In 2020, we had to cancel the Migros Culture Percentage Dance Festival Steps – all that remained was our promise to stage our co-productions in the next theatre season.

Steps kept its word: Ioannis Mandafounis gave fantastic performances of his impressive and charming solo “Faded” already in October 2020. The evening “I am who I am”, with three strong choreographies by Jasmine Morand, Ella Rothschild and Caroline Finn for Tanz Luzerner Theater had its premiere a few weeks later. And on 12 June 2021, after several postponements, "Nothing Left" by Tabea Martin finally found its way onto the stage in a highly acclaimed premiere in Basel. The one regret: the tour of the Belgian Anton Lachky Company in April 2021 unfortunately had to be cancelled due to travel restrictions.

Without the loyalty, openness and curiosity of our audience, and without the determination and the ingenuity of the artists, theatres, of everyone involved on and behind the scenes, none of this would have been possible. Thank you very much for this joint effort for the Swiss dance scene.

The next festival edition is already on the horizon. From 28 April to 22 May 2022, there will be dancing all over Switzerland again. Save the date!

Dance is reconquering our stages. Following the cancellation of the 17th edition of our biennial in spring, audiences can look forward to some highlights in contemporary dance starting this autumn. Three different but equally inspiring co-productions from the Migros Culture Percentage Dance Festival Steps are set to tour Switzerland – however, performances will not take place over the usual 24 festival days, but will be distributed across the entire 2020/2021 theatre season.

"Faded" by Ioannis Mandafounis will kick off on 17 October, with performances available taking place until May 2021. 28 October will see the world premiere of "I am who I am who I am" featuring pieces by three strong female choreographers for Tanz Luzerner Theater. 
Tabea Martin's choreography "Nothing Left" – also a world premiere – will enter Swiss theatres from 12 June 2021. 

Together with the performing artists and the organisers, we are bringing dance back to our stages. We look forward to taking you on a journey into the 2020/2021 theatre season.

The Migros Culture Percentage is expanding its mentoring and coaching programme Double: in addition to literature, mentoring opportunities are now also available for dance, theatre, pop and cabaret.

DoubleTanz brings together four selected dancers, choreographers or dramatic advisers with or without disabilities for a one-year exchange with experienced experts from the same field. The counterparts for the first round are dramatic adviser Guy Cools, choreographers Claire Cunningham and Alessandro Schiattarella and festival director Gunda Zeeb – four coaches in equal measure experienced, clever and switched-on.

Submissions can be made until August 2020. Further information is available here.

Photo: Claire Cunningham © A.R.

Dancers from all over Switzerland and over 20 other countries watched our live podium discussion "Post-Corona Creativity" online on 7 May 2020. For three hours, exponents from the professional dance world, together with experts in sociology and psychology, outlined and discussed creative future strategies for the performing arts after or with the coronavirus. The findings from this inspiringly optimistic discussion with Marc Brew, Guy Cools, Gilles Jobin, Teresa Koloma Beck, Ioannis Mandafounis, Ella Rothschild, Isabella Spirig, Kylie Walters and Xie Xin can be found on our digital channels now. LINK

Full of confidence that dance will reconquer our stages in all its vigour, we are looking to the future – and want to take you with us. Four coproductions from the current edition are set to be showcased in selected Swiss theatres in the 2020/2021 theatre season. We are already looking forward to Tabea Martin's premiere of "Nothing Left" and to "I am who I am who I am" with Tanz Luzerner Theater. Furthermore, we eagerly await the first evening with Ioannis Mandafounis’ "Faded" and the first performance of "Ludum" by the Anton Lachky Company.

Dancers are currently working from home – an agile working space that leads, through halls, doors and stairs, to gardens and back. In the digital sphere, we are seeing a myriad of wonderful insights into dance created by artists in their own home – and receiving invitations to join in. Together with newly available recordings of renowned productions and interviews, contemporary dance is currently being exhibited online – in its ever changeable diversity and internationality – as the symbol of our times we know it to be. We have taken a look around and found a small but excellent selection of dance for you. LINK

Today is International Dance Day! We were hoping to celebrate the day together with Steps performances all across Switzerland – but now we are all stuck at home. So that's why we are bringing the message from this year's International Dance Day to you on a different way. Author of the message is Gregory Magoma, who also featured on the 2020 Steps programme. The dancer and choreographer from Johannesburg has created the enthralling, socio-critical piece „Via Kanana“ for Via Katlehong.

