Ella Wechsler-Matthaei

Soca Fusion Teaching Artist
Light skinned Black woman with shoulder length brown wavy hair. She wears a red halter tank top and tilts her head over her shoulder smiling warmly at camera.

Ella Wechsler-Matthaei began dancing Hip Hop at the age of six with Jam’nastics Inc., a Cambridge-based nonprofit dedicated to teaching dance and gymnastics to youth through afterschool and summer camp programing, where she danced and choreographed throughout her elementary and high school years. Wechsler-Matthaei went on to train under Boston-based dance educators such as Martha Gray, Mariana Harkless, Judy Dworin, Lesley Farlow, and Marsha Parrilla. She has also led and co-led many Hip Hop dance teams throughout her academic career including the Cambridge School of Weston’s Hip Hop Team and Trinity College’s Elemental Movement Dance Crew. In the spring of 2013, Wechsler-Matthaei studied in Trinidad and Tobago where she trained with the Marcia Charles Dance Theatre Company. 

In 2015-2019, she returned to Trinidad for carnival seasons performing for a range of artists including: Benjai, Voice, 5Star Akil, Olatunji, Lyrikal, Machel Montano, and Patrice Roberts. From her experiences and passion for Trinidadian dance and culture, Wechsler-Matthaei established Soca Fusion LLC, her own unique blending of  Soca, Dancehall, Hip Hip, West African, and Caribbean Folk. She has taught Soca Fusion at Green Street Studios and other studios and schools across Boston. Wechsler-Matthaei also teaches Hip Hop and other Afrodiasporic genres within Cambridge and Boston public schools.

 

Use the following links to access full directories for OFA staff and local music teachers. Please note that local music teacher listings are provided as a community resource and the teachers listed are not employed, are not faculty of, nor have received any official endorsement to teach by Harvard University.

OFA Administrative Staff OFA Dance Program Staff OFA Ceramics Program Staff Local Music Teacher Directory (Non-staff)