ABA NAIA is a feminist performance collective from Berlin that works at the boundaries between theater, performance, and dance. Founded in 2017, the collective members are choreographer, director and performer Kysy Fischer, performer Rafaella Marques, along with dramaturge and producer Jaika Bahr. In a continuous artistic process, their work deals with themes of sexuality, absurdity, humor, stream of consciousness, failure, and resistance to the fascist wave.
In addition to numerous stage projects, they have created the performances “We Can Do It Moaning,” which won the PorYes Award 2023, and “Super Superficial,” which was most recently shown at the Tanztage 2025 at the Sophiensælen. And in 2026 at HAU – Hebbel am Ufer. During 2025, the collective developed the project “Obscenas” at HAU as part of a residency grant from the Fonds Darstellende Künste. In 2025, the collective is also realizing a new artistic research project, which was made possible by a work and research grant from the Berlin Senate: “bzw. Ethical Choreographies of Being Together.”
DIRECTOR AND PERFORMER
Kysy Fischer (BR) uses humor to confuse disciplines such as dance, performance, and theater. As a choreographer, she is interested in minimalist exaggeration and playing with contradictions. Kysy often deals with psychoanalysis and class related topics. In her work, she seeks forms of contact with the audience and criticizes the hierarchies of artistic spaces and practices. In her academic research in Brazil, she explored performance art as an applied philosophical practice. Since 2017, she has been the director of the ABA NAIA collective, with which she primarily explores feminist humor. Kysy Fischer’s latest work, “Super Superficial,” opened the TanzTage Berlin 2025 at the SophienSaelen, and she was named Newcomer Choreographer of the Year in the TANZ__Jahrbuch 2025.
PERFORMER
Rafaella Marques (BR) has been based in Berlin since 2016. Working at the intersection of theatre and performance, she blurs the boundaries between text and body, creating choreographic works in which voice, movement and sound dissolve hierarchies of expression. Her artistic practice navigates between the political and the poetic, embodying presence, vulnerability and a playful physicality. With a background in Theater Studies, Rafaella has performed at festivals in Brazil and participated as a performer in the International Theater Forum and the Theatertreffen in Berlin. Alongside her stage work, she leads workshops for children and young people in Berlin, engaging in both artistic and social contexts. She received a scholarship from the Goethe-Institut, completed an internship at the Maxim Gorki Theater, and attended workshops with Falk Richter, Jan Lauwers and Rodrigo García (Biennale di Teatro di Venezia, Malta Festival Poznan). Rafaella is a co-founder of the Berlin-based collective ABA NAIA and the Colectivo Fango in Madrid.
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.
VISUAL ARTIST
Óscar Barbosa is a Spanish photographer and visual artist based in Berlin. His work focuses on analog photography and processes with a strong documentary character. Óscar’s personal projects deal with identity, upbringing, and childhood, overcoming trauma, and reviving old memories through a conceptual thought process. As a documentary photographer, he loves to capture the essence of the performances he works on. He has been collaborating for years with the queer performance collective Once We Were Islands and the Berlin collective ABA NAIA. His latest work, “Sinárra,” was selected as the winner of the 2024 Art Prize at the Altonale Festival in Hamburg.
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.
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.
LIGHT, SOUND TECHNICIAN