The winner of the third edition of the Swiss Dance Award was once again Swiss dance sport, which was once again able to showcase its fascinating diversity in the AXA Arena Winterthur. Flavio Martins de Sá/Angelina Lesniak (Latin) and David Büchel/Flavia Landolfi (Standard) finished behind the victorious rock'n'roll couple Movtchan/Binggeli on the podium in the Pair Award. The Group Award went to the jazz dance group New Dance Academy.
The Swiss Dance Award once again attracted around 1700 dance fans from all over Switzerland to the AXA Arena Winterthur and offered a spectacle full of emotion and expressive performances. The rock'n'roll couple Antonin Binggeli/Christina Movtchan from Petit-Lancy danced their way to victory in the Pair Award with an energetic final show, in which two nominated couples from each of the four disciplines competed. Over a fifth of the audience voted the TTZ Latin pairing Martins de Sá/Lesniak into first place in the final, who impressed with their impressive choreography in the semi-final and final. Their team-mates and SM runners-up Denys Diachenko/Zlata Yermakova had no chance in the direct semi-final comparison.
Büchel/Landolfi, who had already impressed two years ago with a Fredy Mercury show, took to the dance floor this time in ABBA style and performed very successful interpretations of well-known melodies. Mikhail Pikulin/Yaroslava Chelombitko told a dramatic, even slightly threatening story in the standard semi-final, but then narrowly failed to reach the final.
New Dance Academy wins Group Award
With two multi-faceted and precise jazz dance shows, the 25 young women from the New Dance Academy in Bern danced their way into the hearts of the audience and received a standing ovation. Second place went to the Rocket Girls from Basadingen with their energetic Rock'n'Roll Ladies formation. Planet Dance from Lausanne secured third place with an unusual tap dance performance.
For the first Special Award, juror Nadja "Nadeschkin" Sieger used her eye for emotional performances and artistic expression. The hip-hop troupe Chibu Fam from Uster won her over with an expressive semi-final show that revealed the vulnerability and gentleness of this otherwise rather pompously staged dance style.
Kids Day for the next generation
On the morning of the Swiss Dance Awards, the Kids' Day was attended by over 50 children from all over Switzerland. They immersed themselves in the world of dance for the first time and tried out the disciplines of hip-hop, jazz dance, tap dance, rock'n'roll and breaking. The demand for the workshops, led by professionals and world champions, showed just how important the Swiss Dance Award is for young dancers.
After the SDA is before the SDA - on Saturday, 24 January 2026, Winterthur will once again host Switzerland's biggest dance gala.
