About Francesca Matthys
Francesca Matthys is a South African Interdisciplinary Dance Artist, Writer, Educator and Kundalini Yoga Teacher based in London. Her practice is rooted in connections to ancestral wisdoms through movement, storytelling, text, inclusivity, collaboration and community. Francesca holds an MA Creative Practice: Dance from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Her practice Stepping in Situ (SIS) is an improvisational and choreographic storytelling practice that explores connections and disconnections to ancestral wisdom, intuition, and identity, particularly through the lens of the pelvis and rhythmic feet. Rooted in parts of her cultural heritage as a descendant of the indigenous Khoi and San people of Southern Africa, this practice is in direct conversation with the Nama Stap Dance, a rite of passage ritual integral to her lineage.
She has been part of collaborations as well as led projects supported by The British Council and Arts Council England and has worked with organisations such as The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative (SA), Drama for Life (SA), JOMBA(SA), Theatre Rites, Agudo Dance Company, Dance Umbrella SA and Dance Umbrella UK, Independent Dance, Dance Art Journal, South East Dance, Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg, Serendipity Institute for Black Arts & Heritage, London Performance Studios, Sadlers Wells, Case de Cultura SoMoviemento BR and The Place. Francesca works as a freelance dance artist and also a Creative Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg.
