Murielle Perritaz

There once was a city that dreamed of becoming a capital. Like Cinderella going to the ball, the city slipped on a slogan: “Lausanne, dance capital.” Is the slipper the right size?

Thus asks itself the small world of Swiss dance, and that rather discreetly, as is its habit.

Be that as it may, it is in matters of creation that Lausanne without doubt is a capital. The body is at the heart of many of its artistic pursuits. Many of the city’s contemporary dancers and performers have criss-crossed the five continents. Their names are renowned in the field, and forever push its limits. Since the end of the 1980s, many choreographers have grown up taking atypical roads, with a few joining the Ballet Béjart as well. Around them, a new generation is springing up, nourished by their predecessors’ research, and ready to forge their own path. It is mainly in two adjacent locations that they meet, places characterised by exploration and representation: the Arsenic and the Sévelin 36 theatre. The curious spectator can discover there an art form that tirelessly confronts us with our codes and references concerning the body, questioning its cultural and social habits, flirting with other modes of expression. So, whether we deem Lausanne to be a capital or not, what seems capital is that it keeps this vital impetus that contributes to the development of new and important contemporary artistic expression. And that the carriage does not suddenly transform itself into a pumpkin when the clock strikes midnight.