Tender City: The Silent Slow Dance Project

Tender City: The Silent Slow Dance Project is a socially engaged dance project inviting men in different cities to participate in partnered silent slow dances in public urban spaces. Historically, urban design has often prioritized order, efficiency, and productivity, reflecting societal structures that have traditionally favoured hetero-patriarchal capitalist ideals. These priorities may inadvertently limit opportunities for fostering tenderness, connection, and community care within city spaces. Some homosexual men navigate this imposed system through cruising, seeking physical connections in public due to having no other options in a city or world that rejects their existence. Tender City translates this intimate choreography into an urban public silent slow dance.

The project engages gay, bi, and trans men in facilitated dances in urban sites, often sites with significant queer history. The documentation of these dances lives in exhibitions of this project that take place in cities.

The project to date has been presented and documented in Vancouver (Canada), Mexico City (Mexico) and Fortaleza (Brazil).