Ella Gluckman

Ella Gluckman is a percussionist, dancer, and a founding member of Boomfly. Creative expression has always been an integral part of her growth and health. As a child she grew up learning different instruments and studied dance. In college she deepened her commitment to dance as her a means of personal expression and healing. While studying in India she began to study tabla and Bharat Natyam dance. Back at college she studied dance from the Ivory Coast and the Congo. With graduation came a move back to her home in Pennsylvania, and an opportunity to study Guinean dance intensely with her teacher for three years. This immersion into Guinean dance and rhythms also afforded her the opportunity to begin to study the Dun dun. During that first session on the dun dun she knew that playing drums would have to be a mainstay in her life. When she moved to the Bay Area she began to study percussion at Brazarte in Berkeley. She had the opportunity to join the Afro-brazilian performance group Tambores do Brazil, in which she danced and played dobra. She continues to deepen her artistic expression with her study of Afro brazilian dance and drumming, Afro cuban dance, Hip hop, West African dance, Congolese dance, and other modalities. She believes deeply in the transformative and empowering powers of dance and music for women and encourages other women to join her on this sacred artistic journey.