One of the most important dance and performance festivals in Cyprus is back again for another edition. From May 22 to 25, Dance House Lefkosia presents the On Bodies festival 2025 taking place on the main stage and in the neighborhood of Dance House Lefkosia, and at Athalassa Park.

Building on last year’s theme of healing, On Bodies 2025 will focus on Resilience: the ability to adapt – whether as individuals, communities, or interconnected networks – to life’s challenges. This includes maintaining healthy functioning in the face of high-risk situations and enduring trauma, whether personal or environmental.

The festival explores various elements, practices and experiences related to the resilient bodies in personal, collective, communal and sociocultural contexts, examining how resilience influences our survival mechanisms in these days and times.

By incorporating various forms of contemporary choreographic performances (stage works, interactive/participatory creations, performance lectures, site-specific performances, long durational works, etc) the festival aims at a critical correlation with the concerns and issues that exist today.

This year’s programme includes proposals from young and established artists from Cyprus and abroad as well as workshops, discussions and more. The overall programme was curated by Petros Konnaris and the pieces from the open call were selected together with Arianna Economou, Andromachi D Lindahl, Pavlos Marios Ktoridis and Charis Iacovou.

On May 22, the festival opens with Interference net. (CY) and the performative walk Gathering at Ayios Andreas exploring the layered geographies around Dance House Lefkosia. The programme continues with Ahmed El Gendy (EG/NL) and the performance i feel you like the moon feels the earth sharing personal stories on how time, intimacy and silence transform the relationships with strangers.

On May 23, George Bizios (CY) opens the evening with the performance right in the centre of the matter, a performance piece that proposes a process for activating the heart. Then, The Mangonel Project by Avgoustina Triarou (CY) will continue. The evening will end with Satoshi Kudo (JP/SE) and Unreliable Narrator, with a complicated choreography of deconstructed and fragmented movement in composition with wave sounds. Additionally, on May 21 and 22, Satoshi will lead a workshop based on his original movement theory.

On May 24, Konstantina Skalionta (CY) with the performance Side Effects, will claim the stage as a space, restoring her visibility as a woman, in a patriarchal society that constantly silences and vanishes her experience. Mariia Bakalo (UKR) in the performative lecture how to hold in one piece, shares experiences of resistance, resilience and survival through movement narration. Nayia T Karacosta (CY) and Awaken will end the night exploring the small daily movements of waking up that embody resilience and adaptability.

Saturday’s programme aims to be friendly to people with sensory disabilities through the implementation of creative accessibility methods with integrated audio description elements. For the performances Side Effects and ‘how to hold in one piece’, haptic tours will take place at 6pm and for Awaken, during the intermission. Additionally, during all three performances there will be Cypriot Sign Language interpretation.

On May 25, arisandmartha (GR) in ALL THAT MATTER or notes on performing friendship will explore on stage the emotional and physical level of their friendship, professional collaboration, relationship and stage coexistence. Jana Jacuka (LV/NL) will close the festival with ΗΑ and by removing all the theatrical distractions, will explore the performativity of laughter as an escaping mechanism.

In addition to the performance in and around Dance House Lefkosia, Resisting Extinction by Olive Bieringa/ Body Cartography (NZ/NOR) takes place with the support of Perform Europe in the frame of the project Resisting Extinction at the Peripheries. This participatory performance that takes place at Athalassa park addresses the ecological crisis and offers practices for living and dying together on, in and with a damaged earth.

On Bodies

Dance and choreography festival. May 22-25. Dance House Lefkosia and Athalassa Park, Nicosia. €8-12. https://dancehouselefkosia.com/events-2/