Who We Are
eMBody is a movement collective created by Madeline Nobida (she/her) and Bella Stenvall (she/her), both queer, mixed Asian-American dancers and choreographers based in the unceded homeland of the Lenape people (colonially known as Brooklyn, New York).
eMBody revels in the spaces where genres and disciplines crossover and facilitates spaces where different styles and forms can learn from each other. They consider themselves life-long students of many movement practices and believe that everyone has embodied knowledge that can shape and inform dance-making.
Madeline and Bella met as undergraduates at World Arts and Cultures/Dance Department (WACD) at the University of California, Los Angeles and co-founded an arts activism performance group called Outspoken that won numerous awards for its interdisciplinary collaborations in dance and spoken word poetry.
Their work continues to explore communal experiences of catharsis and celebration, ones that are participatory in nature and can exist anywhere from a proscenium stage to a park jam.
“Both Nobida and Stenvall dance with an accented flow that is hypnotic, and as they take turns watching one another, audiences are once again reminded of the power in bearing witness as a form of acceptance.” - Six Degrees Dance review
MADELINE NOBIDA
Madeline Nobida (she/her) received her B.A. in Dance from the World Arts and Cultures/Dance Department (WACD) at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a multidisciplinary artist with experience in dance, video production and photography. She grew up training with Bay Area dance crews Chapkis Dance Family and Funk Beyond Control.
In college, Maddi worked with various choreographers aiding both in movement generation and providing visual art such as video editing and photography. She has collaborated with Aeternus Dance Company, Selcouth Movement, Victoria Marks, WHYTEBERG, Paola Escobar, and graduating UCLA dance students. She has also done movement direction and collaborated with music artists Noah Mac, Jacklen Ro, and Jodie Reeves. In addition to art making, Madeline is deeply committed to community engagement and empowerment. In 2018 and 2019, she worked as a Counselor for UCLA’s Dance Intensive, guiding a group of high school students on a life changing journey, enabling them to finds their voices through dance and poetry. Madeline aims to use her visual arts and leadership skills to aid artists, from choreographers to musicians, in their own careers. She is currently based in New York City where she continues her practice in various street and contemporary dance forms.
BELLA STENVALL
Bella Stenvall (she/her) received her B.A. in Dance and Arabic with a Global Studies minor from the World Arts and Cultures/Dance Department (WACD) at the University of California, Los Angeles. She considers herself a life-long student of many movement practices. She has organized community performance spaces and interdisciplinary collaborations all over the world. In 2023, she served as an Artist-in-Residence at the IDEA Festival in Amman, Jordan where she was commissioned to create a new all-ages participatory work for the festival. As a performer, she has collaborated with and danced for artists such as The Marias, KAYE, Kyle Abraham, Nia Love, Ryuji Yamaguchi, and Haze Soyeon—all of whom she is indebted to and admires greatly.
Bella is invested in dance as a critical tool for cultural placemaking and has written articles about dance and international policy, and curated and moderated performance panels about dance as a critical placemaking both nationally and internationally. She recently a dance and disability field study for the National Endowment for the Arts. She is a moreArt Engaging Artists Fellow and Teaching Artist with Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre.