THE coronavirus has had a particularly disastrous effect on dance, which is normally dependent on close bodily contact between dancers and on interaction with a live audience.

Digital works are seeking to fill the void by tailoring their choreography to suit creative filming techniques and the Ella Mesma Dance Company’s Papyllon is one such.

Based on the butterfly’s life cycle as a means to “interrogate identity, privilege and imposter syndrome,” Ella Mesma uses long aerial silks as her only props and wears an unpretentious flesh-coloured leotard which echoes her creamy mixed-race skin tones,