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Shaking shame

Melyn Chow / Frascati Producties in coproductie met CAMPO
Tue 17 Oct ’23 - Thu 22 May ’25
The boundary between the mundane and the sensual blurs in a landscape of shaking bodies.
Tue 17 Oct ’23
-
Thu 22 May ’25

Can you break free from discomfort and shame around physical pleasure? Melyn Chow explores this with Shaking Shame: an intimate, physical performance that examines the connection between shame, pleasure and liberation.

Shaking Shame puts you in the middle of a landscape of shaking, distorting bodies. Sacred and promiscuous, playful and dangerous. With the audience's eyes on them, five performers attempt to transform shame and awareness of their bodies into a powerful, liberating movement in which the boundaries between the sensual, sexual and mundane slowly blur.

Shame is inexorably linked to our relationship to others: what opinions, projections or internalised judgments might someone have about you? In the audience's presence, the players try to shake off these projections and the shame that flows from them to make room for a more sincere exchange with each other.

Following the "mime porn" video installation I happen to be doing this for you (Melyn Chow & Kim Zeevalk / Frascati Productions, 2023), Shaking Shame is Melyn Chow's second production at Frascati Producties. The work builds on Melyn's performance of the same name, made in 2022 at the AHK, inspired by Audre Lorde's essay Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power.

This performance has been inspired and driven by Audre Lorde’s essays Uses of the Erotic and Uses of Anger. Click below to read Lorde’s first essay, including a personal introduction to Shaking shame by Melyn Chow. 

Read here

  • Premier: Wed 18 October 20:00
  • Run time: 60 min
Part of

Credits

concept & direction Melyn Chow in collaboration with performers Melyn Chow, Estela Canal Parejo, Rita Bifulco, Sjaid Foncé, Ashley Ho performers 2021/2022 edition Laura Boser, Elliot Dehaspe, Tashi Iwaoka light design Minna Tiikkainen sound design Maoyi Qiu dramaturgy Renée Copraij mentor en adviseur Floor van Leeuwen scenography Lena van Drie voice and space holder Leela May Stokholm gratitude and love to Audre Lorde, Sarah Ringoet, Jela Nieuwstraten, Merette van Hijfte, Jing Hong Okorn-Kuo, Marijn de Langen, Kim Zeevalk, Mime Opleiding

       

Press

“Chow calles Shaking shame a performance exercise, and it turns out to be an absolutely fascinating exercise.” Theaterkrant

"As a maker, I have come to realize that if I put myself in the space between  physical discomfort and desire, there arises a sense of aliveness." Interview with Subbacultcha

About the maker

Melyn Chow (she/her) was born and raised in Singapore and works in the field of mime, physical theatre, contemporary dance and performance. She received her BA in mime at the Amsterdam School of the Arts (NL) and holds a diploma in dance at the LASALLE College of the Arts (SG). 

Melyn works within mime, contemporary dance and performance, carrying out research into the ‘female gaze’, sensuality versus shame and the erotic as a source of power. Her research often begins from the body in relation to movement, space and image.

Shaking Shame is Melyn's second work at Frascati producties. The first one being the 'mime porn' video installation I happen to be doing this for you, created together with Kim Zeevalk, early in 2023. 

Check this

''Ik beweeg al mijn hele leven, maar hoe voel ik me eigenlijk zonder kleren?''

Frascati-maker Melyn Chow sprak met Het Parool over haar nieuwe performance Shaking shame: “Schaamte beleef je alleen in relatie tot een ander. Dit werk gaat over de interactie tussen mensen, in positieve of negatieve zin. Het gaat over het gebied waarin jouw blik samenkomt met mijn lichaam. ''
Recap News

Maker

Melyn Chow

Frascati Producties