Swiss Dance Awards

The Swiss Dance Awards are a former set of awards presented biennially, since 2021 merged with the Swiss Theatre Awards as the Swiss [Performing Arts Awards].

WWW Official Site

History

The Swiss Dance Awards were created as a federal support to dance, introduced as part of the Federal law of encouragement to culture. They were created in 2012 by the Swiss Confederation, as a measure to encourage the dance world. Since 2013 the Federal Dance Jury, the prizes are awarded every two years in collaboration with the Federal Office of Culture.
It pursued and furthered the objectives of the Swiss Dance and Choreography prize. The having taken up the prize as recognition and support in its objectives.
The first ceremony of this award took place in the Theatre l'Equilibre in Fribourg in 2013. The awards were presented biennially by the Federal Office of Culture from 2013 to 2019. In 2021, they were merged with the Swiss Theatre Awards, as the Swiss Performing Arts Awards, and are presented annually at a joint ceremony.

Categories

The Swiss Grand Award for Dance pays tribute to an artistic career and is the top prize of 40,000 francs awarded by the Federal Dance Jury. An equal amount is assigned to the Special Dance Award as a recompense for an exceptional contribution in the fields of mediation, documentation or cultural policy. As part of the "Current Dance Creation" competition the jury allocates four Swiss Dance Awards each of 25,000 francs. The June Johnson Prize is given in collaboration with the Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation and rewards the upcoming dance generation. An Award of 25,000 francs is endowed to Outstanding Female and Male Dancers for their performing role.

Dance Awards Laureates

''Swiss Grand Award for Dance''   

2019: La Ribot
2017: Noemi Lapzeson
2015: Gilles Jobin
2013: Martin Schläpfer