Fia Neises «With or without you» – a queer-crip dance performance

Audioflyer Fia Neises

What is it about?
I need you, I don’t need you.
You assist me – nonetheless.

The play is about assistance.
About closeness in assistance relationships.
About solidarity.
Sometimes, maybe, also about lust and desire.

An assisting relationship can trigger many different feelings.
Heat.
Vulnerability.
Or gentleness.
Sometimes, these feelings are familiar.
Sometimes, they don’t feel good.
And sometimes, they are both at the same time.
Sometimes, they are difficult to describe.

For many of us people with disabilities, this means:
We can only be ourselves with assistance.
But it also means:
We often hardly know the people providing assistance.
And yet, we have to trust them.
Or we have known them for a very long time.
Can we still be independent?

Access

Duration: 60 minutes
Language: The language on stage is German.
There are German and English surtitles.
This means: You can read subtitles at various places on the stage. Sometimes the audience can also participate. For this, there is a sign language interpreter (DSGS).
Everything happening on stage is narrated. Everyone can hear this. It is also called: Open audio description.
You can also come in earlier to get used to the space and explore the stage and the items on it. You are allowed to touch the items on the stage.

More about Fia Neises «With or without you

More about «With or without you »
We can think of “access” in this way:
It is an opportunity to overcome barriers.
And intimacy is another word for closeness and familiarity.

The two dancers invite the audience in:
all spectators become assistants together.
Would you like to be part of it?
Or just a happy spectator?
They will be accompanied by the musician Jana Sotzko.
Their stories will change the way you look at closeness.
And how you experience time.

Who wrote the play?
Mia Mingus wrote about assistance.
Fia Neises made the play. Fia worked with the team from With or Without you.

Fia Neises and Mia Mingus both describe themselves as queer.

And Mia Mingus is an activist of colour.
This means:
She was born in Korea.
Her skin is not white.

Credits

Artistic Direction / Performance: Fia Neises
Artistic Co-Creation / Silk Training / Performance: Irene Giró
Live Music, Audio Description Post-Production: Jana Sotzko
Concept and Narration: Saioa Alvarez Ruiz
Dramaturgy: Tanja Erhart
Artistic Co-Creation: Liv Schellander
Dramaturgical Support for Aesthetic Accessibility: Ari Althaus, Xenia Dürr, Stefanie Heller, Silja Korn, Rita Mazza, Zwoisy Mears Clarke, Nina Mühlemann, Miles Wendt
Production Management: Olivia Hotz
Technical Direction: Lola Tseytlin
Set Design: Lea Kissing
Lighting Design: Gretchen Blegen
Costumes: Merle Richter
Titles Everywhere: Maria Wünsche
Film Documentation: Tanja Brzaković, Max Matthiessen, Jelena Bosanac
Photography: Xenia Dürr, Mayra Wallraff

A production by Sophia Neises, supported by the network «Making a Difference» in collaboration with Uferstudios Berlin. Funded by the Senate for Culture and Social Cohesion / IMPACT Funding.

Sophia Neises is a performer, choreographer, dramaturg specializing in accessibility, theater educator (MA University of the Arts Berlin), and disability rights activist in the cultural sector. In 2019, she collaborated with Jess Curtis/Gravity in the performance "(In)visible" to explore a dance aesthetic accessible to blind and visually impaired audiences. Since then, she has been dedicated to exploring the spectrum of audio description as an accessibility offering and as an art form. She identifies as a disabled artist and encourages the maximization of individual perception styles and the creation of unconditional access to art from the very beginning of the creative process.