As from today – somewhere last week actually – we will be playing our performances under the artist name ‘TaleSpinners’. We tell stories by spinning a unicycle, so it makes total sense. We even have a website for TaleSpinners, so it’s getting serious.
Some background
During my unicyle-act EATERS the music was performed live by Ksenia Marasanova. She is a theater-actress and singer (playing national tours), but for me she is mom. I made EATERS as a one-off project and performed it on festivals under my own name. Mom was always performing the live music and the backing-vocals, but was never on the playbill.
Then we started working on STOKED! Initially again a fun project, just for a show or two. But we really liked it and it grew into something bigger. And then we started performing the 30-minute versions as a kind of a try-out. We did that under the label “Van Veen to Marasanova”, which is a play on our both maiden names. I’m “Van Veen” meaning “From Peatery” and she was born as a Marasanova. So the “Van Veen to Marasanova” suggests a trip from A to B. We got lots of funny responses on that artist name.
But it was too long for festival bills and too complex internationally. That’s why we adopted TaleSpinners. We tell big stories with a small cast. And it feels as pure magic. How cool is that?
Next show: Winterswijk
On April 6 we will be performing STOKED Live in Winterswijk as part of the festival Winterswijk in actie. That’s a free fun cultural festival for the whole family. It starts at noon. You’ll find us TaleSpinners with STOKED around 12.45 at the main stage.