Mariela Nestora
Mariela Nestora founded YELP danceco. in London. As choreographer and artistic director of YELP and collaborating with artists from all around Europe she created: Can you please carry this for me, please?, Roses are red, violence is blue, The difficult whole, Assembly Point, Singed, Point Blank, A snail, Tenderness and her Don Quixote and Vice Versa., while based in London 1996-2001. This collection of stage works was concerned with autobiographical themes, focusing on the human condition from a dance theatre perspective and exploring different movement languages.
Since 2001 Mariela Nestora is based in Athens and continues to make work both as YELP and an an independent maker.
Productions Minime Karagoz , The Stitch and In Silence were created in Athens continuing international collaborations, while Carbon Copy was the first piece with an all Greek cast.
Developing her artistic practice through investigations informed by theory gave rise to period of creating series of works, expanding her research to more than one works. ODD tetralogy was inspired by the social sciences giving rise to solo Faux Pas, trio Protection Tools, quintet Scale 5:1 and septet 2 UNDO. Investigating philosophy through a trilogy of works gave rise to a series of duets ONtoLOGIC, Das (ist) ein... and Lebenswelt that were inspired by the works of Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Edmund Husserl respectively.
YELP danceco. has presented works in Europe (Maribor-Ljubljana/ Slovenia, Zagreb/ Croatia, Kassel- Berlin/ Germany, London-Brighton-Ipswich / U.K., Bologna/ Italy, Montpellier-Breste/ France, Bucharest/ Romania, Parnu/ Estonia, Aarhus/ Denmark, Brussels/ Belgium, Athens-Kavala-Patras-Thessaloniki-Volos-Hydra-Heraclion-Chania/ Greece). YELP ‘s work has been selected by curators to participate in international dance festivals and platforms (international theatre system (ITI) platform, Greek Biennial Dance Platform and the Athens Biennial.
YELP has been regularly funded by the Greek Ministry of Culture, commissioned by Kaleidoscope EU, Plesna Isba, Municipal Theatre of Patras, Patra Cultural Capital, The Place Commissions, The Video Place, participated in research programs such as Choreodrome and other residencies and was financially assisted by Oxford Metrics, the Northern General Hospital and The Robin Howard Foundation.
YELP danceco.’s productions have been produced, co- produced or commissioned by the Athens Festival, the Ministry of Culture, Patras European Cultural Capital, Kalamata International Dance festival, MIR festival and the Onassis Cultural foundation and has presented work at the Athens Festival, Onassis Cultural Center, Kalamata International Dance Festival and independent theatres.