During times in which many artists are out of work and theatres have closed their doors, questions on the identity of dance are more necessary than ever – something which Gregory Maqoma has also been actively reflecting on: "Dance is not political but becomes political because it caries in its fibre a human connection." As such, in his passionate message for the International Dance Day 2020, he urges us to actively embrace dance and use it to improve the world around us. As he says, all that is left to do is to keep dancing...

We are already looking forward to a time when dance reconquers our stages!

They should have been dancing their way up and down the country through 32 Swiss cities and villages. Now, as a sign of solidarity, we are sharing video messages from the Steps artists from the current festival edition – messages that are reaching us from all over the world. The artists are sharing insights into their lives in lockdown and how they are keeping their dancing alive. LINK

Due to current developments and the new regulations of the Swiss Federal Council, the Migros Culture Percentage Dance Festival Steps will not take place from 23rd April to 16th May 2020 – for the protection of the audience, cultural workers, employees and festival partners as well as the general population. In these challenging times, we would like to express our sincere thanks to our 38 partner theatres, who unanimously supported the decision. We would have been delighted to present all the outstanding artists of this year's edition.

Support for Swiss cultural creation is particularly important today. In these difficult times, the Migros Culture Percentage remains true to its commitment to the Swiss dance scene.  It's our intent to premiere the co-productions for the current Steps edition and to send them on tour starting in autumn 2020. These include the evening "I am who I am who I am" by Tanz Luzerner Theater with choreographies by Jasmine Morand, Ella Rothschild and Caroline Finn as well as the work "Nothing Left" by Compagnie Tabea Martin. "Faded", the co-production with Geneva's Cie Ioannis Mandafounis and the international co-production "LUDUM" by the Anton Lachky Company are also scheduled to go on tour. More information will follow in due course.

Ticket return is guaranteed. Information on refunds is available at the respective theatres or the ticket providers Starticket and Ticketcorner.

We would like to thank all those who support our festival in these uncertain times and we wish you all the best of health!

Stage performances are only one part of the programme: Steps offers dancers in Switzerland access to international professionals. As part of workshops in all regions of Switzerland, dancers from the Steps companies are ready and raring to share their expertise. There is a wide range of workshops on offer, from contemporary ballet training with Smaralia Karakosta to hip hop classes with Rémi Autechaud, and from high-speed improvisation with Anton Lachky to workshops in the inclusive dance language of AXIS Dance Company. Information on our full workshop programme and registration is available here.

Our programmes are also available in print in German, French and Italian. Order your own personal copy here. You'll receive your programme in the post in March.

Dance for everyone: Inclusion is an integral part of the festival, and this includes barrier-free access for the audience. Together with Fachstelle Kultur and the Sensability association, Migros Culture Percentage has developed a guide entitled "Ein hindernisfreier Kulturbesuch" ("Barrier-free visits") for our partner theatres and all interested organisers of cultural events. The practical handbook provides information about the specific needs of visitors with different disabilities and shows how access barriers can be dismantled. The guide can be downloaded in PDF form in German and French free of charge from the Kultur inklusiv and Sensability websites. Picture: AXIS Dance Company «Flutter» © Steve Disenhof

«Identity» is the leitmotiv of the current season. The festival’s artistic director, Isabella, Spirig, reveals in the editorial what questions went through her mind while creating the stage programme.

For children’s school classes from 10 years upwards, the Migros Culture Percentage offers work-shops in the run-up to the festival. At school, the children learn more about contemporary dance and are taught how to dance short excerpts from the choreography which they will later watch during a performance at the festival. Find out here in which regions our education programme is available.

In the run-up to the festival we will keep you in the loop – here on our website, in our newsletter, on Facebook and on Instagram.