Swan Lake

Since October 2020, Bernardo San Rafael has been stepping into Lake Zurich several times a week, in the freezing winter months and during spring time, to dance with swans to classical music. After the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, almost the entire art industry came to a standstill. Thus, dance performance artist Bernardo San Rafael was caught cold and robbed of his vocation. The swans saved him during this difficult time, says the professional dancer. COVID-19 pandemic Like many around the world, the free spirit felt increasingly confined within his four walls during the lockdowns in Zurich and longed for freedom, for nature, for sensations and for movement. Rescued by the swans The Costa Rican native found his peace among swans. After studying the swans' body language and gaining the trust of the alpha male, he was accepted by the rest of the birds. He began dancing with them to classical music. Gradually, a dance interplay and an artistic symbiosis between man, animal and nature emerged. San Rafael explains his dance performance in the icy water as a statement describing the precarious situation of artists during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to the swans, he says, he regained freedom and balance in his life.