ACT III – Tess Voelker: Teddy Bear

new solo creation

Teddy Bear links captive animals to gentrification, body politics, and the commercialization of female artists, exposing a culture that loves wild femininity only when caged. On stage, that cage turns gilded: Tess resists the objectifying gaze yet must objectify herself to master her craft. Reclaiming what the world calls crazy, she transforms judgment into power and frees her emotional body. Presented in Act III, Nowhere will world be, but within, of the artistic live program at Bärenzwinger the piece marks a tender return to her own wilderness.

Tess Voelker is an American dancer and choreographer whose work moves between the deeply personal and the rigorously physical. After rising through Nederlands Dans Theater, working with Crystal Pite, Paul Lightfoot, Marco Goecke, and Johan Inger, she became, at 23, the youngest choreographer ever to create for the Paris Opera Ballet. Independent since 2023, she has presented solo work at Théâtre National de Chaillot, Musée National Picasso-Paris, and Guggenheim Bilbao, and created work for Ballett Dortmund.