A big success
Swiss Dance Days in Berne: Dance Scene’s Richness Successfully Highlighted
Four days of wild, furious, norm-breaking, and conciliatory dance – this year’s Swiss Dance Days, the platform for professional Swiss dance-making, have been highly successful. 25 shows, 19 of which were sold out, and a well-attended context programme were presented. A total of 3800 entries were registered in Berne from February 11 to 14, 2026. This corresponds to 95% percent of filled seats across all events. Dance was viewed, celebrated and discussed in its many diverse facets: intimate solos, wild duets and compelling ensemble pieces adopted very different formal idioms, styles and practices: from borrowings from ballet to street styles, Jamaican Dancehall and Congolese Sebene, the audience was fully immersed in the rich variety of human motion. Together with its partners and venues in the region – Bühnen Bern, Dampfzentrale, Schlachthaus Theater, Tanzhaus Bern, Beta – Verein Berner Tanzschaffende, Tojo, Kino in der Reitschule and Progr – Reso, the Swiss Dance Network presented the biennial platform.
Worldwide Presenters’ Network
A great atmosphere at the opening, well-attended performances, six inspiring panel discussions, one post-performance event, four parties and plenty of networking took place in all corners of the festival, to the organizers’ great satisfaction. At least 150 presenters and 180 dance professionals attended the platform event – more than a third of them travelling from abroad. This result demonstrates that the Swiss Dance Days enjoy a good international reputation and that artists residing in Switzerland and their works are in high demand. Therefore we are pleased to announce the dates of the coming edition: the next Swiss Dance Days will take place in Geneva from February 2-5, 2028.
In addition to the performances, there were once again Salons d’artistes: here, eight companies – mainly from the youth segment – presented their work. One focus of the Salons was Bern’s own scene, represented by Charlotte Mclean, Sami Lea Samira Bernath, Marion Zurbach, Anna Chiedza Spoerri and the company Beweggrund.
13 Pieces chosen from 198 Nominations
The 13 selected works offered profound insights into the «restless and inventive» Swiss dance scene that is «growing in different directions», as the jury wrote in its statement. They were chosen from among 198 nominations and performed in Bern over the course of four days. The selection was made by the five-member jury consisting of Pascale «Baba» Altenburger, dance pedagogue for street and club dances and performer (Bern), Brandy Butler, performance artist (Zurich), Léo Chavaz, co-programmer at Pavillon ADC (Geneva), Lorenzo Conti, dance curator at LAC Lugano & Milanoltre Festival, and Lisa Letnansky, head of dramaturgy at the Tanzhaus Zürich.
