Wolfa's Hymns
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by Wolfa Collective
Photo: Maja Carlsson Jeansson
Wolfa Collective - BIO
Wolfa is a shapeshifter, an entity whose appearance exists only through others. She proposes a name for a shared identity—a post-identity that both partly creates us and dismantles our solitude. Wolfa established the Wolfa Collective (2024) in Antwerp (BE), bringing together artists from various countries and disciplines, including dance, drama, sound, film, costume, visual arts, and lighting, to collaborate. Due to her shifting appearance, different artists can assume her name, giving the collective a fluid form and structure. The aim is to cultivate a transdisciplinary platform that encourages experimental and collaborative work. Wolfa is dedicated to creating and presenting works that explore horizontal creation methods, shared authorship, and collective voices. Central to our philosophy is the concept of a shifting "queer structure," where "queer" signifies the potential for both ourselves and our work to continuously transform and evolve, resisting fixed formats and traditional boundaries.
The artists in the Wolfa Collective have studied at institutions such as the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp (Dance, Kleinkunst, and Composition), ArtEZ Dance Artist, the Conservatory of Amsterdam, RITCS, Skurup Folkhögskola, Nordens Fotoskola, New Education for Contemporary Dance, and Centro Andaluz de Danza. They bring a wide range of experiences, from creating their own works and collaborating with other artists to working with companies and participating in various projects. Their experiences span collaborations with Cullberg, Danish Dance Theatre, GRIP, and Tout Petit, as well as presenting works at venues such as the National Theatre of Greece, Blikfabriek, LAFS#8 Arenberg, de Studio, Archipel, l’Uzinne, Café Theater Festival, MORPHO kunsthal extra-city, Kavka Oudaan, and Södra Teatern.
Wolfa’s founding artists are Ella-My Blomdahl, Elin Hallqvist and Luca Tomaselli, along with the artists participating in the first project.
Wolfa Collective - Project
Wolfa’s Hymns is the working title of a new exploratory project by the Wolfa Collective, centered on the intra-action between body and nature, examining the concept of "borderland being"—a fluid existence that shifts between collective and hybrid forms of bodies. The project delves into the idea of our appearance as a meeting point where self and otherness converge, challenging traditional notions of identity and embodiment.
We are interested in the concept of "posthuman erotics," exploring how to cultivate connections with more-than-human entities, landscapes, and multiple forms of existence. Here, eroticism extends beyond the sexual, embodying the potential for shared joy and pleasure in horizontal, non-hierarchical relationships.
Working transdisciplinarily across sound, projection, film, light, live music, dance, performance, and costume, we seek both raw and radical expression alongside the sensual and subtle. Influenced by folkloric and religious hymn motifs, we blend experimental approaches, electronic sounds, and boundary-pushing elements to create an immersive experience.
Through our hymns, we seek to dismantle preconceived ideas of what it means to become in the world. Our first project will offer ‘a divine concert’ filled with pleasure, narcissistic creatures, shame, love, ambiguity, (non)sense, the holy and the profane, the unknown, and something else.
The project is coordinated by Ella-My Blomdahl and created in collaboration with Elin Hallqvist, Luca Tomaselli, Mei-Li Dong Paez, Dimitra Sofroniou, Lieke Oolders, and Maja Carlsson Jeansson. We also have extended collaborations with Emma Wästfelt, Ebba Bergman, Alma Ekholm, Maya Stengårds Jonsson, and Milla Mann.
The residency at Dansateljén, NEFCD, Härnösand is our first residency for this project, which is expected to span over two years. The project is co-produced by DeSingel and we are now continuing with residencies around in Belgium 2024-2025 at places as DeSingel (Antwerpen), Kaaistudios in collaboration with Workspacebrussels (Brussels), c o r s o (Antwerpen), KAAP (Oosteende), STUK (Leuven), and a residency in Sweden at DansPlats Skog. The premiere will be early autumn 2025.
Members of Wolfa Collective
Dimitra Sofroniou (she/her) is a composer, performer and sound artist hailing
from Athens, Greece. She is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Composition at
the Conservatory of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Dimitra's work is characterized by
her keen interest in exploring the intersection of sound and visual elements. She has
composed music for performances, art installations, films and video games. Along with
her on-going projects, her research focuses on spatialisation in sound, sound
visualisation and generative composition. Some of her projects and performances have
taken place at the National Theatre of Greece, Technopolis and Theatro Vrahon in
Athens, de Studio, Arenberg and Archipel in Antwerp, l’Uzinne in Brussels, and ADM in Amsterdam, among others. Dimitra is one of the founding members of the newly established ’Wolfa Collective’.
Ella-My Blomdahl (she/her) is a dancer, performer and researcher from Stockholm (SWE), based in Antwerp (BE). She comes from a circus background and studied dance at New Education for Contemporary Dance and Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp (RCA).
She has developed several own works as a.o Ditch Dance, Flesh run, and PUCK. As a dancer Ella-My has worked with the youth company Ilyoung and have been dancing in pieces for a.o IvánPérez, Claire Croize, Israel Aloni, Lee Brummer and Anna Tierney. Currently Ella-My is doing her Master at RCA where she is occupied with a research around a borderland body and its intra-activity with natural landscapes. She is working around the notion of "a body of many" and how to develop queer and horizontal practices. The investigation happens partly through delving into metaphysics, speculative ecology and hybrid/queer ideas of the body. She is interested in creating an in-between space of landscape and theater to immerse the audience in. Ella-My is one of the founding members of the newly established ’Wolfa Collective’.
