some of the UK’s rising dance talents. 

Papyllon, inspired by the lifecycle of a butterfly and each stage of metamorphosis, questions identity, along with privilege and imposter syndrome as Ella tells the audience how and why she doesn’t fit in with society. With live music from Marv Radio (Sound Connections’ New Voices: Mantra) improvised in response to Ella’s work, the piece blends dance, text, song and aerial skills, playing with form to explore race, heritage, nature and nurture. 

Pavilion Dance South West were among the first to offer free to view dance premieres in the March 2020 lockdown, allowing audiences to engage with contemporary dance at home. Ella Mesma’s Papyllon will kick of the company’s 25th anniversary. 

Artistic Director and CEO of Pavilion Dance South West Zannah Chisholm said: “We are delighted to be hosting Papyllon online. It has been wonderful to see this work develop and transform in our Ocean Theatre. As an organisation who is passionate about inclusion, this streaming will be accompanied by an audio description that has been created in collaboration with the artist, Ella Mesma and audio describer, Caroline Burns, so everyone will have access to enjoy this stunning new work.”

Access will be available with a ‘pay what you can’ donation from 18 January here.