Powerful Signals for Austrian Dance
The Choreographic Platform Austria (CPA) 2025 has come to a successful conclusion. From 20 to 22 November 2025, the biennial platform – initiated across Austria and supported by all federal states – has been hosted in Salzburg, featuring distinguished representatives and newcomers of the Austrian dance and performance scene.
The three-day program offered the large group of national and international professionals a comprehensive insight into Austria’s contemporary choreographic work. In addition to eleven live productions, audiences and experts had the opportunity to discover the great diversity of current performative positions through pitching sessions and numerous activities of the local dance community.
Angela Glechner, who oversaw the platform in Salzburg on behalf of the CPA Board, emphasises the international significance of the Choreographic Platform Austria:
“The CPA has impressively demonstrated the diversity of Austria’s dance and performance scene. As a well-established format across Europe, it makes a substantial contribution to the visibility of artists producing work in Austria, strengthens dialogue, and opens pathways for future collaborations. The response from visitors once again shows that dance and performance have long attracted a wide audience.”
Political representatives also expressed their delight at the success of the Choreographic Platform Austria in Salzburg:
“The CPA is an impressive success story – both as a platform and as a showcase for the outstanding achievements of our national dance scene. With its second edition in Salzburg, it has not only strengthened the visibility of contemporary dance and performance, but has also significantly advanced the exchange and networking among presenters, producers, initiatives, and artists. Together, they have sent a strong signal for the vitality of our cultural landscape,” said Andreas Babler, Vice-Chancellor of Austria and Federal Minister for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media, and Sport.
“I am delighted that we were able to host this year’s edition of the Choreographic Platform Austria here in Salzburg. In a compact and concentrated form, innovation and new aesthetic modes of expression within the contemporary Austrian dance scene were brought into focus. The fact that the CPA took place in Salzburg is a strong sign and an enrichment for our cultural landscape. I wish to thank everyone involved for their dedication and creative energy. These have been remarkable and truly moving days,” said Stefan Schnöll, Deputy Governor of the State of Salzburg.
“The Choreographic Platform Austria illuminates the breadth and vitality of Austrian dance and performance art, providing it with a highly visible platform. Vienna and St Pölten set the initial tone in 2023, and now Salzburg continues this platform by bringing artists together with national and international professionals as well as interested audiences. This edition reaffirms our shared ambition to make the activities of all federal states in the field of dance and performance visible and to position Austria clearly within the international landscape,” said Veronica Kaup-Hasler, Vienna’s Executive City Councillor for Culture and Science.
For the Choreographic Platform Austria in Salzburg, an open call was issued for the first time, resulting in 175 submissions. The eleven selected productions convinced the external jury through their thematic, stylistic, and aesthetic approaches.
“The selected productions share a sense of social urgency. Organising them together as a temporary map of Austrian dance and performance creation has revealed new aesthetic and political layers of meaning and has vividly demonstrated the strength and international relevance of Austrian choreography,” said the CPA jury, consisting of Elisabeth Bernroitner, Angela Glechner, Julia Sahlender, Elisabeth Schack, and Eike Wittrock.
The CPA Board is already in discussions regarding the continuation of the Choreographic Platform Austria in 2027 in another federal state.