The Place is commissioning and co-producing Femina, the next major work by Ekleido

The Place is proud to commission and co-produce Femina, the next major work by Ekleido exploring and celebrating the full spectrum of femininity through the company’s signature fusion of contemporary, club and street dance.

Touring the UK this autumn before culminating in three performances at The Place from 5–7 November, Femina marks an ambitious new chapter for Ekleido. Founded by choreographers Hannah Ekholm and Faye Stoeser, the company previously premiered its acclaimed double bill Splice | Rorschach at The Place in 2024, before touring to venues and festivals across the UK. Now, working with The Place’s Producing & Touring team, Ekleido expand their distinctive choreographic practice into their first work for an ensemble of six dancers.

Set within an electronic musical landscape featuring original music by Mercury Prize nominee Floating Points, Colombian electronic artist Ela Minus and Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa, Femina questions how femininity is perceived, embodied and valued. Bringing together six performers with different relationships to femininity and movement practices spanning House, Waacking, New Way Vogue, gymnastics and contemporary dance, the work challenges the idea that femininity belongs to women alone. Through their collective physicality, the performers move between moments of shared joy, ecstatic exhaustion and exhilarating vigour.

In creating Femina, Ekholm and Stoeser explore how movement is perceived through the lens of gender; how costume, props and music shape ideas of femininity; and how different physical qualities are read as masculine, feminine or neutral.

“We explore these questions by playing with different variables: how movement is perceived through the lens of gender; how costume and props shape ideas of femininity; how different movement qualities are read as masculine, feminine or neutral; and how music influences those perceptions.

“Femina brings together performers with varied relationships to femininity, reflecting on its complexity and challenging the idea that femininity belongs to women alone. Each performer brings unique and exceptional skills to the work, with practices varying from House Dance, Waacking and New Way Vogue to gymnastics and contemporary dance. Through this collective physicality, audiences are immersed in moments of shared joy, ecstatic exhaustion and exhilarating vigour.

“The original music is key. We are interested in club, electronic and percussive sounds, and feel extremely lucky to be collaborating with three exceptional musicians: Ela Minus, Floating Points and Stella Mozgawa. Each brings a different quality and emotion to the work, and we have worked closely with them to create a richly woven experience of movement and music.”

Femina begins its UK tour at DanceEast in Ipswich on 9 October, before travelling to Gulbenkian Arts Centre in Canterbury on 29 and 30 October and culminating at The Place in London from 5–7 November.

Femina has been commissioned and co-produced by The Place and co-commissioned by Gulbenkian and DanceEast. Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England with additional support from Abderrahim Crickmay Charitable Settlement, Dicky Buckle Fund, Nigel Turner, Create + Destroy Studios and South EastDance.