Urban dance floor(s)

Editor Sari Pamer

Follow Sari

From social norms, the joy of dance and unicorns: five events you should visit at the ZÜRICH TANZT festival

The time has finally come again: every year in May, ZÜRICH TANZT brings local, national and international dance creation to life throughout the city. The programme is full of different formats to watch and take part in. Find out which five events I particularly recommend here.

Exercise over lunchtime

Start the festival week with the Lunchtime Moves. Dance creators from the ZÜRICH TANZT programme give short movement impulses for 20 minutes at lunchtime. The format takes place online and is perfect for your lunch break in the park or right in the office.

Where: Various locations & online

Find out more

Touched (to be touched)

Water the earth, polish the steal, tighten the threads is the result of joint research by the dancer and choreographer Simone Aughterlony and the visual artists Sarah Burger, Johanna Kotlaris and Dafi Kühne. The project is based on three texts on the subject of hands. The four resulting works - drawings, objects, prints and performative miniatures - deal with the different aspects of touching, acting and the loss of control. The installation can be entered and exited at any time during the event period.

Fri 16 May 2025 | 18:00-22:00
Sat 17 May 2025 | 16:00-20:00
Sun 18. May 2025 | 14:00-18:00

Where: Gessnerallee, Südbühne, Gessnerallee 8, 8001 Zürich

Find out more

Joy of life

If you'd rather take part than just watch, a crash course is just the thing for you. At the SalsaRica dance school, you can try out the Brazilian dance and martial art of capoeira. It combines movement, singing and music and is an expression of pure joie de vivre. The event is aimed at all age groups, families can take part together and is suitable for people with and without disabilities.

Sa. 17. May 2025 | 11:00-11:50
Where: SalsaRica - Bananenreiferei, Room 4, Pfingstweidstrasse 101, 8005 Zurich

Find out more

Beautiful, gentle and strong

Make your body your machine by Ernestyna Orlowska is a humorous choreography to reflect on the conflict between physical well-being and the exploitation of our energy in today's society. Drawing on the world of fitness and the food delivery sector, Orlowska addresses the numerous and often contradictory expectations placed on the female body. Her movements invite us to question our relationship to our own bodies.

Sat. 17 May 2025 | 14:00-14:20
Where: Bäckeranlage, Hohlstrasse 67, 8004 Zurich

Sun. 18. May 2025 | 15:15-15:35
Where: Rathausbrücke, 8001 Zurich

Find out more

Magical powers

Mythical meanings are attributed to unicorns, but what would they themselves say? Italian choreographer and performer Chiara Bersani explores concepts of the "political body" and advocates accessibility for artists with disabilities. In Gentle Unicorn, she gives the unicorn a voice and tells its story. A subtle choreography about social attributions and voyeuristic gazes and how these can be reciprocated or undermined.

Sat. 17 May 2025 | 20:00-20:45
Sun. 18. May 2025 | 18:00-18:45

Where: Gessnerallee, Halle Ost, Gessnerallee 8, 8001 Zurich

Find out more

Oracle programme

And for all evening adventurers, super-spontaneous people or those who simply can't make up their minds, from Monday 12 May there will be the Oracle programme, which will match you with an event from the current daily programme: Test!