Bodies as Carriers of Stories – Reflections from the Biennale de la Danse 2025

In September 2025, I had the opportunity to take part in the Biennale de la Danse, Lyon as a participant of the Visiting Artist Programme (VAP), supported by the Bratislava in Movement Festival. The Biennale – one of Europe’s leading international dance events – became for me a living, breathing organism where artists, curators, dramaturgs and dance enthusiasts from across the world met through movement, curiosity and shared questions about the world we inhabit.

From the first days, I felt the Biennale’s atmosphere as an exchange platform that constantly challenges perception and expands artistic thinking. Through performances, workshops and networking sessions, I could observe the varied dynamics of artistic creation – from major institutions to small independent collectives – and how differently each context shapes artistic and social meaning.

One of the most transformative experiences came during the FORUM programme, featuring collectives from Brazil, Australia (Marrugeku Dance Company) and North America (Devynn Emory). Their performances and discussions revealed how the body can hold and transmit memory, identity and community.

At the workshop “Choreographies and Dramaturgies of Contested Land”, led by Dalisa Pigram and Rachael Swin from Marrugeku, I was deeply inspired by their long-term creative process – projects evolving over several years through collective authorship and social dialogue. Marrugeku’s practice, connecting Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists in the remote town of Broome, embodied the relationship between land, history and imagination. In the intense festival rhythm, their session felt like a moment to pause – to reconnect mind and body and to rediscover the essence of collective creation.

Equally powerful was Devynn Emory’s lecture-performance, blending choreography with care practices and ritual facilitation. The performance space transformed into a site of listening and vulnerability, reminding me how dance can merge with healing, empathy and embodied awareness.

In contrast, the workshop with François Chaignaud offered pure physical joy – a release through rhythm, breath and play. What began as a demanding warm-up dissolved into baroque gestures and collective clapping, revealing how movement can unite strangers in spontaneous community.

The networking sessions – particularly with Centre National de la Danse (CND) – provided insight into institutional frameworks and access for independent artists. Conversations with CND’s representatives and fellow participants from Central and Eastern Europe emphasised how vital personal relationships and direct dialogue are for building sustainable international collaborations, especially in regions with fragile artistic infrastructures.

The world premiere of “F*cking Future!” by Portuguese choreographer Marco da Silva Ferreira became a symbolic closure to my Biennale experience. Its final chant, “Keep on dreaming,” resonated as both a call to resilience and imagination. Ferreira’s choreography – oscillating between discipline and desire – embodied collective energy and belonging, transforming the audience into part of the performance’s rhythm.

Leaving Lyon, I carried with me not only artistic inspiration but also a renewed sense of responsibility – to continue fostering dialogue, building networks and creating platforms for Slovak and Central European artists. The Biennale reminded me that dance is more than performance; it is an evolving archive of lived experience – a space of care, courage and collaboration.

For this opportunity and exchange, I am deeply grateful to the Visiting Artist Programme.

Text by Soňa Kúdeľová (SK), choreographer, performer.