From October 19th to 23th 2026 (autumn school holidays), La Manufacture is offering a week-long introductory workshop to the performing arts for young people, with exercises related to theater and dance practices. Participants will be guided through their exploration, culminating in the creation of a short piece to be presented at the end of the workshop.

The Week

La Manufacture is organizing a week of theater, dance, and creative activities to familiarize participants with the various practices of the performing arts, without any pre-professional focus (all levels welcome).

Each day will be dedicated to theater and dance workshops, allowing participants to work collectively on short artistic pieces: short creations, choreography interpretation, staging of a text, collaborative writing, improvisation, etc.

Accompanied by graduates of La Manufacture, participants will experience a glimpse of the school from the inside, interacting with students and instructors in an atmosphere of sharing, experiences, exchange, and collective creation.

A presentation of the work completed during the week will be open to the students' families and friends at the end of the workshop.

Audience

The introductory performing arts workshop at La Manufacture is open to young people (recommended age 14-16), both French-speaking and non-French-speaking, with no prior experience or an amateur background.

Objectives

• To introduce young people from all backgrounds to the performing arts practices of theatre and dance.
• To provide a week-long experience of school life by interacting with students, graduates, instructors, technicians, and various school staff.
• To foster connections between young participants through the performing arts and project development.
• To bring the school to life and raise its profile within its neighborhood and, more broadly, its city and region, by opening its doors to young people (no prior experience required).

Teachers

Alice Gratet

Born in Grenoble in 1999, Alice graduated from La Manufacture's Bachelor of Contemporary Dance program in 2024. That same year, they created the solo piece \i.bʁid\, presented in Fribourg as part of the INCIDANSE choreographic emergence platform.

In 2025, Alice joined Géraldine Chollet's Ouverture tour and worked as a choreographic assistant for Cosima Grand's creation Shmerzstück at Tanzhaus Zürich. They also presented several performance pieces, notably at the Hors-Lits festival in Vevey and at the third edition of the queer festival arcenscene. They are also invited to share a work-in-progress presentation with the collective LesBaveuses at Théâtre 2.21, with a view to a 2027 production.

In 2026, they will participate in David Zagari's new creation alongside Stéphane Veccione, which will be presented at the Printemps de Sévelin festival. Alongside their artistic projects, they will begin a new contract at La Manufacture as an assistant at HES-SO, allowing them to continue their artistic commitment at the intersection of research and teaching.

Émile Renaudot

Émile Renaudot is a 25-year-old actor from Paris. He discovered theater in 2017 in high school, before training at the Cours Florent drama school, where he also developed his improvisation skills.

In 2019, he co-created the show Ceux qui brûlent (Those Who Burn) with six other artists, which was presented as part of the Théâtre de la Colline youth symposium.

In 2022, he enrolled in the Bachelor of Theatre program at La Manufacture in Lausanne. During his third year, he performed in Zucco, directed by Gabriel Calderón, and in Guillaume Tell, directed by Gwenaël Morin.

After graduating in 2025, he participated in various grant applications while continuing his personal research in interdisciplinary practices such as writing, photography, and poetry.

In 2026, he joined La Manufacture as a teaching assistant. This experience allowed him to deepen his understanding of institutional dynamics while remaining closely involved in teaching practices and artistic research. That same year, he was selected as a Labō 2026 grant recipient (Lausanne), where he led a collaborative project based on Marx and Engels's Communist Manifesto.