Melecio Estrella is a director, choreographer, and educator who has been with BANDALOOP since 2002. As Artistic Director, Melecio brings 2 decades of practice weaving vertical dance, dance theater, somatic facilitation. and ecological belonging to BANDALOOP’s dance making. Whether creating conditions for artists to thrive in his home community of Oakland, CA, or bringing vertical dance theater performances to massive audiences globally, all of Melecio’s work bridges the everyday personal/social body with the dream body, proposing expanded possibility and awe in our time of poly-crisis. 

Recent BANDALOOP premieres include Momentum Curve (2022) with BMW in Munich Germany, Bird Strike (2023) at Santiago A Mil in Santiago, Chile, LOOM:FIELD (2021-2023) international tour, Resurgam (2023) at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Vertical Choreography for Tina Landau and Idina Menzel’s new musical Redwood (La Jolla Playhouse 2024, Broadway 2025), and Bird Strike (2024) at the Santiago Calatrava Sundial Bridge in Redding CA.

Melecio co-directs Fog Beast, a cross-disciplinary group that affirms ecological connectedness in landscape, live arts and education. He is a longtime member of the Joe Goode Performance Group. Passionate about creating space and sustainability for artists, Melecio sits on the advisory boards for the Artists Space Trust and for Arts in California State Parks. He was a Cultural Space Ambassador for the Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST), a Leadership Fellow for the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP), and is currently a Lucas Artes Fellow at the Montalvo Center for the Arts.