On behalf of Offensive Tanz, Celine and Emma interviewed the two performers Tasha and Eevi, whose open air dance performance "Super We, Super Me" will premiere on September 15, 2022 at the Apfelsinenplatz*.

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"Super We, Super Me" - We're stronger together

by Celine and Emma

We met the artists Tasha and Eevi on a sunny afternoon in Gropiusstadt in Berlin Neukölln, right where the performances of their performance "Super We, Super Me" will take place. The show will each be followed by an interactive game where the dancers will explore the space and their bodies together with children. All of this in the open air in the courtyard.

The atmosphere was very relaxed and we felt right at home.

Tasha and Eevi first told us that they met in London at the "London Contemporary Dance School", also called "The Place", and through working together on different projects they realized that they are a good team and want to create their own dance piece together.

They discovered the passion for dancing at an early age and, like most, have had different dreams in between, but dancing is where their hearts have remained and they want to share that with everyone.

At the beginning of the interview, we wanted to know from both of them what place they would call home. For Tasha, there are several places. She grew up in Arizona and then lived in Costa Rica for a few years. Now Berlin has become her home. Eevi summarizes the world as her home because she loves to travel and explore new places. Over time, your sense of home can change, she says, just as you can have multiple places where you feel safe and comfortable.

Let's move on to their piece: "Super We, Super Me" deals with modern superheroes. But what makes a superhero in this day and age? What can a superhero do nowadays? How do we imagine the superhero and does "the" superhero even exist?

Our first question is: How do you define the term superhero for you? And are the children themselves the superheroes in your play?

"We don't want to portray the mainstream superhero who fights through everything on his own. A superhero can be more than the stereotypical image we know. Through our imagination and fantasy, we can discover the different sides of ourselves."

Tell us a bit about the title. How and why did you come up with the idea to call the piece "Super We, Super Me"?

"You don't have to struggle through everything alone. When you team up and help each other, you accomplish more and some things you can only do with someone else's help because you can't do everything yourself and that's okay. It's okay to ask for help and accomplish big tasks as a team. It also makes you stronger yourself."

Through partnering, dancing together, Taha and Eevi learned to listen to their bodies and then transfer their attention to another body. The superheroes were the ideal figure to express the idea of "together we are stronger."

In your piece, you put a special focus on queerness. How did you incorporate queerness into your piece?

"It's a big task to create a piece with a focus on queerness. The superhero is a tool to understand and find ourselves. This creates a safe and open space in which we can move, a "safe place." It allows you to live out and manifest a fantasy version of yourself that can empower you for reality. It's about finding the courage to show a different side of yourself and not have to hide.

For us, a superhero represents not only physical power and strength. What should be important above all is the focus on emotions and the celebration of different bodies. We hope to meet many different superheroes who want different things, look different and can do different things."

What inspired and influenced you for the piece?

"Children's books and video game music."

Do you think there is an age limit to start dancing and to start a career?

"It's never too late to start dancing. Dance is so versatile and you can develop in different ways."

How do you prepare before each performance? Do you prefer to be alone or with the team? Or do you have a ritual before you go on stage?

"It depends on the piece and what role we take. Sometimes all the performers come together again before starting and support each other, but still each:r needs a short time alone too."

Tasha says she goes over the whole process of the piece again in her mind. Eevi says that in preparation, she tries to get into the different energies of the piece so that she can call them up directly during the performance.

At the end, please give us a little message. The piece in 3 words:

"Magical - a story - surprising. We will have fun, discover and dance. We want to create a magical and exciting universe for the children. The children are just in a stage of their lives (6-9) where discover and play are very important. We as dancers can help guide the process and shape it in our own way."

* Apfelsinenplatz is a hub of Berlin Mondiale together with the Ev. Kirchengemeinde in Gropiusstadt Süd. The Berlin Mondiale is a Berlin-wide network of cultural workers and artists who deal with urban practice in the context of migration, asylum and exile.