About Emma Houston & Bellatrix

Dancer Emma Houston and musician Bellatrix have joined forces in a new interdisciplinary collaboration project. Both artists are prolific in their fields, with the shared lived experience of being queer womxn operating in heavily male dominated spaces, and through challenging societal norms at large within their work.

Having performed with the UK’s top dance companies including Boy Blue, Far From the Norm and most recently Zoonation’s “Message in a Bottle” in which they were also dance captain, Emma is at the top of their game. Their extensive experience within the breaking battle scene combined with conservatoire training in contemporary dance contributes to their fluid and powerfully dynamic style. Houston Dance Collective, the brainchild of Emma Houston, is a collective of inspirational movers who are all forging new paths in the industry.

Similarly, Former World Beatboxing Champion and multi-instrumentalist Bellatrix is a conservatoire trained jazz double bass player, who has cultivated a kaleidoscopic uniqueness through their existence across multiple artistic worlds. Bellatrix has performed with a range of artists including Jarvis Cocker, Nadia Rose and The Gyuto Monks of Tibet and their broad experience as a music creator is reflected in their own genre bending original music.

Houston Dance Collective x Bellatrix

Houston Dance Collective (HDC) is a collective of inspirational movers who are all forging new paths 4 in the industry. First coming together for ‘The Purple Jigsaw’: A Breaking and Vogue piece supported by Breakin Convention, Arts Council England and East London Dance, HDC question societal norms and celebrate the breaking of societies gender roles. HDC is keen to bring artists together from different movement backgrounds and collaborate across artistic disciplines.

Emma Houston of Houston Dance Collective in collaboration with musician Bellatrix will be recruiting dancers Annie Edwards and Nafisah Baba for this project commissioned by DanceXchange and PUNCH. Annie, a disabled Hip Hop and contemporary dance artist from Brighton, combines her love of movement and music with a drive for social justice. Her work includes: ZooNation: A Kate Prince Company, Candoco Dance Company and Just Us Dance Theatre, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Botis Seva and Leila Macmillan. Nafisah graduated from Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in 2015 and went on to win BBC Young Dancer in 2017. Nafisah has worked with Zoonation on ‘Everybody’s Talking about Jamie’ Movie and Message in a Bottle, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Sadler’s Wells and Jonzi D’s ‘Our Bodies Back’ and Beyonce’s recent movie ‘Black Is King’.