Politics of Otherness in Contemporary Concert Dance: (In)visibilities on Stage and the White Gaze

This research addresses the experience of Otherness in Swiss contemporary concert dance, exploring the mechanisms of othering/exclusion.

Drawing on the under-representation of Black dancers in Swiss theatres, contrasted with their prominence in Sub-Saharan African dances and Hip-Hop (and on international theatre stages), the research focuses on the few dancers who have managed to carve out a place within this predominantly White dance institution.

It aims at understanding how their bodies are perceived under the White gaze: exoticized, eroticized, sexualized?

The near absence of African female dancers, the racial challenges faced by Black female dancers born in Switzerland, and the growing demand for recognition of queer identities in Swiss art, are crucial aspects of this study.

A special focus lies on the double exclusion faced by Black sexual minority identities.Rooted in social anthropology and dance studies, this investigation combines choreographers’ and dancers’ perspectives with performance narratives and dance institutions’ discourses.

It addresses a significant gap in European scholarly research on contemporary concert dance regarding the experiences of ‘Othered’ dancing bodies, articulating race, gender and dance.

The project aims at uncovering the imaginaries embedded in the White gaze projected onto dancing Black bodies, examining the disruptive strategies used by dancers/choreographers considered as ‘Others’ to subvert dominant norms, and assessing the presence of structural racism in dance institutions.

As Black dancers increasingly assert their visibility, and as diversity policies recently emerged in Switzerland, this research aims to contribute to social transformation echoing the Black Lives Matter movement.

Thereby, it challenges Switzerland’s self-perception of its history as being devoid of colonial influences and confronts its responsibilities regarding race issues.