Dance Politics
Danse Suisse advocates for dance at the level of cultural, professional and educational politics. Danse Suisse is part of a network of professional associations and organisations active in culture, which are united under the umbrella of Suisseculture and bring the common concerns of those working in culture into politics at national level.
Swiss Dance Prizes - independent prizes for an independent art form!
Dance practitioners and dance organisations, above all the professional association Danse Suisse, have long been advocating for the recognition of dance as an independent art form.
A milestone was reached in 2013 with the introduction of the Swiss Dance Awards presented by the Federal Office of Culture. From 2021 onwards, the Federal Office of Culture will merge the awarding of the dance prizes with that of the prizes for theatre and cabaret, Nouveau Cirque, Art de la Rue and puppet theatre.
Danse Suisse regrets this decision and has advocated keeping the dance prizes independent, thereby further strengthening dance as an artistic genre.
The reasons for opposing the merger are still valid: by merging, the dance scene will lose its "own" gala and thus an evening that has an identity-building effect, shows dance unlimited appreciation and profiles it as an independent art form in the public eye. Even the current trend towards interdisciplinarity on stage does not justify a merger of the dance and theatre awards, because only the independence of each discipline can guarantee high artistic quality in collaboration.
Danse Suisse places particular emphasis on maintaining the separate prizes for outstanding dancers. According to the Federal Office of Culture, these are to be abolished from 2021. This would mean that the important appreciation of the dancer's profession and the awarding of their artistic-creative performance in the development and presentation of choreographic works would no longer exist. The dance awards to performers send an important signal here and support the perception of the profession of dancers and the professional qualifications created in recent years.
Statements from the dance scene
This is how the dance professionals commented on the intended merger (in original language).