The live orchestra Dani Felber Souljet will play for the audience dance, the caterer will take care of the culinary well-being. The premiere will take place on Saturday, 28 January 2023 in Winterthur - advance booking has started.
Latin and Standard are two of the four disciplines that compete in the Pair Award. The STSV has nominated the best-ranked couples at the SM; Corrodi/Kucharczyk and Zimmermann/Hoffmeister will compete in Latin, Kasilov/Dreier and Büchel/Landolfi in Standard. In a semi-final they will first duel for a place in the final, where they will meet a Boogie-Woogie and a Rock'n'Roll couple each. "An absolutely new challenge for which we are preparing with two special choreos," says the new Latin champion Davide Corrodi happily. The best dance couples have to stay in their style, but are exempt from the usual regulations. The goal of all competitors must be to thrill the majority of the 1800 spectators in the free dance, which is limited to three minutes. 500 VIP guests directly on the dance floor and up to 1300 fans in the stands will vote via mobile phone.
Viktor Giacobbo on the jury
First, the three celebrity jurors are interviewed by presenter Miriam Rickli and give their opinions. Nicole Hansen (ORF/Dancing Stars) and Fabio Quattrocchi (SRF/Darf ich bitten) have already proven themselves as eloquent jurors. With the best-known Winterthur cabaret artist Viktor Giacobbo, a curious dance sport freshman joins the jury: "I used to tap dance as a child, but otherwise I don't know anything about it... I look with different eyes and simply want to be inspired."
Tap dance, together with hip hop and jazz dance, is one of the three disciplines competing for the Group Award. Dani Borak, the eleven-time world champion in tap dance, is one of the nominees. "I think it's great that so many dance sport disciplines are coming together on one day for the first time - it's going to be a great celebration for Swiss dance sport."
Tickets between 15 to 210 Swiss francs
Already in the first three days after the media conference, almost 200 tickets for the premiere of the Swiss Dance Award were sold. All the competitors know that with many fans behind them they can strengthen their starting position and are sure to get votes. The so-called fan tickets, which give access to the grandstand, are available for 15 francs. Those who want to experience the attractive shows at close quarters and also enjoy fine dining and dancing can buy a VIP ticket for between 120 and 210 francs.
Swiss bandleader, composer and trumpeter Dani Felber is also looking forward to this special event. After two years of pandemic, this event offers the opportunity to watch the best and then also dance yourself in beautiful evening dresses, he says. His eight-piece formation, the Dani Felber Souljet, will play for dancing well past midnight, when the award stars have cleared the floor.
The organiser is the IG Swiss Dance Award association. Dance sport photographer Reini Egli and event manager Martin Zinser, who is also on the STSV board, are implementing a long-standing idea with the Swiss Dance Award and have infected three other colleagues with the dance virus, including IG President Jürg Hoffmann. "We would have been ready two years ago, but the pandemic only delayed what is now finally allowed to start," Hofmann, who planned and built the WIN4 complex three years ago in a private initiative, is pleased to say, thus giving Winterthur a new sporting heart. "A lot of handball and floorball is played here," he continues, "but I always wanted to bring a special dance event to the AXA Arena." He has now achieved this - the premiere will take place in just under four months.
