Dance Ambassadors Celine and Emma

"Together we are stronger"

Interview on the performance “Super We, Super Me”

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 15 September 2022 at Apfelsinenplatz*.

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

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 known as “The Place”, and by working together on various projects they realised that they were a good team and wanted to create their own dance piece together.

They discovered the passion for dancing early on and, like most of them, had different dreams in between, but their hearts stayed with dancing and they want to share that with everyone.

At the beginning of the interview, we wanted to know from the two of them what place they would call their home. There are different places for Tasha. She grew up in Arizona and lived in Costa Rica for several years. Berlin has now become their home. Eevi collectively refers to the world as her home, as she loves to travel and explore new places. Over time, the feeling of your own home can change, she says, just as you can have multiple places where you feel safe and comfortable.

"Super We, Super Me" deals with modern superheroes. What makes a superhero today? What can a superhero do these days? How do we imagine the superheroes and are there even “the” superheroes?

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

We don't want to portray the mainstream superhero struggling through it all alone. A superhero can be more than the stereotypical image we know. Through our imagination and imagination, 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 of calling the play “Super We, Super Me”?

You don't have to fight through everything alone. If you get together and help each other, you achieve more and some things can only be done with the help of someone else, because you can't do everything yourself and that's okay. It's okay to ask for help and tackle big tasks as a team. This also makes you stronger yourself.

Through partnering, i.e. dancing together, Taha and Eevi have learned to listen to their bodies and then transfer attention to another body. The superheroes were the ideal shape to express the idea “together we are stronger”.

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

“It is a big task to create a piece with a focus on queerness. The superhero is a tool to understand and find yourself. 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 yourself from another side and not having to hide.

For us, a superhero not only represents physical strength and strength. Above all, the focus on emotions and celebrating different bodies should be important. 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 start a career?

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

How do you prepare for 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 play. Sometimes all performers reunite and support each other before they start, but everyone still needs a little time on their own.”

Tasha says she's going through the whole process of the piece again in her mind. Eevi tells us that as a preparation she tries to put herself in the different energies of the piece in order to be able to call them up directly during the performance.

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

Magic – 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 period of their lives (6-9), where discovering and playing are very important. We as dancers can accompany the process and shape it in our own way.

• The Apfelsinenplatz is a junction of the Berlin Mondiale together with the Ev. Church in Gropiusstadt Süd. The Berlin Mondiale is a Berlin-wide network of cultural professionals and artists who deal with urban practice in the context of migration, asylum and exile.