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.

Femina UK Tour Dates

Friday 9 October DanceEast, Ipswich https://www.danceeast.co.uk/performances/femina-ekleido/ 7.30pm

Thursday 29 & Friday 30 October, Gulbenkian, Canterbury https://thegulbenkian.co.uk/events/ekleido-femina/ 8pm

Thursday 5, Friday 6 & Saturday 7 November, The Place, London https://theplace.org.uk/events/autumn-winter-26-femina/ 7.30pm

Running Time approximately 1 hour

For press and media enquiries please contact Anna Goodman on abstrakt@abstraktpublicity.co.uk or 07976247026

About Ekleido

Hannah Ekholm and Faye Stoeser have been collaborating since 2018, forming Ekleido in 2023. Their distinctive choreography blends contemporary dance with underground club dance influences. They chose their name Ekleido fusing the words Echo and Kaleidoscope with Eido which in Greek means ‘to perceive or discover’, representing the work they create. Ekleido’s double bill Splice | Rorschach premiered at The Place in 2024 and has toured extensively to venues and festivals including Glastonbury Festival, Sadler’s Wells, Latitude Festival, DanceEast, Exeter Northcott, The Gulbenkian and Theatre Royal Glasgow. Ekleido’s dance film Splice, released on NOWNESS in 2025, was nominated for a Critic’s Circle National Dance Award. They have also been commissioned by Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage to create a new dance film for release this summer. Femina is Ekleido’s first work created for an ensemble of 6 dancers, whose different backgrounds such as House, Waacking and Vogue New Way are set to inform and enhance this dynamic new work.

Faye Stoeser studied at London Studio Centre and completed her MA at Rambert 2. Performance credits include Rambert, Benoit Swan Pouffer, Ohad Naharin, Clod Ensemble, Richard Chappell Dance, Jose Agudo, Julia Cheung and Dickson Mbi. Commercial credits include work with the BBC, Years & Years, Kylie Minogue, Jax Jones, Wicked Movie, Virgin Atlantic and more. As a choreographer Faye has been commissioned to make work for professional companies and vocational universities including Paraorchestra, Rambert School, Emergence, INTOTO, London Studio Centre plus commercial work. Faye’s participates in the Ballroom Scene where she specialises in New Way Voguing and is part of The House of Revlon.

Hannah Ekholm is originally from Gothenburg, Sweden, training at the National and Royal Swedish Ballet School before relocating to London. Her practice spans contemporary dance, theatre, fashion and commercial performance. As a performer, she has collaborated with artists, choreographers and brands including Raye, Dougal Wilson, Lacoste, Didy Veldman, Natalia Osipova, CR Fashion Book, Daniel Avery, Calvin Harris, Gareth Pugh, Benoit Swan Pouffer, Alexander Whitley Dance Company, Sam Smith and Rambert. Her choreographic credits include La Roux, Nike, Tinie Tempah, Floating Points, Joy Crookes, H&M, Cash App, Huawei and Grey Goose. Hannah has been commissioned to create works for Roger Williams University. Her multidisciplinary work Stimuli premiered at Resolution, bringing together live music and dance within an immersive performance environment. Hannah is also an established New Way Voguer and member of the international House of ELLE, having competed, walked and won at balls internationally. Alongside performing, she has judged ballroom events and curated her own ball in London, deepening her ongoing engagement with club culture and ballroom community.

FEMINA CAST, CREATIVES, LIGHTING AND SOUND

Roshaan Asare - dancer trained at Rambert School and an active member of the community collective ‘London Waacking Movement’, Rashaan has choreographed for FKA Twigs and danced with SAULT and Uchenna Dance

Rory Clarke - dancer trained at Rambert School and is active in the underground battle scene. Rory was House Dance Finalist at renowned French street dance event Juste Debout and has toured with Botis Seva/Far From the Norm’s ‘BLKDOG’ and with Ballet BC. He has worked with Akram Khan, Ioannis Mandafounis, the dancers of the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company and Ekleido.

Tia Hockey- dancer Australian–Japanese dancer, movement director, and SPACT/stunt performer, Tia’s credits include the Alexander Whitley Dance Company’s 8 Minutes at Sadler’s Wells, James Cousins Company, Gandini Juggling, Richard Chappell Dance, Corey Baker Dance, The Lost Estate, Saju Hari, and Benoit-Swan Pouffer. She collaborated with Edd Arnold on By The Sea, a short dance film on NOWNESS awarded 'Best Dance Film' at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Jasper Narvaez- dancer Filipino dance artist, choreographer, teacher and rehearsal director, Jasper trained at the Philippine High School for the Arts as a folk dancer, the Ballet Philippines Dance School and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and has performed with Akram Khan, Chotto Xenos, KAASH Revisited, Jungle Book Reimagined, and Chotto Desh. He has also appeared with Ekleido, AURA Dance Theatre, and Jukstapoz Company. Outside of performing Jasper has collaborated with Rambert, Henny Jurriëns Studio, Clod Ensemble, IT Dansa, Alleyne Dance, English National Ballet, and the Royal Swedish Ballet School, amongst others.

Joshie Harriette -Lighting Designer Winner of the Black British Theatre Awards for the 'Best Lighting Design Award' 2023 and nominated in 2022, Joshie is a Fellow with Factory International / Manchester International Festival 2023, having created their version of The Rite of Spring titled 'The Lite of Spring', choreographed solely with light, premiering at The Place as part of Resolution Dance Festival. They also do live improvisation performances using lights - notably touring with Bat For Lashes and collaborating with artist/ director Magnus Westwell.

Ela Minus – Music Ela Minus is a Colombian electronic composer, producer and performer known world-wide for her distinctive fusion of analogue synthesis, techno, and emotionally charged songwriting. A Berklee College of Music graduate in jazz drumming and music synthesis, she has built a reputation for creating immersive electronic worlds entirely through hardware instruments and live performance. Signed to Domino Records, her albums acts of rebellion and DÍA have established her as an innovative voice in contemporary electronic music. Ela Minus has performed at festivals including Coachella and Primavera Sound, collaborated with leading artists and fashion houses and is celebrated for music that balances intimacy, physicality and radical sonic experimentation.

Floating Points – Music Floating Points is the recording and performance alias of British composer, producer and neuroscientist Sam Shepherd. Renowned for his boundary-defying approach to electronic music, Shepherd blends techno, jazz, classical composition and experimental sound design into richly textured sonic landscapes. His highly regarded releases, including Elaenia, Crush and the Mercury Prize-nominated Promises with Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra, have established him as an important and influential figure in contemporary music. His work increasingly spans interdisciplinary performance, including collaborations with choreographers and major dance institutions. In 2023, Shepherd composed the score for Mere Mortals, a full-length ballet for the San Francisco Ballet. Equally at home in concert halls, galleries and clubs, his work is celebrated for its ambition, sonic originality and emotional depth.

Stella Mozgawa – Music Stella Mozgawa is an Australian drummer, composer and producer best known as the drummer of indie rock band Warpaint. Recognised for her distinctive rhythmic language and adventurous approach to sound, Mozgawa has developed an international reputation as a collaborator working across contemporary music, film, dance and visual art. Alongside her work with Warpaint, she has performed and recorded with artists including Kurt Vile, Cate Le Bon and The xx. She is also one half of the experimental duo Belief with producer and composer Boom Bip, whose work explores the intersection of electronic composition, improvisation and atmospheric sound design. Her compositions are distinguished by their rich textural detail, rhythmic sensitivity and ability to create sonic worlds that move fluidly between the intimate and the expansive.