They called the sea eternal,
a restless blue that breaks on stone,
but I have seen something greater:
you
you
you

Not in the fury of the storm,
nor in the depths where sunlight drowns,
but in the way your hand found mine
and learned to never let go.

Like a tide that answers only the moon,
I came to you.

And if the seas should rage forever,
if every star should vanish from the sky,
I would still find you
by the pulse of your soul
echoing through the deep.

For our love is not a ship
that can be wrecked.

It is the Heart of the Ocean itself—
vast,
unyielding,
and indestructible.

Dance and performance artists Johanna Karlberg and Iiris Laakso—also known as Lesbian Power Duo—have come to the final part of their erotic DIY contemporary musical trilogy. Heart of the Ocean is a surreal, epic, and tragic sapphic story about lesbian love, haunted by a latent threat posed by circumstances—and an inevitable destruction. Supernatural forces and delusional fantasies haunt the musical’s oceanic scenery, lingering over an excessive lesbian love. Heart of the Ocean is a lesbian translation of the 1997 film classic Titanic, in which the two main characters alternately sacrifice everything for the sake of great love and—ultimately—the life of their beloved. For the artist duo, this type of sacrifice and eternal love work as the musical’s driving force, composing the narrative for this lesbian love story.

Lesbian Power Duo is an artistic collaboration between the Helsinki-based dance and performance artists Johanna Karlberg and Iiris Laakso. Their artistic collaboration began in 2022 with the project Lesbo Erotics – The Garden Party. The duo is currently working on a musical trilogy project with a two-year grant from the Kone Foundation (2025–2026). The first part, LESBOLESBOLESBO, has been performed in various events across Finland and Berlin, and the second part Four Dances and a Wedding had its premiere in June 2026 at the Theatre Museum as part of Helsinki Pride’s official programme. At the heart of Lesbian Power Duo’s work lies the question of the communal potential and significance of contemporary art, as well as the unique nature of live performance art—the experience of sharing something one-of-a-kind together. What drives the artistic work of the duo is the desire, need, and motivation to dismantle the simultaneous fetishization and erasure of the lesbian body that stems from heteronormativity, and to discover new and alternative representations and ways of encountering it.

Johanna Karlberg is a Helsinki-based choreographer, performer and performance maker whose work is rooted in embodiment and dance practices. She graduated from the contemporary dance program at Riveria Outokumpu in 2016 and the Master’s Programme in Dance Performance at the University of the Arts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy in 2022 and has been active across the Finnish art scene since 2017. She has worked as a performer and collaborator with choreographers Sonya Lindfors, Suvi Kemppainen, and Heli Keskikallio, as well as visual artist Venla Helenius; as a dance teacher for children and adults with intellectual disabilities; and as a curator and facilitator for UrbanApa, an anti-racist and feminist art platform.

At the core of Karlberg’s artistic work are questions about representation, hierarchies, social relationality and POV; how identity and actions are inevitably entangled. Her work is often characterized by performativity, transgression and expressive corporeality. She is fascinated and inspired by the simultaneously limited and boundless condition of the body, ugliness, and monstrosity.

Iiris Laakso is a dance and performance artist who loves and craves dance and connection. In their artistic work, they are fascinated by the embodiment of emotions and pleasure, as well as the feels, constructions and deconstructions of gender, sexuality, and power. In the context of contemporary performance, they are now particularly interested in drama, humor, and multiple registers of expression. They are also a dance teacher of over ten years, a Master of Dance (University of Arts Helsinki, Theater Academy, 2021), and a Capricorn/Cancer/Gemini.