S2E1 introducing Ella Hillström

This is the first episode of the second season of the LACE Symposium podcast, the official podcast of the LACE Symposium for Dance and Other Contemporary Practices.

In this episode, the host pavleheidler (they/them) (adhd/autism)—dance artist, educator, and curator of the LACE Symposium—talks to Ella Hillström (she/her).

Ella is a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology at Stockholm University. Her research examines the repair of cleft lip and palate—the most common congenital facial anomaly—to explore broader questions about the social construction of faces. She is interested in creative practices in her research and works with somatic and speculative methodologies. She is also a member of the research collective For the Love of Inquiry (F.L.I.-labs), and has a movement-research practice with Yari Stilo.

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Ella and pav talk about the face, about the ways in which we come to know a face, our face, about the completeness and the incompleteness of what makes a face. They talk about degrees of fiction, about the way we relate to lived experience in the context of academic research, and some of the ways somatics and Body-Mind Centering® in particular help ella develop her practice and her work.

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Ella’s contribution to LACE #4: Fractalising Touch, entitled Knowing the Face Otherwise, will take place on the 27th of July, a Thursday, at 2.30PM.

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The LACE Symposium is curated by Deirdre Morris (she/they), Sylvia Scheidl (she/her), and pavleheidler (they/them). LACE #4 is made in partnership with PART International Residency Austria, and ImPulsTanz — Vienna International Dance Festival!

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or OeAD-GmbH. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

LACE #4: Fractalising Touchhospitality, integration, & the interstitialJULY 27-31, 2026at PART International Art Residency Austria as part of ImPulsTanz — Vienna International Dance Festival

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