Ella-Gabriel Mason
Ella-Gabriel Mason (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist obsessed with embodiment, community, and reinvention. Trained as a dancer and choreographer, they also work with video, text, and installation. Mason works in spiral time, revisiting themes of gender, animality, Jewish Diasporism, sexuality, trauma, and collectivity from new contexts and with new collaborators. Their performance work has been presented in Pittsburgh at the New Hazlett Theater, Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, and Carnegie Stage; in NYC at WOW! Cafe Theater, BAAD!, and wild project; in Philadelphia at vox populi and the Cannonball Festival. Mason has received grants from the Heinz Endowments, PA Council on the Arts, the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, and the Leeway Foundation. Mason is currently an instructor at Temple University where they teach composition, improvisation, dance science and somatics, and research methods. In addition to their work as a creator and performer, Mason is a licensed massage therapist specializing in myofascial and trauma-sensitive bodywork.
Awarded Grants
2024
Art and Change Grant (ACG)
Related grantees
Overview
Ella-Gabriel Mason’s project, DANCING COLLECTIVE POWER, will be a research and performance initiative incorporating choreographic and dance improvisation frameworks into the planning of street protests and civil disobedience. DANCING COLLECTIVE POWER will engage Philly dancers, community organizers, and social activists in a collaborative rehearsal process and have two outputs: an in-person training curriculum for activists preparing to engage in direct action, and a live performance to show the techniques in action. Throughout the course of the project, Ella-Gabriel will conduct interviews, rehearsal sessions, and workshops, culminating in a public performance at Studio 34 that will also serve as the launch of an in-person training.
Partner
2024
Media Artist + Activist Residency (MAR)
Related grantees
Overview
Laura Deutch and Ella-Gabriel Mason are two members of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Philadelphia who will lead and build with the rest of the chapter's volunteer membership to create media-based educational and advocacy materials for use in JVP’s Israel Bonds Divestment Campaign. Through shorter form video, Laura and Ella-Gabriel will also create media that will help shift cultural narratives that conflate Jewishness with support for Israel and Zionism. Additionally, they want to use this residency to train a small group of members with media skills to build JVP Philly’s documentation capacity.
Partner
http://phillyjvp.org/
