about project female
Founded in 2018, Project Female's vision is to create a space where young dancers who identify as female or non-binary could feel free from judgement. Where they didn’t need to be a certain body type, or feel pressure to fit a certain mould to be a dancer. Where they could join with other young dancers to produce high quality dance performances, and push their dancing to the next level.
Project Female aims to redefine the preconceptions of youth dance. We teach a unique fusion of contemporary/hip-hop dance. Dancers feel empowered to express themselves unapologetically and grow in confidence. We support dancers to take risks and challenge the boundaries set by society.
Project Female's unique creative process places youth voices and experiences at the centre of developing new performances. We create an environment to support personal growth, youth leadership and social action. We aim to create performances that reflect the lives of young females that resonate with all audiences.
In 2019, Project Female’s first full length show ‘What Doesn’t Make the Cut’ achieved sell out success at the Brighton Fringe Festival. This resulted in more performance opportunities, including ‘StraightUp ‘19’ at the Brighton Dome Theatre, and the Breakin’ Convention Tour 2020 (unfortunately cancelled due to the pandemic).
The team
Ellie Bishop-williams
Artistic Director
Ellie was born and raised in Brighton and studied Fashion and Business at Brighton University.
Ellie has always been an active member of the local dance community. Over the last 5 years she has successfully realised her vision of creating a safe space for young female dancers to develop and express themselves through dance theatre.
Ellie’s unique ability to empower teenage girls is key to the success of Project Female. Her teaching style is positive and encouraging whilst ensuring the dancers achieve their full potential.
Ellie is grateful to receive ongoing support from the Arts Council, South East Dance, UnrbanFlo, Marina Studios and Thirty10 Arts.
Pip Sayers
Executive Producer
Pip’s role with Project Female is multifaceted. She brings her understanding of the challenges faced by young people today. Her producing skills and her creative eye for enhancing great choreography. Along with contemporary costume design.
This partnership provides an over-arching component Project Female. It ensures efficient delivery of the various classes and performances. An eclectic visual component to the costumes, and a focus on wellbeing to ensure a positive experience for our young dancers.
Dance teachers
phoebe tompsett
Phoebe Tompsett is a dance artist and teacher based in Brighton and is the facilitator of Project Female’s Contemporary Dance strand.
As a choreographer, Phoebe is passionate about creating socio-political contemporary dance works. Since earning her Masters in Dance Performance from the University of Chichester, she has premiered her debut piece, The Daily Male, with support from The Point, Eastleigh, Dancin’ Oxford, and Pegasus Theatre. Additionally, she co-founded the Glitch Dance Collective, who debuted their first work, En Route, at the Brighton Fringe Festival in 2024.
lorna cross clark
Lorna Cross Clark is a freelance dance artist based in North London. Since graduating with an MA in Dance Performance from the University of Chichester, Lorna has performed in Norway and across the UK with Flexer and Sandiland. During her training, Lorna also studied at the Escola Superior de Dança in Lisbon. Lorna specialises in teaching and choreographing contemporary dance.
She also teaches tap, commercial, ballet, and jazz. Lorna has recently co founded Glitch Dance Collective with two collaborators who debuted their first work, En Route, at the Brighton Fringe Festival in 2024.
milly stead
Milly Stead is a dance artist from Brighton. Since graduating with a First BA (hons) degree from the University of Chichester where she toured across the U.K, she has performed in several dance works including ‘Lucero del Alba’ at Resolutions festival.
As well as her contemporary training Milly has trained in a variety of styles including hip-hop, ballet and commercial. This vast knowledge in different dance styles gives her choreography a unique aesthetic and perspective.
rebecca long
Rebecca is a freelance dance artist originally from South Wales. She graduated from Trinity Laban in 2021 with a First Class (Hons) degree and soon after had a year-long contract with Rubicon Dance Company in Cardiff. She also performed in the Christmas classic Nutcracker as the lead role of Carys (Clara). In addition, she performed a Triple Bill, dancing the works of choreographers Marcus Willis, Anna Watkins and Jamiel Lawrence.
More recently, she has been freelancing in Brighton across the past 18 months, teaching for an array of companies and projects alongside running her own weekly classes under her own company RLDance.
SARAH SHAW
Sarah is a passionate commercial dancer who is trained in a very wide variety of styles from her time at Greater Brighton Metropolitan College. During her training at I-Star Academy, Sarah’s been in many national and international competitions including World Dance Championships in New York.
She takes pride in her unique choreography and performance skills. Sarah has performed in countless shows at dance college, on a UK Tour with Project Dance Company, in Cabaret shows and at wrestling venues.
amber ‘ambush’ williams
Ambush is a professional dancer and Flock member of the award winning HipHop Theatre Company Birdgang and is the facilitator of Project Female’s Street Dance strand.
Amber works in a variety of art forms and prides herself on her versatility from Choreography to Break Dance. Some of her credits include, The Wanted (ITV), Redbull BCONE UK, Ali Cook’s Principles of Deception, a UK Tour ‘Playground Tour’ (The Place) and Breaking Convention’s ‘Back to the lab’.
Ambush is proud to be one of few female breakers in the industry but also trains and performs in all other styles under the StreetDance umbrella.
HOLLY STUBBINGS
Holly is a professional Dancer, Actor and Choreographer specialising in Contemporary styles, Jazz, and Commercial. She graduated from Millennium Performing Arts in 2019 and her credits include: Wembley Arena, Download Festival, Heavy Music Awards, P&O Cruises, White Rabbit Creative DXB, Midsummer Murders, Sleep Token, Creeper, Dayseeker, Hail Harpy, Salt Ashes, Barbie, The Marvels, Lapland UK, Thirty10 Arts, Brighton Fringe and more.
She has taught at a variety of studios and schools including Pineapple Dance Studios, The Hub Studios London, Brighton Marina Studios, ISTAR Academy, ROX School of Dance and more.
Teaching Assistants
Our Teaching Assistants are offered the Level 2 Dance Leaders Qualification and are mentored in their practical delivery of dance teaching by Ellie Bishop-Williams.
All our assistants are members of Project Female Dance Company and are developing essential skills to take their dance careers to the next stage.
Their input includes choreographing and delivering dance sessions for our younger dancers and providing input and ideas for the creation of new projects for our dance companies.