Nicosia, Cyprus. Finnish artist Eevi Tolvanen will travel to Cyprus in May to present ‘tender’, a performance-workshop at Dancehouse Lefkosia as part of the On Bodies Festival 2026. The workshop is addressed to queer and trans people and focuses on tenderness as complex, powerful and deeply human.
Workshop focus and approach
Titled ‘tender’, the workshop explores tenderness beyond softness, including how it can be fierce, messy, erotic and full of contradiction. Organisers described it as a space for peer support, care and connection where participants do not have to explain themselves and where different experiences can exist side by side.
Participants will work through movement, performance art, voice and conversation, with no prior experience in dance or performance required. The workshop invites participants to listen to what is present in the body, including shaking, holding, resisting and reaching, and to consider what happens when those sensations are held longer and witnessed.
Artist background and local schedule
Tolvanen is described as a non-binary, queer community artist, performer and choreographer whose work draws from long-standing community engagement and aims to shape spaces where dance becomes a force for change and connection. In Cyprus, Tolvanen will meet local participants over multiple days from May 9 to 13 in Nicosia.
Connection to performance and project
The workshop is connected to the performance hellänä – tender, directed by Eevi Tolvanen, and grows from the Queer Generations project, which centres queer and trans lived histories, intergenerational connection, and care as personal, political and collective.
Together, the artist and participants will explore different states of tenderness, including a body carrying grief, a body in intensity, and a body softening in closeness. The workshop will end with a performance and a party at the On Bodies Festival.
Practical information
The performance and workshop will take place at Dancehouse Lefkosia, Nicosia, on May 9-13. Sessions are scheduled Saturday-Sunday from 10am to 2pm and Monday-Wednesday from 6pm to 8.30pm. The event is free, with registration required at https://forms.gle/nXiQ34CBownMyATXA.
Will you register to attend the ‘tender’ workshop at Dancehouse Lefkosia in Nicosia?
