(IT/CH)

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Elena Boillat is an interdisciplinary artist, performer and researcher based in Switzerland, active in the performing arts and independent culture scene, engaged in projects, collaborations, and experimental and pedagogical paths. At the heart of her research lies the voice, understood as a living, embodied material capable of communicating beyond codified language and transforming into a poetic, resonant instrument. In her work the body becomes a resonant chamber, a vehicle for the immaterial and the ancestral which, together with breath and vocality, generates sensory spaces where intimate and collective dimensions intertwine, in dialogue with artistic, anthropological, and philosophical languages. Through a trans-linguistic practice, Elena is interested to establish an empathetic connection with the spectator, in an attempt to open new territories of listening and perception.

She graduated in Disciplines of Art, Music and Entertainment at the University of Florence in 2012. Afterwards graduated as a dancer and performer at the Paolo Grassi Academy in Milan (2014). As a researcher of voice and breathing techniques, she is also a certified ATT® method teacher (Rome 2024). She has trained with many international masters and choreographers such as Maria Consagra, Luciana Melis, Dominique Dupuy, Enzo Cosimi, Ariella Vidach, Kuniaki Ida and with Atsushi Takenouchi, with whom she approached butoh dance. She made her debut in Switzerland as choreographer and performer with the solo La forme de l’âme (2015) in collaboration with the director F. Rosso, writing a body dramaturgy on the original voice of the contemporary philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy specially recorded for the project starting from his 59 indices on the body. The performance has been guested at several international festivals, such as the Modern Body Festival in Netherlands (2016) and the Electronica Nova Music Festival in Poland (2025). Her project Mimesis (2017), an installation for one voice and one spectator, won the cantonal call for bids for cultural mediation in dance, promoted by DECS Ticino and Reso Dance network) selected like national project for the Tanz Fest (2019). She was also selected by Pro Helvetia for the Camping master class program at the Paris CND (2019). Within the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland she is the co-founder of the cultural policy movement Ticino is burning (Swiss Performing Arts Award (2022). Starting in 2023, Elena has been engaged in a personal exploration of vocal range and phonation, which led her to create the performative act P A R T I T U R A Z E R O, supported by PREMIO Schweiz ’24.
In 2026, with the support of Pro Helvetia through the Global Research Trip program, Elena continues her investigation by initiating a research project on the public voice, coming into contact with aspects of Balkan culture during a journey and residency in Kosovo.

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