Doris Uhlich

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Doris Uhlich

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First production - DancePerformances 5-10 March 2009 at 7.30pm (no performances on the 8th)

Young choreographer Doris Uhlich has placed her body, which is very different from dancing beauty canons, at the centre of her work. Not to theorise, oppose or entertain: just to convey vivaciously her experience of a body that dances in its own way. Her choreographies examine in their own peculiar way the concepts of balance and beauty. Uhlich shifts the usual centres of gravity in contemporary dance.

’’Beauty in dance has nothing to do with a perfect body that moves in a perfect way.’’Doris Uhlich

See synopsis (pdf in french/40kb)

See press book (pdf in french/396kb)

See flyer (pdf in french/404 kb)

See poster (pdf in french/1,1 mo)

Talk to us about your work as a dancer and a choreographer..

Doris Uhlich: I studied contemporary dance at the Conservatory in Vienna (Austria). Since 2002, I have been working with the company Theatercombinat based in Vienna, and since 2006, I have been developing my own projects. I often wonder what characterises my work... I’m interested in “life concepts” of people who are not actors, performers, or dancers, but who are specialised in another field. I’m interested in the movement and the body as sources of communication and interaction. When I work with these people, I converse with them and I make this connection visible on stage. For example, I have worked on the rules of classical ballet in Spitze. I learned how to dance on points at age 30, and I looked for an old ballerina who took up her ballet pumps again and for a ballet dancer who danced a pas de deux with me. Another time, I worked with a gardener on the topics “Young shoots” and “Growing” – I was dancing like in Flashdance for him and he was giving me his feedback, a botanical feedback on the concept of growing which could also be seen as a reference to young choreographers.

To what extent is your work concerned with this “non conformity” of the body?

DU: I’m not slim. I weigh more than most female dancers I know. When I graduated, the director at the Conservatory told me: “Doris, why are you so fat? You’re good but you’re too fat. I always thought you wanted to be a dancer.” But I always thought: “Why should I lose weight? I can do everything that the other dancers can.” Today, I am a dancer, a performance artist and a choreographer. I often work with non professionals, elderly people or people who have never been on stage. I think it is a way for me to try to transform non conformity, which is unusual on stage, into a normal thing. This normality that comes from non conformity is a very delicate and fragile state on stage. It is interesting to see where you end up when conformity is not as present.

What does your project for Les Subsistances consist of?

DU: I will continue to work on a project that I showed once in Vienna early 2007. It was the first time in my career my name appeared in the papers and an article was written about me. I was a little surprised - I couldn’t understand why the critic insisted so much on the fact my body was round. In some of my projects, my body shape is my material and a fundamental element, but it wasn’t the case in that project. I was working with elderly people on the concept of touch in movies, played by movie stars or in the movies of their youth. It will be the starting point of my project at Les Subsistances.

Is dance linked with beauty? And if so, how?

DU: It is interesting to think about what is considered gorgeous on stage: the synchronicity of many dancers, the expression of personal emotions, etc. and at which period in time. When you say the “gorgeous bodies on the stage”... professional dancers are also individuals influenced by medias. I think the beauty ideal nowadays is focused on the body, and therefore on the bodies of most dancers. On one hand, beauty is a subjective term. On the other hand, it has very clearly defined criteria. It is the same with the term “dance”: for me, dance starts when you start walking, when dance is part of a choreography and marks on stage a movement which creates time and space. To other people, dance is something else. “Beauty in dance” has nothing to do with a perfect body that moves in a perfect way. I always look for a form of beauty, which emerges from concentration or interaction. For example, I once worked on a choreography taking place on the ground with a very old man. The choreography was very fragile. His concentration to do the movements and the dance made me say: “This is beautiful”.