Coming up soon is the On Bodies Festival 2026 celebrating dance and performance and in recent years it focuses on dance’s relation with today’s reality. Between May 15 and 17, Dance House Lefkosia will present a rich programme of choreographic works, improvisations, performance lectures, parties and much more!

Building on last year’s theme of healing and resilience, On Bodies 2026’s focus is Abundance: the state of plentifulness, richness and prosperity across personal, social and environmental dimensions. In a time marked by scarcity, budget cuts, destruction, and conflict both locally and globally, the festival aims to explore what constitutes abundance, whether it is resources, opportunities, community, solidarity, thriving ecosystems, biodiversity, inner peace and/or optimism.

Through performances, workshops, discussions and party, it seeks to explore and interpret abundance artistically, dramaturgically and socially, highlighting what is needed to create more of what truly sustains us.

This year’s programme includes proposals from young and established artists from Cyprus and abroad. The festival takes place on the main stage of Dance House Lefkosia while the overall programme was curated by Petros Konnaris and the pieces from the open call were selected together with Arianna Economou, Marios Ktoridis and Diamanto Hadjizacharia.

On May 15, the programme begins with a discussion on Arts and Abundance with Konnaris and Elena Agathokleous, part of the ongoing collaboration with MITOS Centre of Performing Arts. The performance The Multiplicity of the Other is up next by Ixchel Mendoza Hernandez (MEX/GER) which explores a body in constant flux, embodying the alterity within and reflecting upon the construction of the other and self.

Then, (Shakira, Shakira) will be presented by Jasmina Križaj and Simon Wehrli (SI/CH). The duo through subtle humour and a touch of Italo-disco will transform the stage into a womb and the pelvis as the origin of all movement.

Finally, Dimitris Chimonas (CY) will present Sprt!, a choreographed lecture-performance that’s partly a game with language, partly a game with the body starting from a Cypriot onomatopoeic word.

Saturday’s schedule opens with Campos Culture And Arts’ (CY) performance My _ _ _ing Body, a physical/performative revisiting of self-reflective questions first approached in 2012 at No_Body Festival, in My Dying Body.

The solo Answered. by Collins Ugo (NG/CY) continues the programme which is built on four rugs arranged in a 2×2 score: Time, Footwork, Distribution, and Repair. The evening ends with Eevi Tolvanen (FI) and tender, which challenges the stereotypical ideas of what tenderness is supposed to look like. tender will be the result of a five-day workshop with local queer and trans people centred around lived histories, intergenerational connection and care as something personal, political and collective. The performance transitions to a party.

Androniki Marathaki (GR) opens the final day’s programme with My Heart as an Antidote: Practices of Solidarity, Becoming a Continuous Effort of our Bodies to Come Closer to Each Other, this performance invites viewers to the most intuitive, mysterious and invisible dimensions of dance and of our existence.

The festival closes with the launch of a new Dance House Lefkosia’ tradition, that of Honorary Members; an act of gratitude, recognition and allyship that celebrates those who have walked alongside the organisers and whose commitment ensures their vision. In this spirit, DHL’s board warmly welcomes as the first Honorary Members Eleni Mavrou, Anita Michaelides and Elena Perikleous.

On Bodies Festival 2026

Three-day dance festival with performances, workshops and lectures. May 15-17. Dance House Lefkosia, Nicosia. 8pm. €10-12. https://dancehouselefkosia.com/events-2/