Anja

Few years ago I was stuck in a wrong town, still miserably searching for my way — now I travel the world every weekend doing 1920’s style burlesque.

Burlesque is a passion, a job, a life. I don’t think we really choose these things — I feel often we just keep doing what we love until one day it’s been years and suddenly other people start paying us for doing it. My moment of change was when my mother came to visit then miserable me, asking what I really wanted to do with my life. I said, “Finally move to Berlin and become a professional burlesque performer” and she followed, “ What are you waiting for?”

I don’t know if it’s Berlin or just me but the thing I somehow never grasped back home but instantly understood here was that actually, I can do anything! In Russia there is a right way for everything as in Berlin you are playing a whole different spectrum of possibilities — here you are really given the freedom to try and even fail. Best thing in Berlin is that here you can really immerse yourself into your scene — see shows, take classes, get inspired and develop ideas with others. Everything is pretty much happening here — except the money. But you can do anything, as long as you work hard!