Mathilde Gilhet, recently joined the Tanz Luzern Theater in Switzerland. She’s a performer, dance instructor, international judge for dance competitions and a floorwork advocate.

For the past 10 years, I have worked, toured and performed with different dance companies in Europe, USA and Canada. Yet, my greatest accomplishment is my work as an instructor to both professional and non-professional dancers. Teaching and facilitating workshops gave me the opportunity to meet movers of all ages, dance background and body abilities.

In 2018, I became the Associate Artistic Director of On Board(hers), an all-women dance project by and for female immigrants and their testimonies. This work showed me the importance of dance as a cultural and social translator as well as its ability to build strong communities.

In addition, I recently created WE, a program that believes in the self-sustainable power of our movement community to support emerging artists.

What is WE and how this program will contribute to the movement community?

WE is born out of my desire to contribute to the community of movers in times of cultural and social challenges. I strongly believe in the self-sustainable power of our community, where each of us can contribute to our individual and collective growth as artists.

We Educate. We Engage. We Encourage.

WE is a global program that aims to provide low- cost education opportunities (WE-Class). All class proceedings will go toward one emerging mover each time (WE-Award). To benefit from this award, an open call will invite proposals from movement artists who want to create or pursue an artistic project (WE-Open Call).

This ambitious program is very dear to my heart as I strongly believe in the idea that we can all support each other and grow together.
WE are essential movers!

You are the Associate Artistic Director of “On Board(hers)” since 2018. Can you explain what this beautiful project is about and how did it start?

Dance scholar Lucille Toth and I, started On Board(hers) in 2018 in Columbus, Ohio (USA).
On Board(hers) is a contemporary dance project based on the experiences of female immigrants. The group uses movement and emotion to confront the impact of immigration on women.
On Board(hers) is a space where vocal accents, multilingualism, and cultural pluralities are valued. This project creates a sense of community in defiance of those who target social difference as a threat and cast immigration as something to be feared.
Representing different ages, ethnicities, sexual orientations, socio-economic statuses, levels of education and dance backgrounds, On Board(hers) explores how global mobility is gendered, and reveals stories of women who are at the mercy of contemporary immigration policies, while underlining the fortitude of women’s work, humor, and solidarity.

What is your legacy in dance?

In their historic resilience, movement communities around the globe adapted and created new ways to connect in times of social distancing. As a member of the movement community, I feel the responsibility to contribute to its well-being and its growth.

Today more than ever, I want to use movement as a social connector allowing us to experience, share and pass on knowledge to movers of all ages, traditions or body abilities.

Believing in the idea that we can support one another and grow together, I created the WE program which offers affordable floorwork dance classes and a series of awards for emerging artists. Suitable to small spaces and a large digital community, WE is inspired by my passion for floorwork.

As dancers, the floor offers endless possibilities: it supports our bodies, becomes a dance partner and catches us when we fall. In the workshops I facilitate, I often ask students to imagine their own roots, growing into the floor to use their resistance, solidness and flexibility as a safety cord connecting us to the floor. Dancing on wood, grass or a carpet generates completely different movements and experiences. Dancing in our homes, digitally connecting and creating, can unlock new, unexplored possibilities of movements.