Dance greats on Zurich’s stages

Editor Eva Cabañas

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From 5 to 29 March, the Migros Culture Percentage dance festival Steps will be taking place across Switzerland. An overview of the highlights in Zurich.

In today’s fragmented world, the Steps dance festival has made it its mission to build bridges, bring people together and bring a touch of magic to every corner of Switzerland. Many stages, many cities, many performers, many spectators and, hopefully, a whole host of different perspectives. That strikes me as particularly wonderful and potentially very promising. The biennial festival spreads across Switzerland like a spider’s web, taking place from 5 to 29 March at 38 venues featuring international names from the contemporary dance scene.

A first step

Although the dance festival isn’t until March, Zurich got a taste of ‘Steps’ back in January. Tanzhaus Zürich hosted a 10-day residency featuring Hannes Langolf and Joy Alpuerto in collaboration with local dance artist Sarafina Beck. On 31 January, they presented a 20-minute performance in a public sharing session, showcasing the results of their research period at the Tanzhaus. This excerpt is an extension of the existing piece The Fall and, in this new experimental collaboration with Sarafina Beck, becomes The Fall/Risings. The expressive movement language of all three performers and the metaphorical landscape of cardboard boxes and interpersonal entanglements leaves the audience wanting more. The full-length piece will be performed on 6 and 7 March at the Tanzhaus Zürich.

Tanzhaus Zürich

Steps: The Fall / Risings

What happens when two artists who don't yet know each other meet? This dance evening is the answer to this question. What began as a risky blind date turned ...

Open your diaries, book your tickets

Following The Fall/Risings on 6 and 7 March, the Steps programme at the Tanzhaus continues seamlessly. The first festival weekend in Zurich concludes on Sunday 8 March with backflips and dance acrobatics – a piece that combines dance and circus for the whole family. Although the performance by the Belgian company Circumstances at the Tanzhaus is already sold out, it will be performed again in Zug at the end of March.

Tanzhaus Zürich

Steps: Beyond

Beyond is an energetic and poetic performance for everyone aged six and over. Six performers test boundaries and ultimately overcome them together. Each of ...

Theater Casino Zug

Steps: Beyond

Belgian circus-dance company Circumstances is heading to the Theater Casino Zug as part of the Migros Culture Percentage’s Steps biennial dance festival. ...

The Gessnerallee stage is also hosting some big names. With the Dance Ensemble tanzmainz, the renowned Swiss choreographer Rafaële Giovanola turns her attention to the human musculoskeletal system. It is not every day that such an ensemble can be seen on a Zurich stage. All the more reason to look forward to the award-winning Sphynx, which promises a sensory overload of the best kind on Tuesday 10 March.

The new creation IN THE BRAIN by star choreographer Hofesh Shechter will be performed twice at the Gessnerallee. The fusion of club culture with Shechter’s movement language arouses curiosity and has the potential to draw the audience into a state of dance ecstasy. The piece is even celebrating its world premiere as part of Steps and is definitely a must-see!

The grand finale at the Gessnerallee will be provided by Megan & Jessica Kennedy’s Dublin-based dance theatre company on 18 March with Dances Like a Bomb. With the duet by Finola Cronin and Luc Dunberry, the sisters artistically address an omnipresent theme: the ageing body. Through dance, speech, humour, honesty and warmth, the two performers highlight a process that we often prefer to leave unspoken in our fast-paced lives. The spoken text is in English with descriptive surtitles in German.

Dances Like a Bomb by Junk Ensemble ©Ruben Vuaran

On 25 March, audiences in Zurich can look forward to a final highlight: a double bill at the Theater Winterthur. Taking to the stage is one of Europe’s best-known dance companies, the GöteborgsOperans Danskompani from Sweden.

In the first part of the evening, the performers will present Spirit Willing, a work by the choreographic duo Tiffany Tregarthen and David Raymond. The urge to act meets physical helplessness and human endurance. In a second part of the evening characterised by an almost contrasting aesthetic, the performance continues with equal dynamism. The performers dance to electronic music and present ima, which means ‘mother’ in Hebrew. The work was created by the award-winning choreographer Sharon Eyal for the GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, with whom she has been collaborating for years.

Kurtheater Baden

STEPS: GÖTEBORGSOPERANS DANSKOMPANI

Die gefeierte Tanzcompagnie aus Schweden ist zurück bei Steps! Mit dabei sind zwei Stücke, die zu einem herausragenden Doppelabend zusammengefügt werden: ...

Dynamic ways to access the programme

And to do justice to the dance festival’s mission, it’s also worth taking a look at the supporting programme. After all, the best way to build a bridge to the piece is to embody it yourself. For example, there is a 15-minute, movement-based introduction to Sphynx by tanzmainz and Rafaële Giovanola before the performance on 10 March. In the same format, IN THE BRAIN and Dances Like a Bomb also offer opportunities to get the body in the right frame of mind, allowing you to engage with the piece in a different or perhaps more intense way. The rest of the supporting programme can be found on the Steps website.

And here is the link to the homepage with all the information: www.steps.ch
An overview of the Zurich Steps programme is available here. Simply go to the online programme and filter by city. It’s well worth a look!

Published from Eva Cabañas on February 18, 2026.

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