Aleksandra Nikolajev Jones
Choreographer | Producer | Fundraiser
Aleksandra Nikolajev-Jones is a classically trained ballet dancer turned arts producer and advocate. She began her career with Radio Television Serbia (RTS), later exploring the connection between creativity, pregnancy, and motherhood—an inquiry that led to the founding of Gravida Collective, a global initiative using the arts as a tool for empowerment and social change.
She has led and developed numerous impactful projects, including Gravida: The Art of Living & Pregnancy Initiative, which examines the impact of pregnancy on career, creativity, and leadership; Wise Women Network, an international hub connecting female creatives, activists, and professionals; Creative Digital Hub for Women, a platform providing mentorship, training, and digital advocacy; Period Dignity Project, empowering young girls through Forum Theatre and campaigning; Dive Project, an arts-based initiative sharing migration experiences through movement and storytelling; and Lullaby for Mother, a cross-cultural multimedia production exploring motherhood, migration, and resilience.
With a deep commitment to creativity as a tool for social impact, Aleksandra continues to build platforms that amplify underrepresented voices, connect diverse communities, and drive meaningful change in the arts and beyond.
Jelena Vuksanovic
Dramaturg | Artistic director | Screenwriter
has worked as a writer, theatre practitioner and facilitator, artistic director, and screenwriter. She has an MA in dramaturgy, and with a classical education, she was always drawn to knowledge and practice about contemporary and experimental theatre, therefore she participated in various trainings, workshops and other activities of non-formal education connected with contemporary and applied educational theatre techniques. She has worked with POD Theatre for over 13 years and worked on various International projects that were supported by Youth in Action, UNICEF, Share See, Red Cross, local municipalities, ministries, embassies etc.
Since 2004. until 2018. Collaborated with The Republic of the Imagination, UK, developing innovative theatre forms and ways of expression, specifically the form of immersive theatre like Sensory Labyrinth and Sensory Portal. Besides numerous theatre performances, educational projects, in 2015. Her debut movie «Panama” premiered during the Cannes film festival. In 2018. she had a premiere of her first contemporary opera “In… Se… -dawning-” in Bali, composed by Andys Skordis. In the same team they created their second opera, “Light Blue Day”, a contemporary, experimental opera based on the story by Ferdinand von Schirach, as part of the Berlin Opernpreis, which premiered and won the competition in Berlin in June 2022.
Lynette Margerison
Visual Artist | Co-director of Gravida
I use a wide experience of working with the arts, performance and creativity to encourage new directions, partnerships and increase self development for communities and individuals. I lead and devise sensitive and appropriate celebrations, processions with lanterns, music and giant puppets. I frequently work outdoors in the forest with campfire workshops, learning with lots of fun games, based on drama and clowning techniques from voice and sound exercises to focus and awareness, flow learning techniques and practical skill development. Following each individuals natural path helping discover new talent and how this can be put to use within the community.
Specialties: Creative solutions, encouragement, inspiration, lateral thinking, aesthetic design solutions.
COLLABORATORS
Claire Bottomley
Creative producer
Claire Bottomley is a creative producer whose knowledge of inclusivity and empowerment draws upon over 20 years experience of working in the 3rd sector, focusing on health and wellbeing and specialising in mental health. She has been a campaigner and champion of rights, as well as working in Public Affairs and for national wellbeing charities.
After a career change opportunity in 2016, Claire gained an MA in Arts Management at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and first worked with Gravida Collective and The Republic of the Imagination in 2018, producing an R&D for the company. In 2018 she participated in the Emerging Producers Development programme at Edinburgh Fringe. Claire has worked as a freelance Creative Producer since 2017, working on theatre tours, creative engagement and marketing. She has worked as a freelancer with WMC, The Other Room, Theatr Clwyd, Papertrail Theatre, Canoe Theatre and Gravida. Claire joined Gravida Collective as Creative Producer after working at Sherman Theatre as Sherman 5 Coordinator for four years.
David Ozkoidi
Director of Photography | Camera Operator | Colourist
David Ozkoidi is an experienced Director of Photography, camera operator, and colourist, with over 15 years in the film and television industry. He holds a degreein Photography and Digital Image Creation from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and a Diploma in Lighting Technology from ESCAC.
David has worked on numerous short films and award-winning art and dance videos, including Undercover by Caroline Lamb and Reminders by Tracy Harris. His expertise in lighting led him to work on the BBC series In My Skin, which won the BAFTA for Best Series in 2023.
As a Spanish-born filmmaker, working with Gravida Collective has given him the opportunity to collaborate on meaningful projects that explore identity, movement, and social change through the lens of cinematography.
Maja Žuža
Visual Artist | Photographer | Doula
Maja Žuža is a visual artist with a formal background in graphic design. Her work—whether expressed through design, drawing, photography, writing and poetry, audio journals, or other diaristic fragments—explores themes of existence, self-reflection, human relationships, solitude, memory, and dreamlike states. She has presented parts of this body of work in both solo and group exhibitions, approaching her practice with a distinctly conceptual sensibility.
Her inspiration stems first and foremost from the simple fact of being alive—from her own inner world, as well as from the connections she cultivates with other beings.
Guided by intuition, she also draws upon the universal principles of design and art, as well as the work of those who came before her—creators she sees as the very foundation of all artistic expression.
A significant chapter of her life has been dedicated to working with mothers and children—immersing herself in their daily lives, and offering care, protection, and empathy as they grew together. This work, rooted in a sisterly, creative feminine principle, reflects her belief in the power of women’s connection and mutual support—values that are also at the heart of Gravide, of which she is a member.
Maja thrives in collaborative environments, transforming the written or spoken thoughts of her team into visual designs that connect and communicate.