Luca Tomaselli
(he/they) Originally from Modena, Italy, Luca soon realized he wanted to pursue his passion for dance abroad, moving first to Switzerland, where he graduated from the Ballettschule Theatre Basel. Following the diploma, he freelanced for two years aroundItaly and Germany, collecting experience and a better understanding of his way of moving, which guided him to the decision to resume his studies. After a season at the New Education for Contemporary Dance in Härnösand (SE), he relocated to Belgium. There, he attained a bachelor's degree at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, a 200-hour Vinyasa YTT, and a 50-hour Yin Yoga Certificate. Over these times, he began exploring his own work, developing different dance pieces such as ‘Perle ai porci’ & ‘tutù’, representing his two most recent creations. He also performed for a variety of artists, such as Inaki Azpillaga, Claire Croizé, Ella-My Blomdahl, and Iván Pérez Avilés, among others. Consecutively, he was offered an internship at the Danish Dance Theatre (DK), where he worked under the direction of the renowned choreographer Marina Mascarell.
Luca draws inspiration from the capacity of the body to express different realities. With determination, he strives to transform fragments of time into a palpable expression of our humanity so that they may resonate in the spectators' souls, provoking diverse reflection. He’s consistently fascinated by the body’s availability to transform abstract concepts and our heritage of memories into movements, voicing and interpreting the unsaid.
Luca believes dance is an endeavour to capture fleeting and meaningful moments, shaping them into artistic forms to share experiences, touch emotions, and connect with people. Luca is one of the founding members of the newly established ’Wolfa Collective’.
Elin Hallqvist
Elin Hallqvist (she/her) is a dance artist from Lund, Sweden. She started training in her hometown and continued in Härnösand for two years at New Education for Contemporary Dance. She later completed the Bachelor Dance Artist program at ArtEZ University of the Arts in the Netherlands. Through her educations she has worked with choreographers such as Dunja Jocic, Maciej Kuźmiński and Jean Abreu, among others. Together with colleague Rodrigo Loureiro, she was part of the online festival #10duets10days# 2023, organized by Bobbi Lo Produktion. They also took part in Café Theater Festival 2023 with their duet SAPIENS SAPIENS. Elin has continuously created her own pieces such as the solo WOMANDOG and the research performance KNOCKKNOCK. Elin is interested in exploring the potential of being (a body). Her creative work is a serious yet spontaneous play, often with elements of humor and vulnerability. For her, dance is a reminder of our inherent capacity to transform and embody the forms we desire in any given moment. Elin has been working with Cullberg as an apprentice for the season 2023/2024 under the direction of Kristine Slettevold. Through the company she has performed in several cities and worked with choreographers such as Halla Ólafsdóttir, Alma Söderberg, Hooman Sharifi and Alexandra Bachzetsis. Elin is one of the founding members of the newly established ’Wolfa Collective’.
Lieke Oolders
Lieke (she/her) is a Dutch actress, writer and light designer/technician. In 2023 she graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp with a master in Kleinkunst. Her graduation piece ‘Joncfrouwe’, in which she discusses the concepts of masculinity and femininity in a medieval, Arthurian setting, got published by Bebuquin. She then continued studying Podium- en eventtechniek at RITCS and is now working as both an artist and a technician.
Lieke is one of the members of the newly established ’Wolfa Collective’.
Maja Carlsson Jeansson
Maja (she/her) is a videographer based in Malmö, Sweden. With a background in still photography and filmmaking, she holds a two-year film education from Skurups Folkhögskola and studied photojournalism at Nordens Fotoskola at Biskops Arnö. Her work is driven by a curiosity about the boundaries between film genres and styles, exploring how they can be blended. Maja is inspired by everyday moments, the interplay of light and sound, and the power of collaborative projects. Recently, she completed a documentary about a fisherman in Klagshamn, focusing on themes of
time, work, and solitude. She is currently researching a fiction short film set in the forests of Västergötland, to be filmed in December. Maja is one of the members of the newly established ’Wolfa Collective’.
Mei-Li Dong Paez
Mei Li (she/her), born in Sevilla, Spain, is a dance artist currently based in Brussels. She studied dance at various schools in Sevilla, with her final training at the Centro Andaluz de Danza before moving to Belgium. Mei Li graduated in contemporary dance from the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp. During her studies, she worked with Iván Pérez, Eastman Dance Company, Claire Croizé, Renan Martins, Iñaki Azpiaga, Samantha van Wissen, Raphael Philipe Damasceno, and others. In addition to her collaborations, Mei Li has been developing her own artistic interests. She’s interested in the limits within complexity/simplicity - material/spiritual. She created Duet for One but with Two in collaboration with two dancers and a solo piece called Epílogo, in collaboration with James Hall. Epílogo was part of Love at First Sight #8 and was performed as part of a triple bill in Antwerp. Mei Li has also worked with Natalia Jiménez on Geometría de la Experiencia, and in the latest piece by Samuel Baidoo for tout petit, titled grot-nest-temple-huis, which is still touring. Additionally, she collaborated with Femke Gyselinck on a short project. Currently, Mei Li is working on a new solo called Treinta Minutos en la Tierra and is part of the new collective Wolfa.
Work in progress
