Marchepied Cie
Vital dance springboard
Swiss Performing Arts Award 2024
Marchepied Cie, formerly “Le Marchepied”, comprises Corinne Rochet and Nicholas Pettit, who have been supporting young dancers on the contemporary scene for almost 25 years. Corinne Rochet was born in France in 1969 and trained there, dancing with contemporary choreographers such as Rui Horta, Dominique Baguet and Michél Kelemenis from 1990 onwards. In 1995, she moved to Lausanne and joined Cie Philippe Saire. With a diploma in contemporary dance teaching, she danced and taught with many companies in French-speaking Switzerland before founding Le Marchepied together with Nicholas Pettit in 2001 to fill a gap by providing contemporary dance training in Switzerland. Nicholas Pettit was born in England in 1967 and completed a Bachelor’s degree in contemporary dance at the Laban Centre in London from 1986 to 1989. He danced in France with Claude Brumachon, Daniel Larrieu and Jean Gaudin, among others, before joining Cie Philippe Saire in 1997. The two also founded Cie Utilité Publique in 2003. Pettit*Rochet, as the choreography duo call themselves, were awarded the Prix de l’éveil in 2007 by the Fondation vaudoise pour la culture.
Marchepied Cie has moved with the times as regards the needs of contemporary dance’s young generation. Until the dance training and Bachelor’s degree courses the two helped to develop were established in Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich in 2011, they offered two-year technical and theory courses as a means of preparing for international degree programmes. They created Cie Junior Le Marchepied with an intensive nine-month curriculum featuring masterclasses, performances and networking events. Renamed Marchepied Cie in 2020 and based at Studio 2 in Lausanne, the institution offers a six-month paid placement as a vital springboard for a career in dance. The five freshly graduated participants hone their skills with a view to future employment. Every year for more than two decades, Pettit*Rochet have created works for young dancers as well as inviting renowned dance practitioners such as Ioannis Mandafounis, Cie 7273, Joshua Monten, Edouard Hue and Nunzio Impellizzeri and touring their creations throughout Switzerland and abroad.
Dance education in Switzerland has evolved considerably in recent years, but the transition from school to profession remains a difficult one, made even harder by the scarcity of jobs. For almost 25 years, Corinne Rochet and Nicholas Pettit, partners in life as well as on stage, former dancers and now renowned teachers and choreographers, have been performing the vitally important task of helping freshly trained young dancers to kick-start their careers. With Marchepied Cie, which they founded in Lausanne, they have guided generations of young performers from learning at school to working professionally, from dream to reality.
Marco Cantalupo, Jury member
