​​​​Tuija Lappalainen (she/they) ​is a choreographer, performer, and multidisciplinary artist working primarily in the Helsinki and Turku regions of Finland. Her practice spans performance, choreography, directing, and dramaturgy within the fields of dance, contemporary performance and theatre. Drawing from her background in visual arts, she also engages with scenography as part of the creative process. Currently, her work explores questions of ecological entanglement, agency, desire, and otherness. She is interested in themes of incomprehensible and uncontrollable connections, as well as the formation of meaning.

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​As a performer, dancer and actor, she has worked in various performance venues and festivals, including Zodiak – Center for New Dance, Side Step Festival, Ice Hot Helsinki – Dance House Helsinki, Spring Roll Festival – Ehkä-production and Contemporary Art Space Kutomo, ITAK-stage, Joensuu City Theatre and immersive theatre productions by Theatre Vertigo on various stages. Most recently she has performed in the works of choreographers Anna Torkkel, Jenni-Elina von Bagh, Sara Grotenfelt and Lindon Shimizu and collaborated as an actor with London-based theatre director Ishwar Maharaj.

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Her choreographic works have been presented at venues such as Dance Currents Tampere Festival, Barker Theatre – Stage for Independent Art in Turku, New Performance Turku Biennale, Tehdas Theatre, Halle2 in Kassel, Sanskar Virtual Performance Festival, Näyttämö Theatre in Joensuu and as part of the large-scale immersive theatre production Huoneiden Kirja.

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She holds a Master’s degree in Dance Performance (MA, 2023) from the University of the Arts Helsinki, Theatre Academy. She has also completed postgraduate studies in choreography and artistic research through the Postgraduate Residency Studios and Performance Research Studies (PReS) at SOZO – VIM in Kassel (2020). Additionally, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts (Art and Media, Tampere University of Applied Sciences, 2012) and a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre, completed through flexible studies at the Arts Academy of Turku University of Applied Sciences.