SOUP | 2023

“Die Geschichte vom Suppen-Kaspa” / “The Story of the Soup-Kaspar”

Der Kaspar, der Kaspar,
Der aß kein Süppchen mehr – ganz und gar

!Here is young Kaspar, gaunt and grim,
Refusing soup that’s meant for him.

Drifting across Germany, Kaspar’s body becomes a slow unraveling, a quiet protest against a world that won’t hear “no.” As her limbs fold inward and her gaze turns hollow, Kaspar gives shape to a question pulsing beneath the surface: when is it acceptable to refuse? In a culture where “no” is often punished, especially when spoken by women, Kaspar’s rejection of soup becomes something more than stubbornness, it becomes resistance, and possibly survival.

What if, rather than defiance, this “no” was the only tool a child had to reclaim power in an abusive world? Soup, so universal, so comforting, so cross-cultural,  becomes the contested ground of agency. Sameena Mitta and French-American dancer Christine Bonansea reflect on how rejection takes shape across languages and borders: how some tongues soften refusal with politeness, while others embrace directness. What happens when our bodies say “no” even when we can’t? And what kind of strength lives in that refusal?