Come Back Again

In the organizer's words:

Doris Uhlich

Come Back Again is a performance about the courage to continue writing one's own body biography and to take unusual paths even in old age.

Following SPITZE (2008) and Come Back (2012), choreographer Doris Uhlich continues her collaboration with Susanne Kirnbauer-Bundy, the former first solo dancer at the Vienna State Opera, in an unusual way. Susanne Kirnbauer-Bundy had to end her career as an active ballet dancer in her mid-40s: An ageing body has no place on the ballet stage - especially not a woman's body. Together with choreographer Doris Uhlich, the now 80-year-old dancer examines how biographies are inscribed in our bodies. The question arises as to where her energy and strength can be directed and transformed when the ballet steps she trained for throughout her youth can no longer be performed.

Festival Perspectives: Come Back Again - Doris Uhlich

"Come Back Again" is a performance about the confrontation with the biography that is inscribed in the body. The conventions of classical ballet are questioned and viewing habits are broken. Two dancers from different generations meet in a state of limbo between change and re-sorting. They question the past, shed light on the present and create new ways of dealing with bodies that are changing.

Doris Uhlich is an Austrian choreographer and performer. She develops projects in various formats - from stage plays to site-specific performances. Among other things, she works with people from different biographies and opens up the dance floor to people with physical disabilities. Uhlich has received numerous prizes and awards, including the Austrian Art Prize 2024 from the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport in the "Performing Arts" category.

Susanne Kirnbauer-Bundy is an Austrian dancer and choreographer who began her career at the age of eight at the ballet school of the Vienna State Opera and received her first engagement at the Vienna State Opera Ballet in 1956, where she soon advanced to first solo dancer. She danced leading roles in both the classical and modern repertoire. After the end of her career as an active dancer, she took over the direction of the Vienna Volksoper Ballet. In 2022, she was awarded the Golden Medal of Merit of the State of Vienna for her outstanding achievements in the fields of dance and choreography.

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