Swan Lake

Since October 2020, Bernardo San Rafael has been stepping into Lake Zurich several times a week, in the freezing winter months 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.

Photo Reportage

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, and at the same time was able to pull strolling passersby out of their gray COVID daily routine and inspire them with his performance.

Bernardo San Rafael
Bernardo San Rafael was born in Costa Rica and studied Classical Dance before moving to Germany. He later studied Contemporary Dance in France. During 2020, San Rafael changed his place of residence from Germany to Switzerland.
His performances often address materialistic extremes or life in abundance and are thought-provoking. Many of his performances take place in public spaces around the world to make art accessible to a wider audience.
Bernardo San Rafael is sponsored and supported by various German and Swiss art institutions.