Dancing through Time

Dancing through Time is an interactive installation to explore the 50 years of the Prix de Lausanne. Developed by the Laboratory of Experimental Museology eM+ at EPFL, the installation provides a temporal journey through 1600 video sequences as witness to an extraordinary heritage and legacy of this formative event. Participants who engage with Dancing through Time discover and rediscover the seminal performances of the young dancers at the most pivotal point of their careers. Three main axes can be used to refine any enquiry: the editions, the dancers’ countries, and the most important performances that have marked the history of the Prix.

Dancing through Time offers its users the ability to create their own narrative about the Prix de Lausanne, exploring the archive in multiple dimensions. Originally recorded footage of the performances has been augmented through computational and artistic visualizations, emphasizing the dancers and their movements, giving a palpable sense of the affective qualities of the movement. Some more technical, some more artistic, these visualizations enhance the performances through the power of artificial intelligence and real-time simulations, materializing the embodied practices of dance.

The Prix de Lausanne is an international ballet competition for young dancers aged 15-18. Since its first edition in 1973, it has become a major annual event in the dance sphere on a worldwide scale. Today, after 50 editions, the Prix de Lausanne is considered the most prestigious ballet competition on an international level and the foundation upholding and organising it has morphed into a wide scale charity, well beyond the initial event. The Prix de Lausanne supports the most promising young talents throughout the year through various education and training activities, thus allowing young dancers to live a unique experience that will serve them throughout their career.

In a half-decade, the 50 editions of the Prix de Lausanne have generated an impressive archival heritage, reflecting the many young candidates who have made their way through the competition. As part of our anniversary edition, we are incredibly thrilled to unveil this unique archive content through a dynamic and innovative installation made possible thanks to the work of EPFL’s Laboratory of Experimental Museology (eM+).

The official inauguration took place on  Monday, 30 January 2023 at 6.30pm in the Beaulieu Theatre.