Blog, Blog 2015, Edition 2015, TC 2015

Galoppe…Kreuz…legs up!

Looking for possibilities to learn Swiss folk dance in Zurich, we consulted youtube videos, online dance archives and we visited a folk dance groupe course of the Volkstanzkreis in Zurich  – a quite exotic experience for both of us.

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Kreuzfassung vorne

In the frame of our research we made a series of experiments in deconstructing the formal elements of Swiss dance we had learned. This procedure revealed to us, how much Swiss dance – often used for the representation of swiss national identity – has always been inspired by foreign cultures, as it is actually hugely constructed by steps borrowed from German, Austrian, Eastern European dances.

Hüpftanz verboten!

Swiss Folk Dance Gymnastics 

by Mayumi Arai, Nina Willimann

All video & picture credits: © Mayumi ARAI &  Nina Willimann, 2015