The Swiss Dance Days were founded in 1996. The event was modelled after the Rencontres chorégraphiques de Seine-Saint-Denis in Paris, a pioneering competition, and a festival today, that has been dedicated to promoting contemporary choreographic creation, mainly from France and the Francophone countries, since 1969. Since their founding, the Swiss Dance Days have developed into the most important national and international platform for professional dance in Switzerland. They made it their mission to help a selection of Swiss-based companies forge new partnerships and help their pieces tour internationally. At the same time, the aim is also to foster an enthusiastic regional and national dance audience. Co-organised by Reso – Dance Network Switzerland since 2006, the unique event takes place every two years in a different Swiss city. Over a period of four to five days, it shows 12 to 15 remarkable dance pieces created since the previous edition, in addition to a diverse fringe programme. Geneva, Basel, Bern, Lausanne, Lugano, Lucerne, Zurich: the Swiss Dance Days have taken place in Switzerland’s largest cities as well as in its three principal linguistic regions, attracting a large national and international audience.