BELLA WILSON

 Bella is an independent contemporary dancer, choreographer and teacher. She grew up in Auckland, and trained at the Auckland Academy of Dance, where she completed exams in the RAD Ballet, JDNZ Jazz and NZAMD Contemporary syllabuses to the highest levels. In 2011, after achieving Distinction in her Level 6 exam, she won 1st place at the NZAMD Contemporary Scholarship Awards. In the same year, she was accepted into the New Zealand School of Dance as a contemporary major, and graduated with a Certificate in Dance Performance in 2013. From 2015-16 Bella furthered her dance training at Unitec, graduating with BPSA majoring in Contemporary Dance. Bella received the Senior Scholar award at her graduation ceremony, in recognition of achieving an overall A grade average for her degree. As a tertiary student, she was fortunate to work with some of New Zealand and Australia’s renowned choreographers, including Malia Johnston, Claire O’Neil, Michael Parmenter, Okareka Dance Company, Antony Hamilton, Lina Limosani and Richard Cilli. As a professional, she has performed with Footnote New Zealand Dance (Alexa Wilson’s ‘The Dark Light’), sonic artist Flo Wilson (Newtown Festival, Eeeeow Festival), Black Sheep Productions (‘Old Tricks New Dogs'), and Tempo Dance Festival (‘FRESH’). She has choreographed several short dance works, including ‘LET/HOLD/RUN’ for Dycypher Productions’ season of ‘Four Leaps//One Point’, and ‘Cha(order)os’ for Dance Plant Collective’s award-winning show ‘The Cost of Arms and Legs’. Bella has worked as both a dancer and choreographer on every project with Dance Plant Collective since their formation in 2016, including ‘Desire Line(s’), ‘The Cost of Arms and Legs’, ‘MEAT’, ‘Manifesto’, 'Exist as a Rainforest', ‘Desperate Late Night Energy’, 'Entwined', 'Lite Moves' and ‘STRUCTURE’. She is passionate about making political dance works, and working with highly structured and complex choreographic tasks to generate movement. Bella also has a diverse teaching practice, and regularly teaches ballet, contemporary and creative practice within dance studios, pre-professional training programmes, high schools and tertiary institutions across Auckland.