Tanja Tuurala is an artist, choreographer, dancer, and pedagogue based in Stockholm. Her practice integrates critical thinking and intuitive embodied movement.
Tanja’s attention is primarily drawn to the work itself, and to the interpersonal relationships and conditions through which the work comes into being. Her practice seeks to enhance communication with diverse audiences, often through participatory processes in which playfulness is essential. Humor, subtle gestures, and a willingness to not do what is expected are recurring elements in her work, allowing space for surprise, shifts and moments that gently disarm the viewer.
The dance and choreography emerging from her practice are hybrid, shaped by her daily pedagogical work and by a lifelong journey through flamenco, hip hop, house culture and contemporary dance. Her work often unfolds in non-linear ways, embracing discontinuity and unpredictability, and inviting the audience into encounters that move beyond anticipation and fixed interpretation.
For Tanja, choreography and dance are explorations of movement in itself—its dynamics, qualities and relational capacities. Her work engages with spirituality, presence, not-knowing and knowing, and with how choreography must be practiced differently depending on context, space and relationships. Humor and lightness coexist with depth, allowing the work to oscillate between seriousness and play. Her artistic processes are highly situation-based, departing from movement and choreography while remaining open to incorporating other artistic means when required by the situation or process.
As a dancer and performer, Tanja has collaborated with Lotta Gahrton (Sweden), Nina Jeppsson (Sweden), Kaari Martin (Finland), Lourdes Culebras (Spain), and has been a member of TIR (Sweden). She also works with choreography for theatre productions, most recently in works by Nina Jeppsson. She has explored new methods for participatory and online-based artistic practices in collaboration with Ana Sanchez-Colberg (Puerto Rico) and Harpa Dögg-Kjartansdóttir (Iceland).
From 2014 to 2024, Tanja Tuurala was one of the initiators and a council member of Tensta Dansar, a free and fluid network of dancers and choreographers working to promote dance and choreography as an art form and as an alternative in Tensta and the Järva area, suburb of Stockholm. The network was a platform for artistic inquiry, artistic development and shared experience.
Education
Tanja began her dance journey in street dance and was, in her youth, a member of one of Sweden’s first street dance groups, 9 Degrees, founded by Gabriel Moraga.
She holds a BA (Hons.) in Contemporary Dance from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London, and has studied contemporary dance at Institut del Teatre in Barcelona. Alongside this, she has pursued long-term studies in flamenco in Stockholm, London and Barcelona, including at Escuela de flamenco y baile español José de la Vega.
From 2005 to 2007, she completed studies in Dance Pedagogy with a focus on flamenco at Stockholms Konstnärliga Högskola (SKH), where she also obtained a teaching qualification. She has further completed advanced studies in Performative Critique at Stockholms Konstnärliga Högskola (SKH)
Current Practice
Artistic investigations, projects and collaborations within Tuuraladans
Teaching at Järfälla Culture School / Community Arts School of Järfälla
Support
Tanja Tuurala’s work has been supported by Stockholm City, the Swedish Arts Council, Tensta Dansar, Spånga–Tensta District Administration, Järva District Administration, and through self-supported initiatives.
Contact
Email: tuuraladans@yahoo.se
Phone: +46 73 619 74 23
Facebook: Tanja Tuurala
Member of Danscentrum, Svensk Scenkonst, and Lärarförbundet.