‘There was nothing going on between us at the time, we barely knew each other and were both still in other relationships’
Musical is their life, and it is therefore not surprising that Shanna Slaap (27) and Calvin Kromheer (26) met each other when they were working on their great passion. Although that love for the profession also tests their relationship. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t survive and continue to grow.”
Scene 1
December 2019. Calvin’s house in Amsterdam Oud-Zuid.
C: ‘Shanna and I were both auditioning for Aladdin. I came a little later in the process and knew that Shanna was one of the candidates for the role of Jasmine. So I approached her via Instagram to discuss the ins and outs and what together scenes to take. And so it happened…’
S: ‘There was nothing going on between us at the time, we barely knew each other and were both still in other relationships. We practiced those scenes together and that was a lot of fun. And then we didn’t see each other for a while, because the whole process came to a standstill due to corona.’
C: ‘I only met Shanna again when we formed a rehearsal couple, because we were cast as Jasmine and Aladdin’s understudies. As a result, we automatically spent a lot of time together. Yet even then nothing was happening. I remember thinking that Shanna and her boyfriend were such a nice couple and that I sometimes said to her: “You fit together so well.”’
Scene 2
August 2021. A beach bar in Scheveningen.
Shanna and Calvin are rehearsing at the AFAS Circus theater in Scheveningen and notice that they are visiting each other more and more often.
C: ‘I asked Shanna to grab a bite to eat between rehearsals. We were still just colleagues, but we felt so comfortable with each other that we agreed outside the group. I liked that Shanna is a very good listener. I remember sharing personal things about myself with her pretty quickly. There was definitely a click, but I was still in a relationship, so our contact at that time was just friendly.’
S: ‘My relationship had now ended, but for me he was nothing more than a colleague with whom I got along well. I’m a bit of a no-brainer type anyway. We had a lot of fun together and had a lot of laughs together. I remember when we were sitting there in that beach bar and I dumped a whole container of sauce on myself. Calvin then gave me a sweater to hide it.’
C: ‘In retrospect, a very romantic gesture’
S: ‘I discovered there that he is terrified of birds. A seagull tried to steal our food and Calvin actually jumped up from his seat. Now I don’t really like birds myself, so we found each other in that common fear.’
C: ‘A few months later my relationship also ended. That had no connection with Shanna, it was just done on both sides. But at that moment there was more space to think: who else is around me? And then I didn’t have to think about it very long to realize that I really liked Shanna. In fact, a kind of love at first sight arose again. Suddenly there was a very physical and instinctive attraction towards Shanna. And it felt very logical to me that she should become my girlfriend.’
S: ‘I wasn’t thinking about that at all. It was not my choice that my relationship had ended and I was upset about it for a while. Because I am really a thinker, I approached everything very rationally. Like: I shouldn’t switch to someone else too quickly, I should first take some time for myself. So I still kept my distance from Calvin. At the same time, I found him interesting, so I was playing tug-of-war, which of course wasn’t fun for him. After a while I started to wonder: what am I actually doing? In everything I radiated that I really liked him, but my brain got in the way.’
You can read Shanna and Calvin’s entire interview in the brand new Elegance. Now in store!
Text: Jill Waas | Image: Stef Nagel
