Mamu Tshi was born in the Republic of the Congo and now lives and works in Lausanne. The young artist felt drawn to street dance at a young age and is now a world champion in krumping, for which she was awarded “Dancer of the Year” in 2020. The powerful, expressive and liberating form of freestyle dance is part of the street dance movement and considered an artistic response to the systematic repression suffered by certain groups of people and their resulting frustration. The lively “battles”, which are influenced by hip-hop, are typically carried out in public spaces by different “crews”. Mamu Tshi was involved in the dynamic underground street dance scene for a long time before appearing for the first time at Théâtre Sévelin 36 as part of Quarts d’Heure, a platform for young choreographers, in 2019. Based on her extraordinary artistic work, she was subsequently invited to develop her solo work Womb: Entrailles as artiste associée through spring 2023. With her work l’Héritière, she is among the participants of the international trio Portraits in Otherness and is supported and mentored by the director of Théâtre Sévelin 36, Philippe Saire. Picture: Mathilda Olmi

Dickson Mbi was born in Cameroon and grew up in London. He has a background in jazz, ballet and contemporary dance and studied at Lewisham College and the London Contemporary Dance School. Today, he is an internationally successful dancer in the hip-hop scene and famous for his powerful movements and remarkable jumping ability. He has won numerous competitions, including popping contests at Juste Debout UK, BattleISM, KOD and the British B-Boy Championships. As a dancer, he collaborated with Basement Jaxx, Shallama, Robbie Williams, Corinne Bailey-Rae, Black Eyed Peas, Russell Maliphant and Boy Blue Entertainment. In 2017, he was nominated for the UK Theatre Award (“Best Achievement in Dance”) and for “Emerging Artist” and “Outstanding Male Performer (Modern)” at the National Dance Awards Critic Circle. Picture: Woon-Shik Lee

Joy Ritter was born in Los Angeles and moved to Freiburg im Breisgau at the age of four. She received her first ballet lessons as a child before being accepted to the Palucca University of Dance Dresden at the age of seventeen. In addition to ballet, jazz and contemporary dance, traditional Filipino and Polynesian folk dances round off her dance repertoire. In 2011, she was a member of the Jackson Immortal World Tour, a show produced by the renowned Cirque du Soleil to commemorate the pop legend Michael Jackson, who died in 2009, with shows in the US, Canada and Europe. Since 2012, she has toured the world with Wang Ramirez and the Akram Khan Company and is increasingly involved in the hip-hop scene. She was nominated by the UK National Dance Awards as outstanding dancer in 2017 for her performance in Until the Lions. Picture: Merav Maroody