BOOM TSCHAK: World of Ballet

Premiere 2026

06/11 & 07/11/2026, 6:30 pm, Tanzquartier Wien, Halle G
Ballett-Trilogie (Fragments)
SPITZE (2008), Rising Swan (2010), Come Back (2012)

06/11 & 07/11/2026, 8:30 pm, Tanzquartier Wien, Halle G
Come Back Again (2025)

With a spotlight on World of Ballet, the festival presents a “best-of” selection of Doris Uhlich’s artistic rebellions against the norms and forms of the venerable art of stage dance: In addition to Ballett-Trilogie (Fragments), the piece Come Back Again (2025) is also on the program.

In her ballet trilogy, Doris Uhlich examines the myths, promises, and demands of classical ballet. Excerpts from the pieces SPITZE, Rising Swan, and Come Back reveal a choreographic exploration in which Uhlich has grappled with body ideals, perfection, and transformation over many years.
SPITZE (2008) explores the emergence of pointe dance in the 19th century and the accompanying idealization of the ballerina. Former principal dancers Susanne Kirnbauer and Harald Baluch join Doris Uhlich, who did not begin dancing on pointe until 2008, at the age of 30. For her solo Rising Swan (2010), Doris Uhlich draws on Michel Fokine’s revolutionary ballet The Dying Swan and intertwines it with personal memories of new beginnings, while in Come Back (2012), former ballet dancers return to the stage years after the end of their active careers to launch a personal revolution.

Come Back Again (2025) is a performance about the courage to challenge one’s own body biography and choose previously untaken paths at an advanced age. In her mid-40s, Susanne Kirnbauer had to end her career as an active ballet dancer: There is no place on the ballet stage for an aging body – let alone an aging female body. Now, at over 80, Kirnbauer joins up with choreographer Doris Uhlich for the third time to explore ways for her energy to transform beyond the ballet steps she is no longer able to perform. In a limbo of change and rearrangement, two dancers of different generations meet to revisit the past, illuminate the present and conduct futuristic archaeology.

© SPITZE (2008), Foto: KHM-Museumsverband, Theatermuseum

© Rising Swan (2010), Foto: Barbara Pálffy

© Rising Swan (2010), Foto: Mirek Dworczak

© Come Back Again (2025), Foto: Alexi Pelekanos

Credits

Ballett-Trilogie (Fragments), 2026, TQW Halle G

Choreography Doris Uhlich
Dramaturgical collaboration Nikolaus Selimov
Performance SPITZE Harald Baluch, Susanne Kirnbauer, Doris Uhlich
Performance Rising Swan Doris Uhlich
Performance Come Back Susanne Kirnbauer, Percy Kofranek, Renate Loucky, Violetta Springnagel-Storch
Light, Sound Gerald Pappenberger
Company management, production Margot Wehinger
Communication, press Franziska Heubacher
International distribution Giulia Traversi
Co-production Tanzquartier Wien
Supported by the Municipal Department of Cultural Affairs, Vienna

SPITZE, world premiere in 2008, brut Wien

Choreography Doris Uhlich
Dramaturgy Andrea Salzmann
Production Nicole Schuchardt
Performance Harald Baluch, Susanne Kirnbauer, Doris Uhlich
Co-production brut Wien and insert (Theaterverein)
Supported by the Municipal Department of Cultural Affairs, Vienna, and the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, the Civil Service, and Sports

Rising Swan, world premiere in 2010, brut Wien

Choreography, performance Doris Uhlich
Dramaturgy Andrea Salzmann, Yoshie Maruoka
Artistic consulting Judith Staudinger
Co-production brut Wien and insert (Theaterverein)
Collaboration K3 – Zentrum für Choreografie | Tanzplan Hamburg
Supported by Tanzquartier Wien: residency as part of Re-Imagining Utopia in New York City (Movement Research, Austrian Cultural Forum N.Y., Tanzquartier Wien)
Supported by the Municipal Department of Cultural Affairs, Vienna, and the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, the Civil Service, and Sports

Come Back, world premiere in 2012, Mumuth / steirischer herbst, Graz

Choreography Doris Uhlich
Dramaturgical collaboration Constanze Schellow
Artistic consulting Yoshie Maruoka
Space design Alexander Schellow
Performance Marialuise Jaska†, Susanne Kirnbauer, Percy Kofranek, Renate Loucky, Violetta Springnagel-Storch
Light Monika Gruber
Sound Gerald Pappenberger
Production Christine Sbaschnigg
Co-production steirischer herbst, De Internationale Keuze van de Rotterdamse Schouwburg (Rotterdam), Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm (Frankfurt am Main), Göteborgs Dans & Teater Festival (Göteborg), brut Wien, Festspielhaus St. Pölten, NXTSTP, insert (Theaterverein), supported by the European Union’s cultural program
Supported by the Municipal Department of Cultural Affairs, Vienna, and the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, the Civil Service, and Sports

Come Back Again, world premiere in 2025, brut nordwest Wien

Concept, choreography Doris Uhlich
Performance Susanne Kirnbauer, Doris Uhlich
Dramaturgical collaboration Adam Czirak
Outside eye Nikolaus Selimov
Feedback Yoshie Maruoka
Sound, DJ Boris Kopeinig
Stage Doris Uhlich in collaboration with Juliette Collas
Stage assistance Marco Tölzer
Light design Leticia Skrycky
Light design realisation Gerald Pappenberger
Company management, production Margot Wehinger
Communication, press Franziska Heubacher
International D´distribution Giulia Traversi
Thanks to best4stage und Sophie Tautorus
Co-production brut Wien and insert Tanz und Performance GmbH
Supported by the Municipal Department of Cultural Affairs, Vienna, and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Housing, Art, Culture, Media, and Sport (BMWKMS)

BOOM TSCHAK: World of Ballet

Credits

More projects

SPITZE2008

Rising Swan2010

Come Back2012

Come Back Again2025

SPITZE
2008

Rising Swan
2010

Come Back
2012

Come Back Again
2025