These lectures will address the dynamics of vector fields or diffeomorphisms of compact manifolds. For the study of generic properties or for the construction of examples, it is often useful to be able to perturb a system. This generally leads to delicate problems: a local modification of the dynamics may cause a radical change in the behavior of the orbits. For the $C^1$-topology, various techniques have been developed which allow to perturb while controlling the dynamics: closing and connection of orbits, perturbation of the tangent dynamics... We derive various applications to the description of $C^1$-generic diffeomorphisms.[-]

The notion of singular hyperbolicity for vector fields has been introduced by Morales, Pacifico and Pujals in order to extend the classical uniform hyperbolicity and include the presence of singularities. This covers the Lorenz attractor. I will present a joint work with Dawei Yang which proves a dichotomy in the space of three-dimensional $C^{1}$-vector fields, conjectured by J. Palis: every three-dimensional vector field can be $C^{1}$-approximated by one which is singular hyperbolic or by one which exhibits a homoclinic tangency.[-]