Through dance, collage, fashion, and food, Bea Elizalde creates a world where style is not just seen but deeply felt. Each medium becomes a mirror, reflecting the rhythm, color, and heart of a life in motion.
Every time she emerges for the next layout, it’s a burst of colors and contrasts. She wears patterns and a bright smile. No two looks for the shoot are alike, but all are uniquely her. How does a writer start a profile on Bea Elizalde? How do you catch a moonbeam in your hand?
“Style is a point of view,” she shares as we discuss the theme of our issue, this intuitive and loving take that makes her a fit. “Style is the choices you make to express who you are, how you see the world, and what kind of energy you want to put out there.”
“And style is more than just how something looks, it’s how something feels,” she continues. “It’s the emotional thread that connects all my creative work, whether it’s fashion, collage, branding, or even how I set a table or take a photo.”
There’s a theory of communication that suggests the medium is the message. The medium through which we express ourselves fundamentally shapes not only how we communicate, but also the message itself. Consider a kaleidoscope: fragments contained within a cylinder that, when turned, create endless patterns through mirrors and light. The same elements, arranged differently, produce entirely distinct experiences. Each medium functions like a turn of the kaleidoscope— different patterns, only ever one at a time, yet all made from the same core pieces.
When we consider who someone is, the fundamental core of a profile, we often look inward. But what if we shifted our focus to how they choose to express themselves? What media do they select, and what happens with each turn of their kaleidoscope?
In Bea, we find a living kaleidoscope, an aesthetic case study in how expression shapes style and self. Let’s take a twirl.
Bea Elizalde And The Medium Of Dance
All forms of expression are, at their core, varieties of movement. So we start at the beginning: the body itself. Dance was the first art form Bea was exposed to. It is also, perhaps, the most primordial medium of expression, using nothing more than what we already possess.
“My mom danced her whole life, and when she married my dad, she started her own dance studio,” shares Bea. “I started [dancing] when I was about two or three.” As the daughter of Sofia Zobel Elizalde, founder of Steps Dance Studio, Bea was born into a world where the language of movement was as fundamental as speech. If media are extensions of ourselves, dance inverts this relationship. There’s no separation between artist and medium. The body communicates directly.
“It taught me that there are so many ways to convey emotion and language through movement storytelling,” she reflects. “It taught me discipline, was a super fun way to express myself without talking, and I was part of the Steps family, which is so special.”
This introduction to artistic expression through physical movement established foundational elements for her creative voice: non-verbal communication and community. Our shoot provides the perfect callback. Bea collaborates with movement director and stylist Madge Reyes, whom she has known since those childhood dance days, where Madge “always acted like [her] ate.”
“Being exposed to this world,” Bea continues, “I was able to meet different kinds of artists, who sparked so much joy in me. I felt inspired to integrate myself into the art world more.”
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When Medium Meets Limitation
In one of the layouts for the shoot, her exposed back is turned towards the camera. We’re going over the shots from the day, and she points to the photo: “I love that.” She draws attention to a faint, crooked diagonal running along her back.
“I was diagnosed with scoliosis when I was around 10 years old,” she says. “It was difficult to deal with while I was dancing because I was braced for about 18 hours per day, if I remember correctly. Also, just being uneven took extra effort to correct while doing ballet.”
Her condition progressed, eventually requiring surgery in her teens that restricted her flexibility and changed her relationship with dance. The limitations of her body, then a primary medium of expression, fundamentally reshaped what she could communicate through it. What happens when we meet those limitations?
“Now, I do a lot of yoga, Pilates, and low- impact dance-like practices to make up for a loss,” she says, adding with a laugh and infectious positivity: “I still dance in the club!”
All media, all forms of expression, have inherent limitations. It speaks to a particular resilience in her character, this ability to recognize that while each medium has its constraints, these limitations aren’t endpoints but invitations to explore new forms.
The Collage Work Of Bea Elizalde
While in college, where she was studying communication with a minor in sociology, Bea discovered the art of collage through an extra credit art class. It ended up being one of her favorite courses and, when the pandemic hit, a much-needed outlet to escape into.
“I enjoy creating handmade collages. It’s one of the only things that can quiet my crazy brain,” she explains. “Sometimes the collage reflects a feeling I can’t name until it’s done.”
If we look at collage as a medium, we see fundamental properties similar to and different from dance. Where dance integrates body and expression into a unified whole, collage works through fragmentation and reassembly. The medium speaks its own particular message about separation becoming unity, about finding harmony in apparent contradictions.
“I collect a lot of reading material like books and magazines, as well as random objects like beads, feathers, cards, you name it,” shares Bea. “I love going to old bookstores when I travel and collecting books with fun images. What I love most, though, is anything vintage. My parents have a stash of old magazines that I love to look through, and [I] mix those images with more contemporary ones.”
But even with each new medium, elements of previous expressions remain, creating novel possibilities. In collage, there are aspects of photography and painting, but there are also traces of her dance background. The physical arrangement of elements follows rhythms and patterns, yet creates something entirely new through its materiality. There’s also a similar physical, intuitive quality to her process, about letting her body speak.
“There’s always a sense of rhythm in how I arrange things. I’m very drawn to visual storytelling through movement and balance, even if the story isn’t super literal,” she says. “To be honest, sometimes I collage exactly how I’m feeling, and sometimes I create a collage based on color and pattern combinations I am drawn to. Maybe there is a subconscious story there, but I just let my hands take the wheel most of the time.”
Read the full story in our June 2025 e-magazine by subscribing to Lifestyle Asia’s digital access and purchasing your copy at Readly.
Photography by Borgy Angeles Assisted by Rojan Maguyon
Creative Direction Paolo Torio
Styling and Movement directed by Madge Reyes, styling assistance by AR Valdez and Patricia Naomi Cruz
Makeup Kathy Oran Assisted by Monaliza Gonzales
Hair Patty Cristobal
Shoot Coordination Mae Talaid
Shot on location at Sitio De Amor, San Pablo, Laguna
