Helena: A Warcry

By Chella Bella

Art: These three portraits explore femininity, resistance, and mythic power through the lens of burlesque. These images reimagine the woman warrior. Barefoot and grounded, yet armed and gleaming. With a sword as her symbol, the subject straddles softness and strength, drawing on fantasy, femme rage, and glamor as tools of survival. This visual language mirrors my burlesque style – emotionally driven, symbol-rich, and theatrical. 

Photographer: Hayley Hruska @hayleyhruska 

Costume Designer: Chella Bella @chellachellabella 

Image descriptions: 

1 - A woman stands in the fog in a green field at night. She is holding a sword as if ready to strike. She wears a sparkly dress and top with a head piece  

2 - A woman kneels in fog holding a sword. She has dark hair and is wearing a silver shiny top and matching skirt. She looks focused on her knees in the green grass. 

3 - A woman wearing a silver skirt, top and head piece is standing on grass at night. She has her back to the camera and is looking back over her shoulder, holding a sword towards the ground. 

---

Performance: Set to Labor by Paris Paloma, this performance piece, Helena, is a raw and visceral expression of feminist rage. The act rips open centuries-old wounds of oppression and patriarchal control, embodying the fury of generations of women who have been silenced, exploited, and denied autonomy. Helena is every woman, past and present who has labored under the burden of expectation, servitude, and systemic violence. 

Her movements are heavy with exhaustion, her body bearing the weight of a world that has demanded too much and given too little. But rage simmers beneath the surface, boiling over into moments of defiance, destruction, and reclamation. Each layer shed is not just clothing, it is history peeling away. The act builds to a climax where Helena refuses to be quiet, refuses to be small, refuses to serve. 

This is not just a performance, it is a war cry. A reckoning. A tribute to those fighting for bodily autonomy, for freedom, for justice. With every lyric, ‘all day, every day, therapist, mother, maid’ she embodies the exhaustion of being expected to hold everything together while receiving nothing in return. With every movement, ‘and it is not an act of love if you make her’, she exposes the violence disguised as care, the expectation of submission disguised as devotion. 

And when Helena stands at the end, bare and unbroken, the message is clear: women do not exist to serve. They exist to be free.

---

Bio: Chella Bella (she/her) is the producer of The Night Circus Toronto, a theatrical and immersive showcase blending circus, burlesque, and dreamlike storytelling. Her performance practice often explores gender, mythology, mental health, and personal/political transformation through stylized narrative acts and symbolic costuming. You can follow Chella Bella and The Night Circus on Instagram: @chellachellabella and @thenightcircusto