Switzerland's biggest dance festival - "Steps" - will this year feature over 80 performances throughout the country. Many will be world premières, by groups from the United States, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Israel.

Switzerland's biggest international dance festival - "Steps" - will this year feature over 80 performances in towns and cities throughout the country. Many of them will be world premières, by groups from the United States, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Israel.

Organisers say the programme takes into account the broad range of styles and forms in contemporary dance. Both internationally-acclaimed and less well-known dancers are taking part, to add to the mixture.

During the festival a two-day symposium on dramaturgy in dance is taking place at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute in Rüschlikon near Zurich. Choreographers and dancers will get together with representatives of other branches of the performing arts and interested parties to discuss the interaction of dance and theatre.

"Steps" has taken place every two years since 1988 on the initiative of Switzerland?s largest retail chain, Migros, as part of its policy of supporting cultural and social causes.

The festival runs from April 28 to June 8.

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