ABA NAIA is an international Berlin-based collective created in 2017 to investigate female comicality, as well as to draw attention to themes such as feminism, gender, heritage, sense of belonging and the decolonisation of the body.
Some of the questions currently guiding our artistic research are: how can women produce comicality through their sexuality? What does our concept of post-porn clowning look like? Where is the border between comicality and awkwardness? How far can a woman go with a certain action?
The first version of We Can Do It Moaning was presented in April 2018 at The Expo: A Showcase of Wahlberliner Festival at English Theatre Berlin | International Performing Arts Center. ABA NAIA returned to this festival in 2019, this time with the project Banana PrideTM. After the success of We Can Do It Moaning, ABA NAIA was invited by English Theatre Berlin | International Performing Arts Center to present a longer version of the performance which premiered in February 2020.
The collective collaborates with and supports other female identified artists to transform intersectional, political content into aesthetic stage performances.
DIRECTOR AND PERFORMER
Kysy Fischer (BR) uses humour to confuse disciplines such as dance, performance art and theatre. As a choreographer, she is interested in minimalist exaggeration as well as in playing with contradictions. Through her work, she seeks forms of contact with the audience and critiques the hierarchies of artistic spaces and practices. She has worked with various artists and groups, such as the performance “DNA of DAN” (curated by M. Abramovic for her exhibition “Terra Comunal”). In her academic research in Brazil, she explored the role of the “outside eye” and performance art as an applied philosophical practice. At Ballhaus Naunynstraße she participates as a choreographic collaborator of Raphael Hillebrand in “Auf meinen Schultern”. In 2023 she will complete the master’s programme in choreography at HZT Berlin with the piece “Super Superficial (AT)”. Kysy Fischer has been with guest performances and performance projects in Germany (with her piece “We Can Do It Moaning” at ETB – IPAC, Ringlokschuppen, PAF Festival, with “otherMess” in Tanztage Potsdam and BAT Theatre), Brazil, Switzerland, Finland and Sri Lanka (Goethe Institute).
PERFORMER
Rafuska Marks is a Brazilian performer. She performed in more than 10 productions of the theatre companies Vigor Mortis and Cia Silenciosa in festivals across Brazil. At that time Rafuska was an active guest artist in the San Francisco theatre scene. In 2009 she received an artist grant from the Goethe Institute, this gave her the opportunity to intern at the Maxim Gorki Theatre and participate in workshops in Berlin. She collaborated with Draft.inn – Space for the risk in the Performing arts in Madrid. She took part in the Internationalen Theaterforum – Theatertreffen in Berlin, at the Venice Bienalle with Jan Lauwers (Needcompany), Falk Richter and in Poznan with Rodrigo Garcia. Currently she is also part of Colectivo Fango (Madrid) and ABA NAIA (Berlin).
PERFORMER
Teija Vaittinen is a performer and theatre facilitator whose work is characterized by comedy, (failing) bodies, improvisation, clowning and movement. She is originally from Finland and has been living in Berlin since 2012. Teija Vaittinen has a master’s degree in Theatre Education / Drama from the University of the Arts Berlin. In Finland she studied both acting and sociology.
In addition to her artistic work with ABA NAIA, Teija Vaittinen creates clownish solo acts and directs various theatre projects with children and young people. In recent years, she has collaborated on projects with the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Grips Theater, das Weite Theater, jtw Spandau, Circus Cabuwazi, as well as at several youth cultural centers, schools and daycare centers.
DRAMATURG
Jaika Bahr was an intern at Deutsches Theater Berlin for productions by Daniela Löffner and Andreas Kriegenburg. She studied Cultural Sciences at the European University Viadrina with a focus on Linguistics and Literature as well as studying Art, Culture and Media at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the Netherlands. Alongside her studies she has been working as an assistant director and dramaturg for Theater an der Parkaue, Ballhaus Naunynstraße and Heimathafen Neukölln in Berlin.
LIGHT, SOUND TECHNICIAN
Erik Pade is a German technician, lighting designer and audio producer. He studied Theater Technology at the BHT in Berlin and works as a freelancer for plays, performances and concerts. Throughout the years he worked for Heimathafen Neukölln, Neuköllner Oper, Sophiensaele as well as creating lighting concepts for individual performers. As a passionate guitarist he played for several Berlin based bands. Every once a while he performs in plays and concerts.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Mari Vass studied sociology at the university because she have always been interested in understanding human beings. Whether in social or individual spheres, this curiosity has turned her into a born observer. Photography was the tool she found to portray them and also to express herself in her own individuality. Her aim is to go in search of that which seems genuine. Emotions, gestures, a beautiful detail. Photography for her is the art of the constant search for the hidden, or what is not easily seen. Mari collaborates with ABA NAIA since 2019.
FILMMAKER
Yuri Salvador is a Brazilian DOP based in Berlin with a Master’s Degree in Cinematography at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, in Germany. Currently working with documentary and narrative productions as music videos, advertisement, and feature. He shoot the documentary “Exodus” by Oscar nominees Hank Levine and Fernando Meirelles and recently worked as a second unit for one of the biggest Netflix’s documentaries, that will be released in 2021, produced by Camp Fire.
SOUND ARTIST
Mattias Larsen is a Berlin based Sound Mixer and Sound Designer with great attention to detail, as well as an understanding of the bigger picture and the importance of teamwork. Since 2015 he has worked on over 70 projects, including short films, novella films, documentaries, commercials and seven feature films. Apart from film, his sound has also been part of exhibitions in Sweden, Germany as well as Kurdistan. Mattias Larsen’s formal education is one year of Sonic Culture at Linköping University in Sweden as well as a BA in Electronic Music Production at dBs Music in Berlin. Since 2022 he collaborates with ABA NAIA in the short movie “Ad Absurdum” and in the play “otherMess” by Kysy Fischer.
FILMMAKER
Caroline Reucker is a freelance filmmaker, director, producer and author. She was born in 1985 in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia. After graduation from high school in 2006, she began training as a media designer Image & Sound and works after graduation in various film and television productions. From 2010 to 2016, Caroline studied Directing / Documentary Film at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg, where she graduated with a diploma.
LIGHT AND SOUND DESIGNER
Emilio Cordero Checa is a lighting designer and sound artist. He is dedicated to creating light-sound installations and interdisciplinary pieces in which he brings together mechanics and human interaction. His work has been shown in Ecuador, Spain, the US and Germany and he has also worked at the Fête des Lumières (FR), the Fiesta de la Luz and the VAQ (EC), the BAD (ES), and the Berlinale (DE). In Berlin, he works with various dance and performance groups and at Ballhaus Naunynstraße.
