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 is 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, had different dreams in between, but their heart stayed with dancing and they want to share this 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 describes the world as her home because she loves to travel and explore new places. Over time, the feeling for your own home can change, she says, just as you can have several places where you feel safe and comfortable.

Let's get to her piece: “Super We, Super Me” deals with modern superheroes. But what makes a superhero in our time? What can a superhero do these days? How do we imagine the superhero and are there “the” superheroes at all?

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

We don't want to portray the mainstream superhero who fights his way through everything 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 little 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 fight through everything alone. When 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 handle big tasks as a team. It also makes you stronger yourself.

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

In your play, 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 have to hide.

For us, a superhero represents not only physical strength and strength. Above all, the focus should be 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 this 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 the role we play. Sometimes all performers come together again before the start and support each other, but nevertheless everyone needs a little time for themselves.”

Tasha says she goes through the whole process of the piece again in her mind. Eevi tells that as a preparation she tries to put herself in the different energies of the piece, so that she can then call them up directly during the performance.

In the end, please give us a little message on the way. 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 currently in a period of their lives (6-9) where discovering and playing are very important. As dancers, we can accompany the process and help shape it in our own way.

• Apfelsinenplatz is a junction of Berlin Mondiale and Ev. Church community in the 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.