Meet the 2026 Class of Body Movements' Emerging Artists Programme

Since its earliest days, Body Movements has built more than a lineup. The London festival's Emerging Artists programme has quietly become one of its most consistent legacies, a yearly cohort of selectors given a platform on the main stages and afterparties that shape the city's queer nightlife.

Saoirse , one of the festival's founders, describes the program as central to what the event is trying to build. "The Emerging Artists programme has been part of Body Movements from the very beginning and is still one of the things we're most proud of," she says. "Creating space for the next wave of queer talent isn't just about giving someone a first slot, it's about building something that lasts. Some of our previous emerging artists are still being booked across Body Movements events today, and watching people come through the programme, grow, flourish and become part of the Body Movements family is exactly why we keep doing it."

This year's selections span vinyl purists, genre shapeshifters, and DJs building their own collectives alongside their sets. Here is who made the cut.

Tpongle has spent over a decade behind the decks without courting attention, favoring the afters over the main stage since she started collecting records in 2011. Her sound draws on London, Berlin, and Romania's underground scenes, landing on something stripped back and cerebral. She has built a reputation for long, slow burning, all vinyl sets that reward patience over instant gratification.

Chubbz brings a different pace to the lineup entirely. Based in Brisbane, Australia, she builds sets around slow, sensual sounds meant to draw bodies close and slow the dancefloor down rather than speed it up. Her low BPM approach pulls from brega funk, funkhall, kizomba, perreo, tarraxo, and R&B, prioritizing intimacy and groove over intensity.

miniMel brings an infectious, crowd reading energy to every set, drawing on mixed heritage to build multi genre sets that swing from emotive to euphoric without warning. Already a familiar name at Body Movements , Dalston Superstore , and Warm Up in the Woods, miniMel has also performed live vocal DJ sets at Notting Hill Arts Club and Electrowerkz, plus international dates in Basel and Chengdu. Beyond DJing, miniMel founded UPLYFT, a radio show, community platform, and DJ school built to uplift underrepresented femxle and LGBTQ+ talent in dance music. Debut productions are expected this year.

Juicyjards plays with unapologetic flair, channeling joy, sensuality, and resistance through sets rooted in ghetto techno, hardgroove, bounce, and footwork. His performances double as a statement, treating his queerness and blackness not as an aesthetic choice but as lived experience woven directly into the music. Listen to his Body Movements Emerging Artists mix on SoundCloud here.

YOYO grew up between New York and cities around the world before settling into London's underground techno scene, first as a dancer before moving behind the decks roughly ten months ago. As a Liberian British DJ, YOYO fuses African rhythmic foundations with dark, percussive, groove driven techno built for hypnotic, high energy dancefloors. The rapid ascent from support slot to festival booking marks one of this year's most notable trajectories.

HOLY C plays the darkest corners of London's queer nightlife, blending UK garage, breaks, gqom, Latin tech, and techno into sets built on bass and diasporic rhythm. Proudly from the Caribbean and Yorkshire, HOLY C explores mixed identity through sound, with only three years of DJing behind a resume that already includes Body Movements , Fabric , HOWL, The Cause, and Night Tales. HOLY C also serves as creative director of Sisu, a FLINTA* DJ and activist collective focused on gender equality across dance music.

Ivy F arrived in London's queer scene from Florence, where she held a residency at the city's Crisco Club, and Berlin, where she threw her own parties and played alongside Horse Meat Disco . Her sets fuse 90s prog house, new beat, and Italo disco into something hypnotic and playful. Releases span Third Ear Recordings, Love International, and Planet Sundae, and she has become a regular at Dalston Superstore , Cormac's Polari party, Adonis , Club Are , Wormhole, and Aura Inc.

The programme's staying power lies in exactly what Saoirse points to: artists who move through it rarely disappear afterward. They become residents, collective founders, label heads, and repeat bookings across the festival's wider ecosystem. This year's eight names suggest that pipeline has no signs of slowing down.

Body Movements takes place this Sunday, August 30, 2026 at Southwark Park, London.

Brooklyn-bred, Los Angeles-based techno enthusiast covering music, artists, events, culture and news in the dance / electronic music and queer culture spaces